Discus Eyes

[jcarlilesiu]

I have 6 discus in my 56 gal. column. I have had them for about 3 months and everything is going well. I do 50% water changes once a week and monitor my Nitrate to not exceed 15 ppm as well as monitor my other levels.

The fish are currently fed Wardley flakes in the A.M. (mostly for my lone catfish) and then a varied diet of blood worms, brine, mysis or beef heart in the evening. They always have a cucumber on a clip to munch on also.

I expressed concern regarding one of my blue diamonds a few months ago because of dark coloring and whitish splotches (not ich). He has since been doing fine and his color is once again stunning and beautiful. I still see white splotches here and there but im not as worried as I used to be.

The reason Im writting this is because of his eyes. They are all black, showing no red like the rest. I understand that this is caused by stress. I did some research on eye coloring and what it means, but turned up no good result.

Anybody with some information regarding weather or not I should be worried about this would be appreciated.

He is the only discuss that hides more, and he is picked on alot by the others. At first I just thought they were establishing their pecking order, however I see him chased more often than any of the others. Not sure what my other options are for him/her.

*edited for confusing content

 

[jcarlilesiu]

ok i waited several days, and no responses.. i hate when that happens.. possibly BRIANNYC hasn't seen this yet?

 

[triazole]

sorry about that. i was hoping someone more knowledgeable than me would chip in.
IMO, there's always going to be a weakest discus in the group, which'll be picked on the most, and might be runted. it's just a course of nature. if the water quality is fine, and stocking levels are (obviously) fine, then i'll just let them be.

 

[Thebluyak]

a 50% wc once a week is pushing it. Discus need PRISTINE water as they are succeptable to disease very easy. That would be causing the stress. Are they juvi's or adults? Is the tank bare bottem, planted, fake planted. But I cannot stress enough that a 50% once a week is not going to let them grow and be perfectly healthy. I would suggest a 50% on tuesday and then another 50% on saturday IF they are adults. If it is barebottem I would atleast gravel vac everyday. I know discus owners who do 40% wc every other day and gravel vac everyday.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

These fish are juvies. I have read very differeing information regarding the necessity of these water conditions as you describe. Some people recommend daily 100% water changes, and some very successful discus keeps recommend 50% once a week.

The reason why I have cut back on my twice a week water changes, is due to the adverse effects on my plants. By conducting water changes that often, I have virtually no nitrates in the tank, and my plants show massive amounts of defeciences. Also, with water changes that often, algae is getting out of control from things bottoming out.

Due to the fact that all the fish are healthy , active, and growing at a steady rate (except one), I feel i want to continue in the maintenance as I currently am for the benefit of the tank.

The only reason why I made this post was to understand if its possible for a discus to not show red in their eyes, yet still be healthy as this one appears to be. He shows no body discoloration, seems to be growing and eating, yet his eyes are troubling.


I realize that there are very differing information regarding the keeping of discus and their sensativity. I don't want this to to turn into a thread regarding these differences of discus maintainence, only a discussion on their eyes, and the behaviors of them as warning signs. In my eyes, the tank isn't broke as this is the only instance of a red flag, and has been this way for a couple of months. Everything however is stable, looks good, so Im going to stick with the, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality.

 

[Thebluyak]

Yeah see I never actually owned discus, i just did research on them for about 3 months before getting them and then opted out for space reasons. Yes it is possible not to show the red eyes, diet will play a large role on that. Are they showing stress bars constantly? Occasiounally? If you think you are losing nitrates to water changes you can get some dry ferts and dose nitrate, its what I have to do. Also are you getting in the substrate and plants very good whenever you gravel vac? That will play an issue on water quality and will affect the stress levels and the color patterns. All of this kinda ties in together but I wont lecture you on how to care for your fish cause if youve kept them alive this long you seem to be doing a good job. : )

 

[BrianNY]

I haven't been around for a few weeks or I would have responded to this.

IME the eyes of a discus are the first sign that water quality is an issue. It's very difficult to raise juveniles in a community tank (or a tank with gravel), simply because they are even more sensitive then adults. You may not realize it, and you certainly can't see that DOCs are building in the water. Anything that gets trapped in the gravel will hasten the situation. PWCs are the only way to remove this problem and if you have gravel it becomes even more critical.

If it were my discus I'd quarantine the fish for a few weeks. Eliminating the stress of being picked on and improving the water should bring it back to full health.

 

[Thebluyak]

Thats the first thing that came to my mind to Brian was water changes