Discus just aren't settling in right

[fishguy2727]

I have had my discus for about 9 months now. 55 gallon tank, 5 discus, 14 bloodfins, 2 bristlenose plecos (I have seen no evidence of them messing with the discus, no marks or anything), Fluval 304, Whisper 60, 75% water change every one to two weeks with Proper pH 6.5, pH is currently 7.0. Lately the Proper pH doesn't seem to be working very well, but my water is pretty hard and will naturally hold at 7.8-8.0 so this isn't surprising. I feed mainly New Life Spectrum and have fed only NLS for about 6 months now, but just now added some frozen Discus Supreme by Pro Salt. The discus seem pretty skittish which is why I added the bloodfins. A few of the discus came down with HITH a month or so ago which went away with no issues after treating in a 20 gallon hospital tank with Aquarium Solution's Metro+. I have lots of driftwood. I just pulled out a couple pieces and rearranged it in a style they should like better, a few vertical pieces to simulate their natural rootwork habitat. The lighting is pretty low and the malaysian driftwood seems to keep discoloring the water. The two things that concern me are the occurance of HITH at all as well as them hiding all the time. Any ideas?

[Greggy]

I understand that Discus in planted tanks generally don't get HITH nearly as often as a non-planted tank, because HITH is often caused by poor vitamin & nourishment levels and with a planted tank Discus will nibble (eat) plants and this seems to help their immune systems and general health.

My 6 Discus certainly love to munch on the plant's new shootings (the soft bright green stuff) - they literally rip my Water Sprite apart!

Another way of warding off HITH is a balanced and varied diet including 'greens'.

Regards,

Greggy

[fishguy2727]

NLS is supposed to be so good that it prevents HITH and even reverses it (in sw at least). Diet may have contributed to it, but since the Metro+ knocked it out that shows that the actual cause was Hexamita sp.

Planting the tank was a consideration, or switching my 75 to a planted discus tank. From what I understand water sprite is a bright light plant. What I know as water sprite we get in at work as wisteria. Do yuo have the scientific name of the water sprite that you use?

Another thought was to switch to sand. I like the look of sand much better and it is a little more natural. It also will not trap any debris.

Nitrates are 5-10 (mg/L).

[fishguy2727]

The other issue is that one is very protective of the food bowl. Since the NLS sinks, I use an UGF tube to put it in a bowl, otherwise it would just end up all over the tank and in the gravel out of their reach. One of the original two (bought a little before the others) who is slightly larger than the others is very protective of the food. Two others will run in and grab a couple bites until the bully chases them away, but the other two don't even try.