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  1. #1
    Just an Egg
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    77

    Considering more discus

    Hi all,

    I recently set up a tank and put a number of discus in it and managed to get what i believe was the dreaded discus plauge and over the space of two months lost all the fish.

    I tried every cure that was mentioned at one time but had little to no success. They would get better then go black and lose the slime coat again and die. All the other fish were fine, catfish, bleeding hearts etc.

    The reason it occured i think was that the two cannister filters i was using kept intermittently losing suction and i think the bacteria in them died off. Unfortunatley i didnt realise they were losing suction for quite some time as all returns were belwo the surface so kept the cycle of unmitigated desire continuing.

    I have now changed the filters to ehiem 2250 and a 2260 cannister filter which rarely fail to the best of my knowledge.

    The tank has had the water changed, plants all cleaned and sprayed with stuff that kills algae and other things and a full new display done. It has also been about 2 months since the last discus passed away.

    I have resetup the tank and put some german bred wild angels in there the other day and they are doing fine, will wait at least a month to see that they are fine but all should be good with them i hope.

    So can i safely try my hand at discus again and put some wild caught types of discus back in thae tank or is there still likey to be some remanants of the discus plauge left over no matter what i do any new discus will perish?

    Any info appreciated thanks.

  2. #2
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Penrith NSW
    Posts
    5,873
    G'day need a little more info on your tank to advise you properly.

    how big is your tank (LxHxW)
    what do you have in it from your post you have catfish, tetras and some angels. as much as you dont want to hear this I always advise people to keep discus in a bare bottom species specific tank first untill you learn the demands of these fish (ph 6.0-7.0, temp 28C), after that you can move to a decorated tank and then introduce other species (id stick with a biotype correct tank to get your feet wet).

    As a general rule I do not sugest keeping discus with angels (but i have done so my self for some time).

    if you keep to the stocking rule of 1 discus for every 50L of tank volume you'll be ok, also assume that 1 discus = 1 angel as far as load goes. any pathogens you had in the tank should have died off by now if its been over 2 months.

  3. #3
    Just an Egg
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    77
    Thanks for that, I'm definitely going planted so am leaning towards just angels now as i don't want to go through the discus issues again as much as i love the fish.

    Also this is a tank in my office so water changes weekly are a challenge so think the more i really look at it the more discus in these circumstances are probably not the best idea.

  4. #4
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Penrith NSW
    Posts
    5,873
    It's your call they are magnificent but they require care some of the fancier angels (hr pinoy etc) look almost as good but are much less picky.

  5. #5
    Free Swimmer
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Melbourne, SE Suburbs
    Posts
    446
    Quote Originally Posted by ILLUSN View Post
    some of the fancier angels (hr pinoy etc) look almost as good but are much less picky.
    ...and that's what got me into trouble, starting with a pair of Blue Silvers. Now I have 12 of them in a 1500x600x500! (Then in the garage there's the Koi's and Super Veil tails).

    Discus are great, but angels are too, and if they breed its far easier to sell off young angelfish.

    Cheers,
    Scott

  6. #6
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Penrith NSW
    Posts
    5,873
    Quote Originally Posted by ghoti View Post
    ...and that's what got me into trouble, starting with a pair of blue silvers. Now i have 12 of them in a 1500x600x500! (then in the garage there's the koi's and super veil tails).

    Discus are great, but angels are too, and if they breed its far easier to sell off young angelfish.

    Cheers,
    scott
    need pics!!!!!!!!!!!
    Last edited by ILLUSN; Mon Dec 23, 2013 at 10:42 PM. Reason: spelling

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