help save my discus

[zerosum]

made a thread earlier about discus not doing so well, he's still alive. Master test kit says water is fine. ph is the same as lfs. I know they should be kept in groups etc. I just wanna save this fish and either commit to a discus tank with a group or bring him back to the lfs. Here my question, he's in a tank with a few other fish (they're not disturbing him), should i take my kribensis out of my 25 gal and put the discus in there alone? And do you think kribs would bother a leaf fish?

[7itanium]

That all depends on what you mean by "not doing so well"

what are his symptoms?
how long has this been happening?
what are your specific water parems (numbers.. not just "their fine")

that info will be helpfull and im sure we can get you back on track :-)

[zerosum]

Had him for 2 days, first day was a light peach color now he's a dark purple. Breathing very heavy and rubbing against plants. ph 6.8, very soft water, 0 ammonia 0 nitrate temp 81F tank i was thinking of moving him to alone would have a lower ph of about 6.4 and isn't quite as clean. That tank currently is housing kribensis. His body looks to be in good shape (no holes spots fungus etc) He's just really dark and sluggish and breathing heavy. He ate some frozen blood worm earlier. But now he doesn't look good. Did a 30% water change and put in a less powerful filter and added air bubbles. He's in a well planted 55 gal with slow moving non aggressive tank mates

[7itanium]

are you using a proper water conditioner?

your levels seem fine otherwise-- where did you get the fish? its possible its just bad stock

the other strange thing is that most fish usually get lighter when they are sick, and yours is darker-- which leads me to believe its just shock

some salt for stress relief couldnt hurt.. do daily water changes and wait it out

[Fishy_Fun]

No nitrates?How long have your tanks been up?Rubbing on the plants suggest ick.Do you see what look like salt on your fish?

[7itanium]

No nitrates?How long have your tanks been up?Rubbing on the plants suggest ick.Do you see what look like salt on your fish?


rubbing on plants, or "flashing" CAN be a sign of ich... and it can also be a sign of HUNDREDS of other things

I never think ICH untill I see ICH... as stress, infection, and many other harmfull elements in the water can cause this behavior in fish


ALSO.. the reason the OP isnt seeing nitrate is most likely due to the fact that its a heavily planted tank... I have never seen nitrate in my heavily planted tank personally.. and I am stocked well


you could certainly be right about the ich thing- especially since its a new fish.. but I wouldnt jump into that conclusion quite yet unless you start to see it

[zerosum]

The water conditioner i'm using is aquarium solutions ULTIMATE. Removes chlorine and ammonia, destroys chloramines, detoxifies nitrite and heavy metal, replaces skin slime coat. This is actually a replacement discus the other died within hours but I'm positive that one was ill when i got it. It's been 2 weeks since I got the first one that I lost (which also made another of my fish die with little warning) but nothing else has shown signs of illness in that 2 weeks. I've done 3 water changes since including one I did tonight when I noticed the discus wasn't well.

[zerosum]

No nitrates?How long have your tanks been up?Rubbing on the plants suggest ick.Do you see what look like salt on your fish?

It's not ich, I've never had ich in this tank and it's been setup for 2 years (plus no spots)

[zerosum]

Yesterday
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/7026/discusyesterday.jpg
Today
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/6526/phpgx0ry9pm.jpg

[zerosum]

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/8/hippo_bump.jpg

[nickmcmechan]

it would be best to put in qt tank

also, 50% water changes daily until things get right

[pinkertd]

It's really hard to say at this point what could be wrong with him. LFS discus are more times sick than not. The flashing could just be as simple as the change in water for him being a bit irritating, so I wouldn't jump to the conclusion of ich. Do you know what the water params were like at the store? Is it possible your water is much different and he's not liking it? From the pictures, your discus is very, very stressed, no doubt about that.