Yeah, I'm not big on rescues of any sort, but this one just really worked out. I stopped at an lfs, which I rarely go to anymore, and saw they had (3) 4" discus for sale. One had ich, another looked like it was surviving, and the third looked pretty near death. The tank next to them had a smaller discus, maybe 3", that was already dead.
So I called the one employee over and told him that the one 4" discus was going to end up like the 3", but I would take it & try to help it recover if possible. But I also told him I wasn't going to pay for a fish that had a better chance of dying than living. To my surprise, the guy said I could take it home if I wanted, since his boss actually told him earlier to remove it from the tank.
Alright, so now I have this really banged up discus. It appears fine, minus the fact that it is lethargic, kind of floats rather than swims (if you know what I mean?..), and is obviously under extreme stress - it's entirely brown with the even darker vertical stripes... not sure on what strain it's suppose to be, but the tank listed red scribble & snakeskin.
If anyone has any recommendations on how to help this discus recover, if it's even possible, I would appreciate it.
The store tank looked to be about 50g, had the light on, and one relatively large floating plant, and a single large piece of driftwood. Unfortunately, the best I have for the discus is a 10g quarantine that I can set up with the help of my already established tanks. I am going to take a Whisper Power filter (10-20 gallons) from a tank that is using two, and put it in alonge with a spare tank heater.
The store employee told me they were using RO for water changes, to try and keep the pH between 6.8 and 7. My pH is neutral.. I am going to throw in whatever plants I can, keep the tank light off... I guess I'll even add some gravel.
If it manages to take food, I have a multitude of flake foods, frozen bloodworms, and some fresh brine shrimp.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance...
So I called the one employee over and told him that the one 4" discus was going to end up like the 3", but I would take it & try to help it recover if possible. But I also told him I wasn't going to pay for a fish that had a better chance of dying than living. To my surprise, the guy said I could take it home if I wanted, since his boss actually told him earlier to remove it from the tank.
Alright, so now I have this really banged up discus. It appears fine, minus the fact that it is lethargic, kind of floats rather than swims (if you know what I mean?..), and is obviously under extreme stress - it's entirely brown with the even darker vertical stripes... not sure on what strain it's suppose to be, but the tank listed red scribble & snakeskin.
If anyone has any recommendations on how to help this discus recover, if it's even possible, I would appreciate it.
The store tank looked to be about 50g, had the light on, and one relatively large floating plant, and a single large piece of driftwood. Unfortunately, the best I have for the discus is a 10g quarantine that I can set up with the help of my already established tanks. I am going to take a Whisper Power filter (10-20 gallons) from a tank that is using two, and put it in alonge with a spare tank heater.
The store employee told me they were using RO for water changes, to try and keep the pH between 6.8 and 7. My pH is neutral.. I am going to throw in whatever plants I can, keep the tank light off... I guess I'll even add some gravel.
If it manages to take food, I have a multitude of flake foods, frozen bloodworms, and some fresh brine shrimp.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance...
