Dark Bars On Discus

Clay, I agree with anonapersona to an extent. You do need to do more water changes... or, at the very least, increase volume to at least 50% weekly. I do 2X weekly 40% water changes; I would do more except for the possible negative effects on my plants. My discus (1 juv, 1 adult) don't show ill effects from it, BUT, my tank is planted, so some of the problem chemicals are sucked up by the plants (such as nitrate).

Djlen,
I would avoid buying fish from the lfs... most are culls from asia. Great Lakes Discus gets rave reviews over at simply, so you might want to check them out.
 
Well I suppose I will start doing larger water changes...up to 50% a week. More that one time a week is pretty much impossible for me :)
 
I convinced myself also!

LOL, I'm glad you will increase the water changes, after I wrote that info on "days of waste" I got to thinking about it and decided that I was uncomfortable with my fish in 3 days waste. I have rather a lot of fish in that tank and though they do not look at all crowded now, they do eat quite a lot. Nitrates at the end of the day were about 15ppm, not too bad, but could be better.

So, I've increased my water changes to 50% per day. I can only age 18 gallons, so I have to use some water straight from the tap. Actually I use the whole bucket, down to the level where the pump starts sucking air, then I turn the hose on into the bucket mixing the new water with the few inches left in the bucket while monitoring the temp and adding dechlor to the bucket. My tap pH is very near the tank pH, though that may change during the winter, so right now I don't need to age the water to allow the pH to settle, the aging I do is really just for allowing the chlorine to gas off and I can treat for that if I need to.

But the fish were looking happy when the water change was over, no stress at all, so I highly recommend the bigger water changes to you also, if the tap water is not much different than the tank water. If the tap pH is very different, you may need to look again at the more frequent water changes.
 
djlen said:
A question.....where did you guys get your Discus? I'm starting to get the bug again, but have no idea where to look. My LFS's got them, but they don't look that good, and the prices are ridiculous.

Len
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I got mine from a local breeder, Gulf Coast Discus. I bought them very small and will sell off some before Christmas.

Where are you located? On SimplyDiscus and DiscusAsAHobby you can find many breeders and hobbiests that are breeding or slimming down their stock and selling fish of various sizes.

It is best to go pick out your fish in person if possible, internet sales are tricky as it is hard to establish just what the quality is that you are offered. Some outfits have steller reputations, most keep the best and sell the rest.
 
Yes, that's been my philosophy on fish period. But especially for Discus, I want to see their body structure and habits in the tank before buying.
I would want to watch them for a while before buying. Can't imagine buying Discus by mail.
I've been to Simply Discus many times, but DiscusAsAHobby is a new one for me. I'll check it out.
Best for me would be to find somebody in S. Jersey or close by.
Thanks for the tip.

Len
 
djlen said:
..... Can't imagine buying Discus by mail.... ..Len
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Central Florida might possibly be the worst place to find quality Discus! We got lucky and found our 8 nice Discus from www.adiscusdream.com

Kind of scary buying fish online. I understand that....

Edit:
The website seems to be down -- or maybe they are not around anymore. I think they were in Ohio...
 
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PumaWard said:
Clay, ...., increase volume to at least 50% weekly. ....
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We have been doing fine with 30% weekly water changes with R/O water. I'd prefer around 50%, but our R/O water container holds only around 40 gallons.
 
I would want to watch them for a while before buying. Can't imagine buying Discus by mail.
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I understand... but often times, buying online is the only way to get them at a good quality. For instance, the nearest hatchery to me is in Conn (wilddiscus.com), and LFS fish are usually less than desirable (more often than not, diseased).

The safest bet would to buy from a reputable breeder. Check out simply and DAAH, most good breeders should be on them as well as any bad breeders anyone's bought from. Like I said, http://www.greatlakesdiscus.com gets rave reviews over at simply. Also, make sure that the breeder will stand behind their fish; many good breeders will.

We have been doing fine with 30% weekly water changes with R/O water. I'd prefer around 50%, but our R/O water container holds only around 40 gallons.
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Yeah, I understand that completely. There's not much you can do about it unless you mixed with more tap, or get something that does a bigger job, etc.
 
I did my first 50% water change today. I don't think the fish were to wild about it. One of discus turned dark, but has since reverted to his normal coloration with bars. Next week I am going to attempt to keep the temperatures similar to the water that is already in there. :)
 
RO plus WHAT?

You must add some minerals back into the RO water, you can't use it alone, it is not at all safe to use all RO water. Either buy something like RO Right or mix some tap water back into the RO water to get a reasonable KH to maintain pH stability.
 
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