37 Gallon Discus Tank Thread with Pics

[fishorama]

Glad they're doing better! Straight metro at a higher dosage may be needed, 400-500mg/10gallons for up to 10 days. Jungle usually doesn't tell the amount of active ingredients so it's unlikely to be enough. Main ingredient is salt. http://www.kensfish.com/medicationcombinations.html has pure metro (& lots of good food & equipment too)

Here's an article on hex/spiro that's very good (thanks Eddie on simplydiscus) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/spironucleus.php

Continued good luck!

 

[FairfaxDiscus]

Chrisinator,
I just use the filter in the Eclipse 3 Hood that's in my signature and there is a link earlier in this thread. Unless I'm removing medication, I run it with the provided carbon compartment cut off the mechanical filter.

mgarrido,
Yes, they are not nearly as easy to keep as other freshwater fish. I did some reading and learning before buying them but when talking to the LFS kid they thought I was ready after describing my tank and water and inhabitants. Which goes to your next point; I agree this "great LFS" is not great at all when it comes to discus. Nearly all of my knowledge about discus has evolved or changed since I started this thread. They shouldn't have encouraged me to buy them and I should have known better than to buy them. You know, they had just these two in a tank with some angelfish. Maybe I should have read more before buying, but you gotta pull the trigger eventually. And I think I've learned more faster than I would have if I just kept reading. I had read and read, but I really couldn't believe that a fish could require such maintenance. With almost every other commonly-kept fish if you keep the water decent and don't put grossly incompatible fish together you can keep them with moderate maintenance. Not so with discus, and I hope this thread helps the next guy. Funny thing is when I started this thread I genuinely thought I was doing ok and people would just say: "Nice tank, look forward to seeing updated pics as these fish get older". I've received a lot of help from this site and want the fish to do well, and in the end this thread is just a running log of my learning about how to keep discus. I still don't know everything I'll ever know about keeping discus, and neither does anyone else on this forum, I still have a lot to learn and I acknowledge that.
The rest of your points I know about, agree with, and I think have already been stated in this thread. I hope you keep watching this thread and are pleased with my progress as I learn, post, and throw my foibles to the masses for judgement.

R-Bishop,
Thanks, I haven't declared myself in the clear yet, but I will make a proclomation when I think I've made it.

j-gens,
I expect you to be reading closer yes, at the end of each medicating cycle I use carbon. I used fresh carbon for 48 hours after the last treatment and I'll do that again at the end of this cycle. I only waited 4 days between the first recommended dosing and the second. I hadn't heard about how long to wait and didn't feel I could wait any longer as the Turq showed no signs of improvement after the first round. So the Turq is eating well now, I'll stop the meds and give them a chance to live in clean water for two weeks to see how they recover. Thanks for talking about how long I should wait between medicating cycles.

fishorama,
Thanks for the supplier and the article. The HITH symptoms really look like what was ailing my Turq minus the "holes" and the oozing. He really wouldn't eat and would spit out whatever he tried, and as you all see, he is too dark. Also, I agree, I don't like not knowing the actual amount of what I'm giving, nice to see actual mg per dose. And thanks for the encouragement.

And now I give you latest pics:

 

[katana1200]

I must say there is marked improvement in these last set of pics. I have been folowing this thread for a while now and I must say your humility and willingness to accept the advice and critisim of knowledgeable keepers should be made the bench mark for how to conduct yourself on this site. I applaude your efforts and your attitude. Truely an example of what a learners heart should be. Thank you.

On a side note, I am convinced that untill I retire or become independently wealthy I will be content to enjoy seeing the fruits of others labors with healthy beautiful fish. I believe you are well on your way to that yourself. I would not be so bold as to inject any advice into this forum but only to offer words of encouragement. Keep up the great work!

 

[FairfaxDiscus]

Thanks Katana,

Very kind words. I do like to aggressively learn anything I don't know and I'm quick to recognize what I don't know. I think it's helping my cause that I'm also learning to take better pictures of my aquarium!

 

[pinkertd]

Looking better! Keep up the great work!:thm::thm:

 

[Star_Rider]

discus can be a handful when healthy even more so when they are not healthy when you get them
they do appear to be getting better.

keep up the good work.

 

[j-gens]

"j-gens,
I expect you to be reading closer yes, at the end of each medicating cycle I use carbon."

lol i must have missed that! everytime i come to check up on this thread it multiplies by 2-3 pages!!! lol good job fairfax this last round of pics does show that the fish have had significant improvement GOOD JOB!

 

[FairfaxDiscus]

Big Day

So look what I bought on CraigsList: a 55 Gallon with stand, heater, and filter for $55. Great deal right? I thought it was too.

Here's the thing. I went to purchase the hood, and other pieces I needed to finish it up to get it ready for my two discus and 7 more of their kind and realized that maybe I'm done with keeping the discus. For $300 in supplies and $350 in fish I would be spending $750 to commit myself to house arrest. Yeah, I can't keep 'em anymore. Going to take them back to a better fish store than I bought them at.
It's really not the money, I'd pay twice as much to keep these beautiful fish, but I travel for work and like to go on vacation for longer than two days so I've got to scale back to keeping fish that don't require so much maintenance.

I've already re-sold the 55 on CL.

So this ends the 37 Gallon Discus Tank Thread with Pics. I'll post the last pics of the fish here too. I'll start a new thread with fish that I've done more research on before purchasing.

Thanks so much for everyone's help. I hope you're not too dissappointed, in fact it's your help that has led me to this decision and I think it's best for the fish and the fishkeeper.

 

[Chrisinator]

OH SHWEEET! Hello new tank!

 

[ExtraHannah]

Good for you! Sometimes, the best thing we can do is admit we got in over our head. There are lots of much easier fish out there that you can eventually keep in your current tank and enjoy.

I'm a newbie too and I think your thread was a great educational tool, so thank you.

Once I got past the "wanting unusual fish" stage, I ended up with platy, neons and cory in my 27 hex tank. You know what? They are easy to care for and I just love that tank. Colorful, active and it didn't cost me an arm and leg to stock it!