Discus Doing Their Thing

[shawnhu]

Two of my 9 Discus has paired up, and recently started to get their act together. The male has been nudging the female for some time now, and yesterday, I saw the female trying to lay eggs on the silicone. These are exiting times!

[shawnhu]

Turns out they liked the un-utilized heater better. As soon as the eggs were layed, they were eaten just as fast. Maybe next time!

There was a weird turn of events, that larger fish that behaved like the male, turned out to be the female. I still haven't confirmed the smaller one yet, but I would imagien that it's the male, hopefully.

[pinkertd]

Congrats Shawn! I was thinking as I as reading your post that ummm....it's the female doing the nudging, not the male! And you confirmed that. The females are the feisty ones, the males just wait until the girlies are ready! LOL!

[sushiray]

how old are they? no pics? so you all your discus are doing fine after your long ordeal? hope so.

may I ask you some Q?'s on mine?

how do you handle some discus who don't eat?

how do you handle internal parasites? (i.e. at least I think some have as evidenced by some white poopy, some not eating, some sluggishness, some clamp fins, some rubbing their bodies, etc.)(not all are like this, just 2-3)

how do you get rid of white worms/planaria? I've been told harmless but still want them decimated! I w/c daily 20-50% & vac all the crap out at same time.

do you know what little very tiny white mites that move fast on the glass are (they act like they are on dry land!) which are not even affected by strong water flow? (also some on my discus' bodies just crawling around) - & how do you get rid of these? they aren't the initial stages of planaria are they?

also, how would you treat fungus spot on pleco in same tank?

hope you can help, thks Ray

[bigwave]

I think you better start a new ticket Sushi. That's a lot of questions.

Congrats Shawnhu, I hope they get it figured out soon. I hope to be in your same situation within the next year or so, we will see what happens with my little guys!

[shawnhu]

Congrats Shawn! I was thinking as I as reading your post that ummm....it's the female doing the nudging, not the male! And you confirmed that. The females are the feisty ones, the males just wait until the girlies are ready! LOL!

Debbi,

I read somewhere that the Male is the one that usually does the nudging, to encourage the female to lay eggs. I may have mixed them up somehow if that's the case. I also read that the males tend to be larger for Discus, again, not in my case here. I have still yet to confirm that they are indeed one male and one female. My worse case would be that they're both female, and that they're les!

*knock on wood*

Shawn

[snoopy65]

Congrats on the discus attempt!! Keep us updated as they progress.

[fishorama]

Congrats, maybe pratice will make perfect

[shawnhu]

how old are they? no pics? so you all your discus are doing fine after your long ordeal? hope so.

may I ask you some Q?'s on mine?

how do you handle some discus who don't eat?

how do you handle internal parasites? (i.e. at least I think some have as evidenced by some white poopy, some not eating, some sluggishness, some clamp fins, some rubbing their bodies, etc.)(not all are like this, just 2-3)

how do you get rid of white worms/planaria? I've been told harmless but still want them decimated! I w/c daily 20-50% & vac all the crap out at same time.

do you know what little very tiny white mites that move fast on the glass are (they act like they are on dry land!) which are not even affected by strong water flow? (also some on my discus' bodies just crawling around) - & how do you get rid of these? they aren't the initial stages of planaria are they?

also, how would you treat fungus spot on pleco in same tank?

hope you can help, thks Ray

sushiray,

They're all doing great, can't thank everyone here enough for the help.

By the sounds of it, looks like you have a few different issues. I'd start with the ones that are most threatening, like refusing to eat.

For those that refuse food, I'd seperate them from the group, increase the temp to upper 88+, and treat for symptoms. If it's Hex, treat with Metro at recommended dosages. I believe I posted my Metro dosages on my thread.

For internal parasites, you have two choices. You can carefully research on which type you have, or you can use a shotgun method. I would recommened trying to find out what they have before medicating. Usually, fish that does not eat, is affected by Hex or some other type of flagellate. This can be treated by Metro, but I've been told that it does not completely kill 100% of them, I don't think any drug can. The goal is to knock them back enough so that the fish's immune system can get a kick-start and fight them off naturally. Lowering stress and a healthy diet will allow your fish the best fighting chance.

