37 Gallon Discus Tank Thread with Pics
- Thread starter FairfaxDiscus
- Start date
Hi there! joining this thread late in the game so forgive me if some has been repeated.
I am a re-born discus owner (had some over 25yrs ago) & I made quite a few mistakes that I hope I can share so others will not make the same.
1. QT all fish - trust no one, not even your own cross tanks!
2. b-4 buying or trying something new or changing your maintenance or whatever, ask away on these forums cuz there are many many experts/pros out here to help us & to minimize our mistakes & to help us thru our problems
3. your discus purchase I feel was not a good one. the LFS are not really good discus keepers, they are sellers no matter what. emaciated, oval shaped, dark. next time when you want to buy ask the forum members. I would say buy from reputable sellers - & you get what you pay for.
4. I agree on meds for parasites/worms. I had them went thru a tough time but finally got thru it (loss 1 of 15 juvies).
5. W/C frequently (espec. with gravel substrate) I have a bare bottom with 3 cosmo glass graveled cups of plants which in itself collects a lot of debris so imagine a tank full of gravel how much grit is collected/deposited. bare bottom not so pretty but with my cosmos & driftwood better than nothing but also easier to maintain. & no gravel vac! tho I still vac the heavier poopy doop!
6. overfeeding & less w/c leads to planaria also, which I experienced also.
7. discus need to be in groups, many recommend min. 4-5. I bought 15 & mine all peck each other - no one is overly dominant but even the smallest juvie dukes it out with the bigger boys! but I didn't mix any other fish, not even pleco or catfish. just a nice tank of discus. so in-fighting is natural more so with less discus.
8. don't recommend canisters (espec. fluvals) as they have tendency to back wash cruc (stuck in the coiled tubing) + they cost way too much $$$. I recommend AC's (110 or min. 70).
9. www.kensfish.com one of the best highly recommended suppliers (espec his foods) + prices are excellent & shipping costs very reasonable
10. good luck & enjoy!
forgive me if many of this has been said - I wanted to share my probs & how I was helped by other members.
Update
I can't say it enough: thanks for all your feedback, comments, praise, and suggestions, I take it all into account. So it's taken some soul-searching as to what the future of my Discus keeping will be and I believe I have come up with a good plan. First thing is to fight some parasites! Several people said it's likely the fish have worms and so I've started treating that now. If I can get them successfully past that, it will dictate my next steps.
Treatment
I have the water temp up to 89 F and I'm adding Kent's Garlic to everything I feed. I just purchased the Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated fish food. Active ingredients are 1.0% metronidazole, .4% levamisole (both of which have been recommended to me by members for fighting worms), and .5% praziquantel. I was also told feeding them medicine is one of the best ways to treat the fish directly without hampering water quality. Of course now the issue is getting them to eat it. I am taking a small amount of tank water in a glass, adding the pellet food to the water and adding two drops of garlic and let soak. Then I pour it all into the tank. This doesn't really interest them much, I can't say I've seen either of the discus take in a pellet without spitting it back out. The directions say to use this food exclusively for 3 days a week for four weeks but if they don't eat it, this will make them even thinner. The obvious answer is to try a few more times and if it continues not to work, treat the tank. So that's what I'll do.
Future Stocking
If and when I buy more discus, I will try Hans-Discus in Baltimore. I have read he comes highly recommended, knows what he's doing and has a great selection. Also, it's an easy drive for me.
Maintenance
I've been sticking to a strict schedule of 70% water changes every third day. The water is crystal clear now and the parameters are steady. Beside the medicated pellets I'm feeding frozen mysis, frozen bloodworm, and frozen beefheart each once a day for a total of three feedings per day.
Tankmates
Get a load of how fat that one rummy-nose is! He is the Alpha of the pack and never stops eating.
I can't say it enough: thanks for all your feedback, comments, praise, and suggestions, I take it all into account. So it's taken some soul-searching as to what the future of my Discus keeping will be and I believe I have come up with a good plan. First thing is to fight some parasites! Several people said it's likely the fish have worms and so I've started treating that now. If I can get them successfully past that, it will dictate my next steps.
Treatment
I have the water temp up to 89 F and I'm adding Kent's Garlic to everything I feed. I just purchased the Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated fish food. Active ingredients are 1.0% metronidazole, .4% levamisole (both of which have been recommended to me by members for fighting worms), and .5% praziquantel. I was also told feeding them medicine is one of the best ways to treat the fish directly without hampering water quality. Of course now the issue is getting them to eat it. I am taking a small amount of tank water in a glass, adding the pellet food to the water and adding two drops of garlic and let soak. Then I pour it all into the tank. This doesn't really interest them much, I can't say I've seen either of the discus take in a pellet without spitting it back out. The directions say to use this food exclusively for 3 days a week for four weeks but if they don't eat it, this will make them even thinner. The obvious answer is to try a few more times and if it continues not to work, treat the tank. So that's what I'll do.
Future Stocking
If and when I buy more discus, I will try Hans-Discus in Baltimore. I have read he comes highly recommended, knows what he's doing and has a great selection. Also, it's an easy drive for me.
Maintenance
I've been sticking to a strict schedule of 70% water changes every third day. The water is crystal clear now and the parameters are steady. Beside the medicated pellets I'm feeding frozen mysis, frozen bloodworm, and frozen beefheart each once a day for a total of three feedings per day.
Tankmates
Get a load of how fat that one rummy-nose is! He is the Alpha of the pack and never stops eating.
Good plan :thumbsup:! Sometimes it takes a while for new food to catch on, my fish actually like the medicated flake from angelsplus.
