HITH ?? Pics att.

[sammigold]

Hi, this is my prob...... my blue diamond (yes! him again!)

He is always the first up to eat.... hanging around begging for food... and yet he looks grey not blue..... and he seems to have a couple of little white pitty looking holes near his "nostrils". (they look like nostrils dont they? LOL)

anyway here are some shots of him... I was hoping maybe somebody could make out what the problem is.... he is up and down like a yo-yo... but never stops eating!!!

see what I mean about his colour!

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/100_3508.jpg

Can you see the little dots on his "muzzle"?
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/100_3509.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/100_3512.jpg

Is he skinny???
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/100_3514.jpg

I would really like some advice as I hate looking at him grey, when he was so beautifully blue a few months ago!!!

[sammigold]

also my water parameters

ammonia and nitrite 0
ph - 7
nitrates a little high but nothing more than he has always had.... between 20-40

All his tank mates are in excellent condition... laying eggs etc... (thats another story...LOL)

He also doesnt really seemed to get aggressively bullied and he has him moments where his eyes are extremely bright orange and he seems his normal colour and he will have a go at one of the others.... He changes about at least 4 or 5 times a day.... Im like... "oh hes fine now!.... oh he's on a 45 degree angle.... oh hes good again,... oh hes grey..... oh he's..... well you get the picture!

[Mulisha]

Hey sammi this might sound werid but i have the exact same probelm but it thought it might be normal can't wait for a reply i know what you mean if you get really close to ya fish you can see really tiny holes and then you can see his norstrils there more obvious. I can't wait for someones reply because i would happy to find out what it is.

Cheers

Rick.

[samir]

those are nostrils Sammi, fish use them for smell. as long as the're only two you should be okay :D or is it four ??? i think its four :?

[Bronx19]

They are normal, my fish have them too.

I believe they are called sensory pits.

[samir]

oops i didnt read it properly.... :oops:

[sammigold]

thanks guys... ok so they are normal... thats cool... I wonder about all the colour changing etc then could that be something else...he is more often than not "Grey" these days instead of blue... and often has these "moments" of very weird looking behaviour....where he goes even paler and clamps up and starts to stay on an angle and then goes back to normal....

any ideas anyone??

[Mulisha]

I have no idea sammi my fish died about 3 days ago from a unknown cause something werid going... :shock:

[Mulisha]

Here is a pci when he died you can see something on his laterial line but not sure what..

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9265/picture024kq2.th.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture024kq2.jpg)

Hope you don't think i'm hijacking ur thread.. :oops:

Cheers

Rick.

[Phlipper]

My Blue diamonds behave in exactly the same way, when they are blue they are great, but most of the time they are dull and ordinary, most disappointing :( I have been told as they mature the colour will remain more permanent, let's hope so. I guess this is the reason the Blue Diamonds are one of the cheapest Discus species to buy as they are not consistant in colour, at least when young.

[Bronx19]

How young are you talking Phlipper?
[/quote]

[Phlipper]

Age unsure ???, but both my Blues are about 3 inches in size so I guess around 4 months ???. They are currently out in my fish room in hope to grow them faster, their colour is still intermittantly drab even in a tank by themselves.

[sammigold]

Unfortunately I dont think I can blame my colour probs on age... Have had this guy for just on one year so he's at least that old.. I dont know how old he was when I bought him (I was a total newbie then.. now I am a one year noob)


I do think that it is something to do with him not really being a quality fish in the first place.. but I would like to think that he would at least look blue like he did before...(he was looking fantastic for a while and I thought I had done well.) Now I feel like a failure as I cant work out whats wrong!

Dont worry Rick, I dont think you are hijacking and if someone can help you on this thread as well as helping me I will be extremely happy. I am sorry that your fish died and I understand completely your wish to find out why... sorry I cant help with that... but maybe someone here can.. heres hoping.

[Bronx19]

My fish are 3-3.5" and only in the last few weeks have they coloured up to what I would call, 'discus standard'.

Have you checked to see that the lighting isnt washing him out? I know mine look extremely different under two lights I have.

[sammigold]

I will check, but I dont think its that because he has always been in this tank with the same lights yet previously he was a really bright blue/green colour and now he is just grey most of the time....

but I have thought about the lights because I know that blue diamonds in particular are "reflective" fish.

[samir]

Sammi my blues turn greyish when i get lazy with the water changes or stressed. i recently moved two and they turned a dull grey colour, so i moved them back and they turned blue the second they hit the water. so maybe its just water or stress.

[Phlipper]

My blues used to be in with the rest of my Discus, and their colours were all over the place, so I moved them about 1 month ago into a bare bottomed tank in the fish room with 50% water changes every 2 days....and still no consistancy in their colour, they tend to act more like Chameleons than fish :?

[sammigold]

Well he could be a bit stressed as he does hide a bit but other than getting rid of the other discus there is not much I can do.... they dont act unbelievably aggressive towards him in fact I dont really see alot of agro in the tank at the moment... (my blue turq is in another tank at moment being fattened up with little runt boy. the turq was the one that was always getting bullied big time!) anyway I will keep persisting,... see what I can do...