Help! Newly added juvenile discus turned black not eating

I just added 4 turquiose discus to my 75 gallon planted tank with Amazon Swords and Dwarf Sagitarrius. After having all four in a bag for an hour long car ride, I acclimated the fish by adding water to the bag and floating for an hour. I then added the fish right into the tank because my quarentine tank is only 5 gallons, though it might be too small. Initially it looked ok but didn't eat that much. Over a few days it started to turn darker, almost a black, and stayed behind the plants or in the corners. Today, which is fifth day it's been in there, it looks real black and skinny. I also saw it scraping it's gills on some plants and i still haven't seen it eat anything.


I tried turning up the temperature a bit, from 82 to 84, but didn't want to do it to drastically. Is this normal when adding new discus? This is the first time i've had any discus so I really don't know what to think. I added a video of the fish from the back corner but it's pretty rough. Thanks!

try leaving the light off for 24hrs and then offering a bright colored food like frozen blood worms.

also you mentioned your tank is planted, are you running CO2? if you arew turn it off for a day and add an airstone to oxygenate the water, once he settles in you can turn the co2 back on.

Sounds like they are not adjusting to your conditions too well. Can you post your water parameters?

What is your water change regime?
The flicking sounds like flukes, so might be worth treating when sure of this.

Hollowman

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Originally Posted by Hollowman

Sounds like they are not adjusting to your conditions too well. Can you post your water parameters?

What is your water change regime? Hollowman

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X2 please check & post your water parameters, including what you have been adding to the water in the way of fertiliser etc for your plants.

As well as Hollowman's suggestion of flukes it could be irritation due to something in the water, first thing I'd check for is the ususal Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate

Before adding them i did a 30% every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. I put them in on 6/14 and did a 20% change on 6/17. I've been adding wardley 3 in 1 conditioner which keeps the ph pretty consistent at 6.8-7.0 After testing today;

KH is 60 ppm
GH is 100 ppm,
Nitrate at 25 ppm
nitrate and amonnia 0

The temperature was a consistent 82 but i turned it up a bit on 6/18 and since then it's been 84-86. It's been doing a bit better since turning up the temperature.

For the plants i have flourish root tabs and have been adding seachem liquid carbon. I have had a hair algae problem for a few weeks now but added phosphate removers to the marineland emporer 400 and it's gotten a little better.

The car ride over was pretty long though and i think they got stressed by that. The other three are doing well though except for nipping and chasing each other. I figured this was some sort of socialization/dominance thing?

OK a few things:

Im not familiar with Wardley 3 in 1, but with a quick search I found this:
"it will buffer your tank's pH, neutralize harmful ammonia and eliminate chlorine and chloramines" "Wardley 3-in-1 Water Conditioner is compatible with ammonia test kits using salicylate reagents. Do not use with Nessler reagents." it's possible your ammonia test may have a wrong result. if your not sure I recommend a large waterchange.

Your Nitrate is on the high side, but given its a planted tank it's OK and your temp is fine.

You are in the danger period for your new discus arrivals, they have been stressed so any bacteria / parasites etc they had before now have an opportunity to take over. Given that plants are cheaper than discus to replace, I would consider reducing or even eliminating the liquid carbon and any other chemical additives for the next week or two while your discus recover, and to remove whats already in the water a large waterchange wouldn't hurt.

bullying is probably adding to the stress for the one hiding, try feeding them with something exciting like frozen blood worm, or even live black worms and watch thier behaviour. I know other keepers refuse to feed live black worms due to the worms possibly harbouring all sorts of nasties, but I have had success getting a stressed hiding discus to eat by squirting a few live worms in front of them, it's like chocolate or something for them.

I didn't know that about the wardley 3 in 1, thanks for the info. I'll have to get some salicylate reagents to test for that.

I did a 50% water change today and stopped using any plant additives. It's still hiding in the plants, looks pretty black and it's fins are pretty torn up. If it is a bacteria/ parasites, should i take it out and put it in the 5 gallon quarentine to treat with medication? Could it be caught by the other fish?

It's been a week now so putting him in his own tank at this stage sounds like a good idea, 5 gallons is fairly small so I'd do frequent waterchanges while he is in there. i take a conservative approach to medication, since my experience is I have done more damage by panicking and medicating and my best results have been isolating and providing top quality water. Adding salt to the 5 gallon tank will also help recovery without adding any additional stress that harsh medications can sometimes add.

If it's bullying related stress then just being in his own tank with good quality water may be enough for him to recover, you say the fins are torn up - does it look like damage from the others attacking him or does it look more like the fins are rotting away at the edges?

stick him ito your hospital tank, do DAILY water changes (2x daily if you can) round the 75-90% mark.

the super clean water should help him recover, while he's in there, offer VERY small ammounts of food as often as you can, watch his stools, if they are long and stringy white he'll proably have worms, if they are short and fat and white he'll proably have hex, if they are good and firm and dark (or the same color as what ever you are feeding him) you dont have to worry about an interanl infection.

As DIYjunkie said salt will help, 1tsp in your 5 gal will be plenty.

is there any chance you can put up a photo of him?

It looks more like the fins are rotting away at a the edges, it's the biggest of the four in there so it hasn't been chased that much. I'm gonna hopefully move him to the 5 gallon tommorrow but i wanna let the water cycle for a bit after changing most of the it today.

I put him in the quarantine tank just now with 1 tsp of salt. The other fish, mainly two who are looking pretty healthy, were chasing it around a lot. Since adding it it's been in the corner mainly. Although i've taken pics, i guess they're too big to attach but i'm trying to find a free zip download or something.

Out of the three fish in the tank now, two are getting some color, eating well and chasing each other a lot. The third is the smallest and has been hiding, breathing heavy, not eating that much and has been heavily chased by the other two.....very similar to the other one. I'm thinking of getting a 10 gallon to take this one out and put the two sick ones in together, would this be a good idea? Any ideas for when i should try to feed the one in there now? I appreciate all the advise, hoping things will turn around.

dont put 2 sick fish in a 5 gal tank unless your willing to do a water changes every 4-6hrs, the ammonia will go through the roof, it wont be much better in a 10gal, i've treated 2 fish in an 80L (20gal) but thats as small as I'd go.

try feeding your isolated fish now, keep offering small quantities od varied foods and hopefully he'll start eating again.

I put some frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp in with it, but as i was doing that i noticed what looked like two small balls of what looked like fungus or ich or something just above it's right gill. Could this be a confirmation of a parasite infection? Should i treat it with meds? It's been more active and has some color since being added to the 5 gallon last night, fins are looking the same though.

Well unfortunately, the fish died earlier this morning. Thanks for all of you help to try to save him, i think he was just too stressed from the long car ride.

sorry 'bout your fish, that's terrible news :( :(