I have talked to many people at lfs who have kept discus for themselves and one has kept them for over 20 years!!!! He has tried everything, from 50% wcs a day to ten percents every two weeks. He said what he now does with the discus in his store (which are in a show tank with plants and driftwood and the look stunning and 3") is a twenty five percent wc every week.
My discus tank came down with columnaris and I lost 4 discus. When I asked him where I went wrong, he said. There's 5 main things that need to be perfect to keep beautiful healthy discus.
Water Quality
pH
Hardness
Nutrient concentration
Tank mates
Water Quality- obviously its the basic ammonia nitrates and nitrite, discus are sensitive fish and need perfect water.
pH- he told me pH is important because your fish will be more comfortable, they can be raised in higher, but they will be more colorful and active.
Hardness- same thing as pH. They can be raised in hard, but soft is best. The softer, the better.
Nutrient concentration- discus absorbe nutrients through there skin to produce their infamous slime coat. With out those natural nutrients they won't be as happy and more susceptible to disease. He recommended plants and a product called discus code. I have ordered some but have yet to try it.
Tank mates- He thinks the main reason why my tank crashed was because of the fish I had in with the discus. I had neon tetras, harliquen rasboas, Siamese algea eaters, etc. He said that unorganized movement stresses out discus and to limit yourself to one school of either cardinal or rummy nose tetras.
This is the advice I am currently following and I will give a report back in a few weeks to let you guys know what's going on. I've talked to three lfs owners and they all pretty much repeated each other. Lets not judge anyone because every tank is different and what they do could work for them great and be terrible for someone else.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Okay, here it goes. First of all, I never believe anyone from an LFS !!!! They are there to tell you what you want to hear AND they are there to sell you stuff you don't need. BOTTOM LINE. It's a way of separating you from your hard earned money. And it obviously worked on you. As far as his Discus in a show tank, with only 25% WC's every week, they (unfortunately) will remain stunted at 3" and never reach their full potential. Very disheartening I might add.
Then you go on to say that your Discus came down with columnaris and you lost 4 Discus. Well sorry to hear but know that you've learned, it could've been prevented. As far as you asking what went wrong and then his explanation about what they need, doesn't explain your bacteria issue.
Now, pH and hardness is part of water quality and as far as being more colorful and active, I call BS without even blinking. Yes, the softer the water the better. I believe I did say that before as well.
And on to the fun stuff "Nutrient Concentration". It already sounds like you're trying to sell something I don't need and won't use. Please explain to me the part again about "natural nutrients" because there is nothing "natural" in tank bred, domestic Discus. Plants, yes I can see that. But not even with wilds could I see any of that crap being put into someone's tank. Bringing me back to the "money separator" claim. You might as well go out and buy bottled purified water because that's all your getting. If it's not too late, cancel the order and get your money back.
Now on to the really fun part. "He thinks" is always a fun one for me. I'll tell ya right now it had nothing to do with unorganized movement. It was the columnaris (among other things) that you pointed out. It's a bacteria. It's found where high bioloads are present or where stressful conditions from overcrowding or low dissolved oxygen levels. What it boils down to is this. Besides having too many fish, the wrong fish as neons and SAE's are a poor choice since they (SAE's) will attach to Discus and suck off their slime coat causing a pathway for disease. And, probably not enough water changes often enough to keep the bioloads down on your overstocked tank. All because you didn't do enough research h before you saw these really awesome looking fish and just had to have them.
Now my question to you is how come there's been no mention from the local "pros" at your LFS's about QT ? That's probably THE most important step that has been omitted and this is my problem with the LFS. The most basic of steps is often so overlooked it's not funny. And it's actually been overlooked by your three experts and you.
Do me a favor please and do some more research. This time not at the LFS. It will benefit both you and the fish.