The white worms/planaria are indeed not harmful. If you wish to get rid of all of them, you can clean the filter, followed by a 90% water change to get rid of most of them. Their return will depend on how you feed your fish. Usually, worms are present when there's a spike in ammonia. Overfeeding, or having food stuck in the filter will cause a slight spike, and the worms will flurish under those conditions. Depending on what I feed, and how much, sometimes I turn off my canister filter until I see that all the food is consumed, and resume the canister. Be careful not to forget and leave the filter off, that's not good either. Feed less in quantity, but more frequently. Are you running a BB tank, how about some clean-up crew?

Regarding the mites, they may be harmless, or they can be parasites if they are attaching to the Discus' body. I have similar water life forms, but they are non-parasidic. They hang around the Java Moss and feed off the green algae in the area. If you feel that they are harmful, then you can most likely treat them with salt, but make sure there are no inhabitants that are sensitive to salt, such as most catfish and plecs.

Unfortunately, I've never owned a Pleco before, so my experience with them will be limited. If it's indeed fungus, I'd QT him and treat with anti-fungal medications. Usually salt is pretty good at combating fungus, but since it's a plec, salt would probably do more harm than good. You can up his water changes to keep the fungus from spreading, but I'd treat with an anti-fungal and probably an anti-bacterial med. Fungus is usually a secondary condition, so you'll need to treat the primary cause as well.

Good luck!

[shawnhu]

I think you better start a new ticket Sushi. That's a lot of questions.

Congrats Shawnhu, I hope they get it figured out soon. I hope to be in your same situation within the next year or so, we will see what happens with my little guys!

Thanks bigwave.

I've had them since Dec31, so it's just about 8 months. They were about 3-4 inches when I got them, so I would say they're just about 12 months old.

[shawnhu]

Congrats on the discus attempt!! Keep us updated as they progress.


Congrats, maybe pratice will make perfect

Thanks guys!

[pinkertd]

My girls are the nudgy ones. I only have one male so he's quite in demand. When one of the females is ready, she goes after him. If you have at least one male in the tank, the females will pick him out over females. So let's hope one is da boy! Also, take a look at their tubes next time. The female's tube is longer than the males.

[shawnhu]

Looks like my Blue Striations are doing their thing now too. I believe they are Jack Wattley's strain. When it rains, it pours!

[kyryah]

Nice! Hopefully we will see baby pics very soon.

Kristina

[shawnhu]

Two nights ago, I noticed another batch of eggs on the thermometer, but thought nothing of it. Figured it would be the usual, lay it, eat it.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the eggs were still there! The behavior of the parents changed, more protective. Last night, I was able to see some white ones, but most of them were Orange.

Both the mom and dad are starting to fan and protect the eggs. I would expect that this batch won't survive, since there are other Discus in the tank.

[fishorama]

Oooh, exciting!

[sushiray]

lucky you! & after you had so much trouble early on! good for you! I am still going thru some issues & some have stunted already. I am disappointed I made so many mistakes. so glad to hear yours are mating. happy times!

[marl_nyc]

grats on the spawn shawn... saw on your post on simply about the spawning cones. I was at Golden Aquarium in woodside today browsing around and they hava a couple for sale. It wasnt tagged but they have it. Did not want to ask around too much. They had a wide selection of flowerhorns but other than that very dissapointing. The water conditions and of their livestock lets just say was very very very dissapointing. I would just take the cone and leave right away.

Also I found another fish/pet shop on Rooseveltave right underneath the 7 train on 74th st. Its called Coral Aquarium and they have a wide selection of fw fish and equipment as well. Good for browsing around. Got me an old book by Hans Frey on The Fresh Water Aquarium for $2. good reading and info... especially on the plants.

Again hope this helps...

Marl

[discus_lover]

nice ,go ahead...

[shawnhu]

Thanks Marl! I'll have to visit those stores some day, life's been busy lately so it'll have to wait. Appreciate it though!