New discus

[abeld]

Hi i have recently bought 10 lovely juvi checkerboard discus from a breeder in Melb and i have put them in my tank which is a 4x2x2 and has a 1500 litters an hour as well as a air stone and a heater (300w) i have set the temp to be at 30 degrees. when i add the water for the first time i used tap water and after that i added some bio black, bio mini and bio safe in the tank and let it run for 4 days to let it mature.

know the problem is that the fish that i just got today are bunching up at the bottom far right hand side of the fish tank and staying at the bottom.

i have tried to feed them but they dont eat.

i dont know what it is, it might be just me i might be paranoid because this is the first time im keeping discus, but i dont want to stuff up.

so if you could tell me what i am doing wrong or what i am not doing at all plz let me know

thanks

[Hollowman]

First things first, was your filter mature? What are your water parameters? Did you try to match your water to your supplier? Did your supplier try to match your water? Are these fish in with other fish? Is the tank BB or planted? What water changing are you going to able to do? Photos will help a lot too.

Lots of questions here, please try to answer them as fully as you can

Hollowman :wink:

[abeld]

First things first, was your filter mature? What are your water parameters? Did you try to match your water to your supplier? Did your supplier try to match your water? Are these fish in with other fish? Is the tank BB or planted? What water changing are you going to able to do? Photos will help a lot too.

Lots of questions here, please try to answer them as fully as you can

Hollowman :wink:

OK, i think that the filter is mature i let it run for 4 days, i hope that, that is enough. my water parameters look good the ph is about 6.7. No i did not exactly match the suppliers water condition but i did do the exact same things he used which was tap water that he left to mature for 4 days. No my fish are by themselves. my tank only has gravel at the momnet. I am able to change the water everyday if necessary.

Sorry cant get photos as my camera is broken

[abeld]

First things first, was your filter mature? What are your water parameters? Did you try to match your water to your supplier? Did your supplier try to match your water? Are these fish in with other fish? Is the tank BB or planted? What water changing are you going to able to do? Photos will help a lot too.

Lots of questions here, please try to answer them as fully as you can

Hollowman :wink:

OK, i think that the filter is mature i let it run for 4 days, i hope that, that is enough. my water parameters look good the ph is about 6.7. No i did not exactly match the suppliers water condition but i did do the exact same things he used which was tap water that he left to mature for 4 days. No my fish are by themselves. my tank only has gravel at the momnet. I am able to change the water everyday if necessary.

Sorry cant get photos as my camera is broken

[Chafule]

4 Days isnt enough for a filter to mature.
To mature, bacteria needs to be established so it can break down nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. This usually takes a few weeks, but you can make this faster by "seeding" your filter or gravel by taking abit of gravel or filter media from an established tank that has been running for a while and placing it in yours.

I think what he means by matching suppliers water is accumalize your fish when you put them into the tank. This should be done to all living things going into your tank.

[abeld]

How much is a little gravel?

[bartek]

Your tanks has probably not cycled yet. This usually takes several weeks like Chafule indicated. Another thing is that even when you have a cycled mature tank you should only add live stock slowly. Adding 10 discus at once increased the bio load and the filter may not cope even if mature.

Can you tell us what the actual filter is, not just the turn over rate?

Have you tested the water for ammonia and nitrite? If not then you should get test kits for both and test the water.. High levels of either will harm you fish.

If I were you I would buy some type of bio starter such as Nitrivac and use that as directed on the bottle. This will help seed the filter.

[Merrilyn]

Oh dear ...............that's not good. Unless you want to have 10 dead fish by christmas, you've got a lot of work to do.

First of all, 4 days does not make a mature filter. Four WEEKS is closer to the time frame. Now you need to beg, borrow or buy some used filter media from the breeder or a fellow hobbyist who has a mature tank and healthy fish.

At the moment, you have nothing in your filter to remove the poisonous ammonia and nitrite that the fish produce as they breathe and pass waste into the water. These toxins will build up and kill your fish within a matter of days. A MATURE filter will convert these toxins into nitrate which is much less harmful to your fish.

Do an immediate water change of around 70% of the tank water as the ammonia is building up and that's why your fish are unhappy and hiding.

You're going to need to change at least half of the tank water EVERY DAY until you can get hold of some used filter media from a mature tank to supply your filter with a starter bio-colony to begin the nitrogen cycle.

Next you need to read, read, and read some more about cycling a tank. This subject has been covered many, many times in "Discus 101".

Forget about adding the so called water conditioners and get yourself a bottle of Prime made by Seachem which will remove the chlorine and chloramine from the tap water and render the ammonia less toxic.

And please ask lots and lots of questions. The members will help you all they can.

Good luck.

[bartek]

Yep water changes are the inportant thing here. Here is what I would do.

50% water changes every day.

Add Seachem Prime to the water before adding to tank. This is a brilliant product and worth evey cent.

Add Nitrivec (spelling?) to the tank after evey water change.

Consider buying some something like Seachem Purigen to help absorb the nasties from the water. Make sure you follow the instructions.

Turn the lights off for a few days.

[1fish2fish3fish]

Remembering the first post... "he bought those 10 Discus from a "Breeder"... something wrong there..
... Poor fish , 4 days ..never had a chance.. :( ... like putting a plastic bag over our head.. :shock:
I know old post ,just had to comment..

[abeld]

hey thanks guys for you responses but i thought it would have been best for me and for my fish if i sold them until i got the tank mature. Right now its been running for a month and a half or even a bit more than that and have just bought some neon tetras for 60 cents each which i thought was pretty cheap and added them to my tank (about 43). My question is, is it ok to add the fish in now? And also i would like to know a book that would be great for me a beginner, i would like something that will tell me everything i would need to look after them. Thanks, especially to everyone who was trying to help me, i feel so welcomed at this forum :D .

[Hollowman]

ok, good move getting rid of the fish.

You now need a good test kit. You need to check for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte, as well as Ph. Test all of these and post up your results. Do not get more fish until you have done this.

H

[Hood]

And also i would like to know a book that would be great for me a beginner, i would like something that will tell me everything i would need to look after them.

I've been reading a lot on these forums for a few weeks now in preperation for me ordering my discus in a couple of months time...

... and this seems to be the book mentioned time and time again:
Andrews Sohs Book "DISCUS The Naked Truth"

... I plan on trying to aquire a copy for myself, (correct me if I'm wrong anybody who actually owns this book) but I think this might be the book for you too, before you take the plunge again into your discus...

HTH

[Hollowman]

Andrew's book is a great addition to anyone's library. 'The Naked Truth' explains pretty much everything in a language that people from noobs to experts can understand.

I might be bias, as Andrew is a good buddy of mine, but for those of you who already have it, I would imagine that you would agree with the above.
On another note, look out for Andrew's 'new' book, I have been lucky enough to have been one of the first to have seen the draft copy, and it's another masterpiece, it should be available early this year.

H