My discus jumps

adzigogov2001

adzigogov2001

FILTER FREAK
Dec 12, 2005
37
0
0
45
Skopje, Macedonia
Help please my discus(avatar) is 15 cm , and since yesterday startet jumping and hiting the top glass, it has 3 bruses so far. I covered the AQ (like cages for canaries) and it slowed down.
I dont know what the problem is, i changed the filter and now there is mold on the food(on the ground) and its flying around the AQ. I cleaned the gravel, and changed the water, with aquatan(sera).
Help this is my first in 8 years.
 
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you may need to do some medication if the fish got affected by any fungus or parasites that may cause the excitement...also test the water and what size is the tank?
 
Well. the Aq is 200liters, the filter is 4 chamber 40 liters, flow is 500 liters per hour, air suply 6 watts on full.
I've treated the water with sera aquatan, and when i suspected amonium(ph is 8) or nitrit/nitrate poisoning, started adding sera nitrivec(says on the bootle instant destroyment of amonia/nitrite + beneficial bacteria) double dose, there is no fungi or other parasites(at least to the naked eye), some guys sayed that it was from stress- little girl hit the Aq(full force) and they cornered them selfs for a day, after that I was changeing something and the neon exploded preety loud, after that, this problems started. The other fish 3 red tourquise, 2 cribensis, 4 corys, 1 toracatum, are acting normaly.
The 2 biggest discusses one 15cm(avatar), other 10cm(red tourquise), are acting this way.

When I suspected poisoning strated doing reaserch, and every where sayed that all the fish should be affected not only the 2 discus.
Since yesterday they calmed down, but when I aproach the AQ he panics, but doesn't go hiding, He jumps directly at me, He looks me in the eyes and jumps preety hard, his head is missing skin. It is like he is trying to attack me or anyone that aproaches the AQ.
I do 10% water changes per day, dont feed them, and all I can say is that he is for a mental facility. When he starts jumping it affects the other discus and as I sayed the other jumps to, and the other 3 go into deep hiding, they dont eat or nothing, I've added humin(black water extract) sera super peat to lower the ph and hardness.
Today I'm puting the lights back on, and to tell you the truth don't care anymore if he hits himself to death. 4 days now I can't get any sleep, I've been waching him like a baby, avery time he hits I get up from bed to check up on him, and no more.

If anyone expierenced this kind of bahavior please reply.
 
Discus get skittish and/or hide when the number of bacteria in the water increase. You have a relatively heavy bio load on your tank for its size, and your water change percentage is rather low, which may have allowed that parameter to deteriorate to the point where you are experiencing this problem. Making 10% changes, even daily, leads to a high percentage of "old water" to "new water" (if you work out the mathematical series you will see what I mean).

So I would do a few major water changes (40%+) immediately, and then increase your water-changing to 25%+ per day. If that's too much water to change daily, increase the percentage (say to 30%) and do it every other day.

Lowering the pH to six or lower will also reduce bacteria counts, but fiddling with water chemistry too dramatically can create unstable conditions, which are almost as bad as what you are currently experiencing.
 
harry is right, you need to find a stable compromise for you and the fish's water. it cannot be a sudden/ drastic change because it will be very stressful to your fish. try toying around with mixing tap water and R.O. water to get a ph of 6.5-7, Kh 4-7*, gh 4-7*.

you may want to look into getting a new tank, and more discus... they feel much more comfortable in a group of 3 or more.
 
I have 5 discus, various size, from 5 to 15 cm, 4 small corydoras, 1 toroakatum
Started lowering ph and hardness with Sera super peat.
I don't thing that the Aq is small. its ~210 liters= 55.5 galons. If thats small for 5 discus, then the hell with them.
Tested the water for amonia, nitrits,nitrates , its, 0,0, ~20 ppm.
Cleaned the filter ( it's 40 liters=10.5 gallons) lot of dirt came off.
So the water is stable.

Maybe it's some parazite, Does somebody knows which parazite causes this kind of bahavior?
 
Using peat to change your water chemistry may or may not do any good at all, depending on your KH, which you have not listed. You did mention that your pH is 8, which generally indicates a high GH and KH, which means that treating with peat will not create stable water conditions, but rather, if it has any effect at all, will cause the parameters to bounce up and down, which will be bad for the fish.

It does not require a parasite to cause the behavior you are seeing. High bacterial counts (which, as I said before, are a likely byproduct of your low percentage water changes), are a much more likely cause. Your mention of the stuff you cleaned out of your filter also indicates that your maintenance regimen needs some improvement.

Before you spend a lot of money on medications treating imaginary parasites, you would be better advised to increase your water changes, stop fiddling around with peat (as it probably isn't doing you any good), and clean out your filters (without disturbing their biological function) more frequently.
 
I have to agree with many here.

i would increase the amount of water you change..try upping it to 20%-30% for a few days your younger discus should benefit by the increased amount. on a 55 that's only 10-15 gallons per day.

I noticed what looked like small dark spots on one of my discus(looked like he was sprinled with pepper) I upped the water changes and within 4-5 days all the spots disappeared and the color returned.
 
Yes the tap water is pH 8 gH is 20, never tested kH but I shoud.

For the super peat with 30 % on 2 days water change. the ph is 7.2 gh is 10.
And the most important thing of all is no more saporelgia, fungi ......
In my first post I sayed that there is saporelgia on the food, and that is my first time i saw in 7 years.
Finaly found the cause, it ---- was the active coal.
As for the peat I meet I guy who spawns discus with the peat in the same f...ing tap water.
--I wrote a letter to the water company and a e-mail, and finnaly went to talk in person. And the assitent director words were(he is an aquarist) we shold thank god because amonia/nitrit/nitrate is 0, 0 , 5 and that is spring water(60 springs. I never knew this) so never mind the hardness. And because is spring water he sayed that they add chlorine only during the summer period. And in summer the water is hardest, in winter is softest with gh 10. All the labaratory reports will be sent to me in 2 weeks.
 
You will want to pre-treat your water changes with peat in a separate container before adding it to your tank, or the values will bounce around between what comes out of your tap and what is in your tank, and that will not be good for the fish.
 
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