Discus trying to commit suicide :( ?????

[THowell]

:help: Hi all,

We are new to having discus fish and studied the care of these fish before we bought any. We have a 46 gallon tank that we cycled for 2 months prior to adding fish. The tank had four juveniles in the range of 2-3.5 inches. The fish had been doing fantastic until 3 nights ago, when I noticed that at least one of them was darting around the tank so forcefully that it was slamming into the sides and top of the tank. I first thought it was being chased until I saw that it was doing this behavior by itself. This behavior occured after a water change. We immediately checked the water parameters and they were as follows:

Ammonia:0
Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Water soft(tank has driftwood)
pH 6.9
Temp 86-88

The fish eat a variety of food...flake, bloodworms, brine shrimp, discus pellets.
So we did an immediate water change, but we lost 2 fish anyway. The remaining 2 seem fine but I will repeat a water change today. There are no obvious external signs of parasites and feces look normal.

Both fish that died had this "suicide" behavior of slamming around the tank...it was very sad to see.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[DaisyTattoo]

Are they being startled? If they are afraid it can cause erratic behavior. They could be dying from the force of slamming aganst the sides of the tank. Do they have anywhere to hide in the tank? Any plants?

[THowell]

2 large pieces of driftwood and many artificial plants(many hiding places). The tank is out of the way of normal traffic and when they did this behavior no one was around the tank. One died, and then 24 hours later the next one followed the same pattern. We have had them for 5 months and they were already eating from our fingers and were not the type of fish to hide a lot if that helps.
Thanks for responding so quickly.

[DaisyTattoo]

Hmmm....I wonder if there is a parasite that you aren't seeing. It sounds possibly like an irritation of some kind. Maybe gill flukes?

[musho3210]

try lowering the ph a bit more to maybe 6.5, that could help a bit maybe?

[wataugachicken]

if the pH has been stable, then it isn't the issue. maybe parasites. have you added any new live plants recently?

[jm1212]

it could be because your nitrates are a little high, especially for a discus tank. many people say that 20 is an acceptable number, but i like to keep mine around 10-12, and a discus tank should have even lower nitrates than that.

what other fish are in the tank?

[Star_Rider]

the nitrates should be okay..mine stay in it..what is your water change schedule?
are you on municple water? are you using a conditioner? if so what kind?

with young discus you should be feeding 3-4 X per day and changing water several times per week..30-40% each change out is not uncommon.
Did you examine the dead ones?

check for interank parasites..gill flukes is one to look for.
how do the gils look? how is their color? are they dark? are the fins erect?

are there any tank mates?

generally with discus the temp you have is fine..you may try adding salt.
but lets see if we can find out what is causing this.
do you have pictures?

[Derringer]

Yes, lower your PH if possible try to keep it between 5.5-6.5. You might also want to lower the water temperature 88 is getting warm - try 82-86.

Good luck!

[Star_Rider]

pH is only a problem if the pH is fluctuating..

I keep discus and they are fine at 6.8 -7.0

for young discus temps at 88 are fine...many breeders keep them there and discus can handle temps in the 90's. adults should be kept in temps around 84-86.

at the temp tho you need to make sure you have plenty of dissolved O2..water in these temps will not have the best O2 levels.

[jenny79]

It sounds to me like they got a parasite or disease maby from the change of water the last time if they were doing fine till that particular water change. I'm not sure what you have your tank heat set on but sometimes if you turn it up about 3-5 degrees until you get to a pet store to get a medication for parasites and diseases, the higher water temp starts to kill whatever is in the water but it won't take it away completely, and when u get to the pet store asl someone what they fell is the best solution, beleive it or not i have almost always used ich treatment for all kinds of parasites other then ick and it helped me, Or atleast call a local pet store owner and ask them what they think may be going on, also check everything and make sure its working orioerly from filter to heater, and after you treat your tank change everything to new inside the filter,like the carbon oe sponge or whatever you may use..good luck Jen

[Coler]

that does not strike me as responsible advice jenny79

[FishyMatty]

I've seen fish do that before. I was buying a buttikoferi for a friend and after it was scooped it did that in the cup and killed itself. You said they did it right after a water change. They were probably freaked out or something.