Cafe Tropical
Tue Sep 25, 2007, 08:35 AM
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Unfortunately, the most dominant female in my tank died this morning. Her name was MOngo & I'd had her for 2 & a half years. She was one of the first discus I ever bought. She was a bugger, chasing the others away & bossing everyone around, but now that she is gone, I miss her.
Mongo had paired up with another female, Hendrix (a blue turq) and they would lay eggs together every fortnight or so. Yes, strange names I know, but I didn't know they were 'girls' until the eggs started popping out....
So, Hendrix (or Mrs Hendrix) is now missing Mongo - it is a very sad sight....
I only have 3 discus now. A large spotted leopard, Sidney, is trying to mate up with Hendrix, pecking order is changing My other discus, a very small runt, a turq. is just doing what it always does, 'hiding/surviving.
So the story of what happened is.... on Sunday I decided to have a good clean up of my tank. I pruned the plants, & replanted all the baby corymbosa, did my usual water change, etc. Then I thought the tank looked a bit bare. So I went into my garden to retrieve & piece of decorative driftwood I'd taken out months before, to dry off all the algae, and decided to put it back in my tank.
Well, I thought it was ok, it had been sitting up high on a wall in my garden & would be fine to just put straight back in.
I woke up 5.30am Monday morning, and MY GOD, all my discus looked dead. They were almost motionless and lost most of their colour. I freaked out. Big H2O change straight away, air bubbles full on, charcoal, purigen, you name it. they responded quickly. Only two cardinal tetras died at that point. The discus were all up again, except MOngo. She got burnt from the heater & I think the shock of that helped kill her.
So, that wood, must have been contaminated with some sort of poison. I can only assume the neighbor had sprayed something, as I don't use any.
Be warned - never take anything for granted and ALWAYS use caution.
It is not worth it to loose a fish you love.
I really hope that by reading this message, someone will learn from my mistake.
Unfortunately, the most dominant female in my tank died this morning. Her name was MOngo & I'd had her for 2 & a half years. She was one of the first discus I ever bought. She was a bugger, chasing the others away & bossing everyone around, but now that she is gone, I miss her.
Mongo had paired up with another female, Hendrix (a blue turq) and they would lay eggs together every fortnight or so. Yes, strange names I know, but I didn't know they were 'girls' until the eggs started popping out....
So, Hendrix (or Mrs Hendrix) is now missing Mongo - it is a very sad sight....
I only have 3 discus now. A large spotted leopard, Sidney, is trying to mate up with Hendrix, pecking order is changing My other discus, a very small runt, a turq. is just doing what it always does, 'hiding/surviving.
So the story of what happened is.... on Sunday I decided to have a good clean up of my tank. I pruned the plants, & replanted all the baby corymbosa, did my usual water change, etc. Then I thought the tank looked a bit bare. So I went into my garden to retrieve & piece of decorative driftwood I'd taken out months before, to dry off all the algae, and decided to put it back in my tank.
Well, I thought it was ok, it had been sitting up high on a wall in my garden & would be fine to just put straight back in.
I woke up 5.30am Monday morning, and MY GOD, all my discus looked dead. They were almost motionless and lost most of their colour. I freaked out. Big H2O change straight away, air bubbles full on, charcoal, purigen, you name it. they responded quickly. Only two cardinal tetras died at that point. The discus were all up again, except MOngo. She got burnt from the heater & I think the shock of that helped kill her.
So, that wood, must have been contaminated with some sort of poison. I can only assume the neighbor had sprayed something, as I don't use any.
Be warned - never take anything for granted and ALWAYS use caution.
It is not worth it to loose a fish you love.
I really hope that by reading this message, someone will learn from my mistake.