HELP PLEASE

[Ace1024]

I've got 3 discus, and all was good.

but suddenly, the blue diamond developed a reddish tinge to the body, and is now hanging around the top of the tank.

My water parameters are fine, and i can't work out why the fella's in such a bad way.

Now i did have issues with the filter the other day, and it was out of commision for about 90 mins, but the fish was showing signs prior to that.

any help would be much appreciated.

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum Ace.

We're happy to try to help, but need a lot more information than you have supplied.

We need to know your exact water parameters, i.e. the actual readings of
pH
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Hardness

How long the tank has been set up

Tankmates

Water change routine

and a photo if you can manage it.

[Ace1024]

I have a planted aquarium set up with gravel also. My ammonium and nitrite levels are zero... my temperature's been about 28-29 and my pH is 7.3.

I can't get the water hardness because i don't have the kit yet until tom evening, but yes i do live in Adelaide, where the water is pretty hard.

Since the first post one of the fish has died, and my friend is setting up a quarantine tank as we speak for the other two.

I've had the discus for about 3 weeks, and there are 8 neon's in the tank to accompany them.

My friend said they might be having intestinal issues due to the enlarged bloated stomach's.

I've been doing about 25% water changes every 2 day's or so.

[fishgeek]

if your "out of commision filter" was not getting water circulating for 90 minutes it could have theoretically gone anaerobic and dammaged some of the aerobic bacteria ... i doubt ninety minutes would be eneough to totally disturb a mature filter though if it is relatively newe this may have upset the balance aswell

andrew

[Merrilyn]

Ace, how long has your tank been set up.

Did you have other fish in there before you put the discus in, or is the tank just three weeks old.

You may well be suffering from "new tank syndrome" if it's only three weeks old.

[Ace1024]

What do you mean by 'new tank syndrome'?

[Merrilyn]

It means your tank is going through a 'cycle' while your bacteria colony in your filter matures.

Puts a huge amount of stress on the fish. The fluctuating levels of ammonia and nitrite will kill most fish. Three weeks after the tank has been set up is just about the most dangerous time.

You really need to cycle the tank and mature the bio filter before you add any fish.

Have a read through some of the articles on cycling a tank on this forum.

All you can do now is fairly big daily water changes to keep the levels of toxins down. Unfortunately that will prolong the amount of time it takes for your filter to mature. It could take 6 months instead of the normal 4 weeks.

Do you have a friend who keeps fish, and has a mature tank? If so, ask him if you can take some of his used filter media (don't wash it !) and squeeze it into your tank. That will help to seed your filter and give your bacteria colony a boost.

The mature bacteria from his filter media will settle into your filter, and begin to multiply, but it will still take several weeks till the colony is large enough to convert the toxic waste from your fish, (ammonia) into nitrite (which is still toxic) then into harmless nitrate. We remove the nitrate with water changes. That's called the biological cycle of your tank.

[Merrilyn]

You'll find this article very helpful.

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6598