How's the bullying? Looks like you rearranged things a bit. Oh it looks like Mrs Rummy to me
How's the bullying? Looks like you rearranged things a bit. Oh it looks like Mrs Rummy to me
Bullying
It's still there, I did spread out the driftwood so they could have 3 distinct places to be and get away from each other. Thing is they don't really get away from each other, so maybe they aren't that bothered by bullying. I haven't seen any physical harm to the fish and they aren't being chased and held into corners or anything. So maybe it's just the way they interact? I think the Turq is leaving the BD alone more now that the BD has gotten noticably bigger. Anyway, my plan is to watch out for any intense bullying, and let their current interactions go for now.
It's still there, I did spread out the driftwood so they could have 3 distinct places to be and get away from each other. Thing is they don't really get away from each other, so maybe they aren't that bothered by bullying. I haven't seen any physical harm to the fish and they aren't being chased and held into corners or anything. So maybe it's just the way they interact? I think the Turq is leaving the BD alone more now that the BD has gotten noticably bigger. Anyway, my plan is to watch out for any intense bullying, and let their current interactions go for now.
I say good plan too! And you are seeing the difficulty of getting medicated fish food into fish that are not eating. As you are already aware that fish with internal parasites spit regular food out as a symptom of having the parasites, they are not spitting the new food out because it doesn't taste good, that symptom will stay until the parasite is gone and they feel better. So while medicated food is terrific to work on the parasites, I strongly doubt they will. You would have a better chance of them eating it if you were treating early on in the infestation. This infestation has been going on quite some time. The discus are very, very thin. Parasite treatment is rough on the discus to begin with so I think the longer you wait in their current state, the weaker they become. I would urge you to not wait much longer to treat them with parasite meds designed to be added to the water column. They still have a little fight in them as evidenced by them bouncing back a bit from your redesigned care regime. But those parasites have been sucking the life out of them for a long time now. Even with parasite treatment directly to the water column, it is still going to be difficult to overcome successfully. Remember, the higher the tank temperature, the faster their metabolism is. At 89F, their metabolism is in high gear and they are burning up anything they eat extremely fast. Chances are the fish have either hexamita infection or nematode infection and possibly both which will require rounds of different med treatments. Hard to know for sure without a microscope examination of the fishes feces.
As for the bullying, it is perfectly normal in young discus. They usually do no harm to each other during juvenile bullying. Just keep an eye that it doesn't get extreme. The last two juvies I added to my tank were blue cobalts, one chased the other the entire time they were growing out. The other one tolerated it well and wasn't stressed at all, although I held my breath for a long time with it. Now they are adults and are inseparable in the main tank.
As for the bullying, it is perfectly normal in young discus. They usually do no harm to each other during juvenile bullying. Just keep an eye that it doesn't get extreme. The last two juvies I added to my tank were blue cobalts, one chased the other the entire time they were growing out. The other one tolerated it well and wasn't stressed at all, although I held my breath for a long time with it. Now they are adults and are inseparable in the main tank.
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Fishorama
Good call on the Ms. Alpha Rummy-Nose. Right after I read your post I went to the tank to observe and they had just started doing the magic dance. 3 males would not leave her alone, it was behavior I had not ever seen out of them. I had to go to work and now that I'm home, I see she's a bit thinner now and they have stopped "dancing". I can't see eggs anywhere in the tank so if there were any, I assume they've been eaten. Don't think I haven't spent a lot of time today researching Rummy-Nose reproduction. I'd like to get a tank for the eggs if it happens again. Anyone know how often they do this once they've started? Any tips from those who have bred Rummy-Nose?
Pinkertd
I hear ya on starting sooner than later with water column treatment. Obviously they won't eat the pellets and this is only making the issue worse so I also picked up water column treatment for parasites and will begin dosing tonight.
Good call on the Ms. Alpha Rummy-Nose. Right after I read your post I went to the tank to observe and they had just started doing the magic dance. 3 males would not leave her alone, it was behavior I had not ever seen out of them. I had to go to work and now that I'm home, I see she's a bit thinner now and they have stopped "dancing". I can't see eggs anywhere in the tank so if there were any, I assume they've been eaten. Don't think I haven't spent a lot of time today researching Rummy-Nose reproduction. I'd like to get a tank for the eggs if it happens again. Anyone know how often they do this once they've started? Any tips from those who have bred Rummy-Nose?
Pinkertd
I hear ya on starting sooner than later with water column treatment. Obviously they won't eat the pellets and this is only making the issue worse so I also picked up water column treatment for parasites and will begin dosing tonight.
What parasite TX did you get? I think I'd start with metronidizole for protazoa like hexamita. But it doesn't get all kinds of parasites, none do. Plan on having to treat longer than is recommended too. What dosage?
Fishorama
I bought Jungle Parasite Clear Tank Buddies http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/214480/i/1/product.web
I just put in 4 tabs as recommended for 37 gallons. It fizzes like alka seltzer and has metronidazole like you said. I'll wait 48 hours, do a 25% water change and dose again as recommended. Then, 72 hours from now I'll do my normal 70% water change and use carbon for 24 hours and be on my regular schedule. Will monitor for success, if not, I'll try again with a different product.
I bought Jungle Parasite Clear Tank Buddies http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/214480/i/1/product.web
I just put in 4 tabs as recommended for 37 gallons. It fizzes like alka seltzer and has metronidazole like you said. I'll wait 48 hours, do a 25% water change and dose again as recommended. Then, 72 hours from now I'll do my normal 70% water change and use carbon for 24 hours and be on my regular schedule. Will monitor for success, if not, I'll try again with a different product.
increase water flow/aeration when using fizz tabs as it is CO2 based & your fish will need increased O2. maybe add another airstone.
