New to Discus

[Kev_sal]

I bought six 2 inch Discus yesterday and got them home with no problem. gave them some food (Frozen bloodworms) and they ate it up. This morning everything was fine and gave more food (Flake and Bloodworms) and they ate it up again. Today when I got home from work one was dead and the others have some red in their eyes that I did not notice yesterday. Two turned a little dark but they are still swimming around the tank, of the other three two are sticking together and the other hides. I have a Planted 55g tank with some Glowlite Tetras and six Amano shrimp. I did a water test and PH is 7.0, Amonia is 0, 7 DKH, Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is 20 PPM. I did some searching for "Red Eye Discus" but got nothing. This is my first time with Discus and I have been getting this tank ready for 5 weeks. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect before putting in my dream Discus. Any ideas or is this normal.

[becky_e]

I'm no discus expert, but I'm good at finding stuff on-line. This is as close to red eye that I could find:

http://world.std.com/~enjolras/symtreat.htm

He says it's most likely injuries, but you can check it out. The eye info is almost halfway down the page. Good luck with your discus.

[Kev_sal]

Goofy me. Your link had some great info in it but I did not find anything with my symtoms. I found a good web site, Sunrise Tropicals http://www.mrdiscus.bizland.com/index.html That had some Great Pics. They all had the same red eye's that I saw in mine tonight. I guess I just never noticed it before. As for the darker colored ones, After watching them for a couple of hours they are not hiding. I am hoping it's just "New Tank Stress". I Guess I just kinda freaked out when I got home and saw a dead Discus.

[becky_e]

I'm glad they seem ok :) That's good news!

[Captain Hook]

Have you tested for ammonia or nitrite? Discus are sensitive and reading any amount of either will be a problem.

[ChicoRaton]

I did a water test and PH is 7.0, Amonia is 0, 7 DKH, Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is 20 PPM.

easy with the canned replies;)

[wayne]

Red in the eyes is good. Dark and hiding might be bad. I would guess they're in a new home and they've never been in a group as small as five before so they're scared.
Good to hear they're feeding. Keep a good eye out for any signs of bullying. If this starts to happen (likely) you will soon start to lose fish one by one. One way to stop it is to put a single large discus in to 'keep them in line', there are others

[Kev_sal]

Not sure what you mean by "canned replies", Chico ????
I only have a 20 gallon bucket for water changes

[PumaWard]

What's the temperature? IME, it's the most important thing for discus health, especially juvenilles. I would slowly raise it to 88F (a degree an hour) if they're turning dark. Without a temperature of at least 84F, your discus's immune systoms will not be working properly and they are being subjected to disease. Add 2tbsp of table salt per 10g of water. Also, you nitrates are kind of high for discus. Most experienced keepers like to keep them below 5ppm, but I would say at least below 10ppm, so a water change is in order.


Keep a good eye out for any signs of bullying. If this starts to happen (likely) you will soon start to lose fish one by one.

This isn't always true. I added an adult in with all my juvenilles and he didn't do anything, and the bullying continued.

There is always a bully with a group of juvenilles, but as long as good temperature (at LEAST 84F for juvenilles) and good water quality are maintained nothing should come of it.

HTH, good luck and I hope they pull through, which I think you have a good chance.

Puma

P.S. You might want to check out http://simplydiscus.com/forum for more help

[TYPO]

Originally posted by Kev_sal
Not sure what you mean by "canned replies", Chico ????
I only have a 20 gallon bucket for water changes

i may be wrong, but, i think he was referring to Captain Hook.
and by caned replies, i think he may mean standard questions posted in any "help" posts.

~typo

[ChicoRaton]

ditto on the temperature. I forgot abotu the higher temps discus require. definitely make sure you're keeping it up around 85.

Oh and I was addressing captain hook when I said easy with the canned replies. TYPO was right. sorry for the confusion.

anyway try to keep things as stable as possible and the temps up, ammonia and nitrites down, and they should do fine. Good luck with the discus!

[anonapersona]

That nitrate is probably way more than they've ever experienced. Might be a stress. Good luck with them, it can be challenging keeping young discus healthy in planted tanks. Keep up on the water changes, use aged water if the pH varies much between tap and aged water.

[Kev_sal]

Thanks for all the replies. Everything seems to be OK now after a 50% WC. The temp was at 82 and I went up to 86. Two are still a little darker than when I got them home but all five just cruise around the tank now and come up to the glass when I come in the room. I am still confused on the Captian Hook and canned replies:confused: Again, Thanks for all the help

[PumaWard]

Great to hear they're acting better! :D. Keep an I on the two that are dark, something could be wrong or they could be just being pains.

If there's any minor skin infection, table salt might help. Add one or two tablespoons/10g water.


The 'canned' replies, I believe, are your run-of-the-mill questions when something's wrong in the tank, such as ammonia and nitrite readings.

Good luck, I hope everything turns out great!

[125gJoe]

Glad to see high temperature above 82 degrees was mentioned!

Keep an eye on the temps.... Try and do weekly water changes at the same temp... ;)