Discus are tougher than you think.

Whew! That must have been quite a relief for you to have them survive! They are pretty expensive fish from what I have seen. I have heard a lot as well about how 'fragile' or sensitive they are, which is why I have never tried to keep them, but I have heard recently a few stories and situations in which they were kept in less than ideal tanks even on the long term and did ok.

Out of curiosity, I have also noticed that in just about every magazine and LFS I have ever seen discus in, they are always kept in a planted tank. Is there a reason for this or am I just not being observant enough?

yeah... i think people lable fishes delcacy by how quick they are to adapting to your tank.. true discus take a while.. but once in your tank.. they're there to stay just like alot of fishes

That's amazeing, AND VERY GOOD NEWS!!! I'm glad your discus made it!!! Recently on animal planet i saw an episode of animal cops where they rescued a SW reef tank that had been abandond for over a month (along with 2 igunas) What amazed me was not that the fish and etc. lived without food, but that 1/4 of the water had evaporated and the fish were still alive. I mean, i'm by no means an expert on marine tanks (far far from it) but my understanding was that salt levals were critical. How they survived the salt spike i dunno.

Man discus are very very sensitive. I have two and I am getting rid of them. lol Only because I worry too much about losing a $70+ fish. The other day I bought some Seachem Matrix bio media. I did not clean it well enough and some of the debris got into the tank. My red turq started acting as if he was dying. He pretty much just fell to the bottom and sat there. I was so scared....it's not worth it!!!!!lol

But if you can afford a loss ever, there beauty is worth the risk.

Wild caught Discus are rightfully notorious in their reputation as a demanding fish to care for, very intolerant of any water conditions not mimicing their natural habitat.
Captive bred Disus on the other and are fairly tolerant but still demanding.

Care must be taken with all wild caught vs captive bred species, wild caught will always be more demanding in their needs.

yah, wilds can be difficult.

if you can get your discus healthy, they can make it through all kinds of things. fish are cold blooded, so lowering the temperature for awhile doesn't affect them the same way as a warm-blooded animal. when cooled down, their metabolism decreases and they produce less waste. of course, staying in this state long-term is where the problems come

discus are sensitive to parasites. They get internal parasites and gill flukes easier than any fish i've seen by far. for many people, they never get clean fish in the first place, or they are too late in treating what they have and the discus never gets back to a good level of health. so then, combine that with drop in temp. and you could lose your fish, but for healthy fish - it's no problem, i've had it happen too.

That was quite a storm you had. Glad everyone is ok.

Joel