Discus problems, help

[JustinKScott]

I have had a single turqoise discus living for 2-3 months in my 180gallon community tank. Up until a few days ago; he was happy enough. Meaning he would turn dark around once-twice a day for a few minutes but was growing and would always eat with the group. My wife and I decided we would cater a bit to him, and are building a really unique planted 70gallon for him (and a few more to come later).

Problem is my community has started to turn on him in the last couple days. The new discus tank is started, but as its custom, some parts are here some aren't; basically it won't be ready to hold water for probably a month... let alone cycling.

I pulled him out an put him in my hospital tank, which unfortunately was torn down therefore is not cycled. Its a 10 gallon with a marineland bio-wheel filter. So I pulled out some g-nodes (G6 bio-balls) from my 180 and shoved them in the hospital filter. I took the sponge filter from my breeder tank (unfortunately full right now), and put it on the intake. Pulled a bamboo shrimp and a cory cat from the 180 to keep the floor clean(-er).

But still I cannot keep my ammo in check. Nitrites @ zero, Nitrites just very low, seemingly to be starting to rise. My ammo rises 1-2 ppm / day; so I do 2-3 50% water changes / day just to get it <.25ppm. (I aim for <.25ppm as I don't think without a 100% change I can reach 0ppm w/o a working bio filter.

Starting today, I'm changing the hospital tank water with water from the 180, I don't know if that'll help the cycling process... but I can't think of anything else.

There is gravel on the bottom of the tank, perhaps it is generating ammo? I forgot to clean it before moving him to the tank. Should I remove it?

Is my discus just a dead fish swimming? He is always dark, and not eating. Is there something I can do that I'm not? I'm about to put him back in the community and let him take his chances.

Thank you in advance.

 

[roydooms]

I have had a single turqoise discus living for 2-3 months in my 180gallon community tank. Up until a few days ago; he was happy enough. Meaning he would turn dark around once-twice a day for a few minutes but was growing and would always eat with the group. My wife and I decided we would cater a bit to him, and are building a really unique planted 70gallon for him (and a few more to come later).

Problem is my community has started to turn on him in the last couple days. The new discus tank is started, but as its custom, some parts are here some aren't; basically it won't be ready to hold water for probably a month... let alone cycling.

I pulled him out an put him in my hospital tank, which unfortunately was torn down therefore is not cycled. Its a 10 gallon with a marineland bio-wheel filter. So I pulled out some g-nodes (G6 bio-balls) from my 180 and shoved them in the hospital filter. I took the sponge filter from my breeder tank (unfortunately full right now), and put it on the intake. Pulled a bamboo shrimp and a cory cat from the 180 to keep the floor clean(-er).

But still I cannot keep my ammo in check. Nitrites @ zero, Nitrites just very low, seemingly to be starting to rise. My ammo rises 1-2 ppm / day; so I do 2-3 50% water changes / day just to get it <.25ppm. (I aim for <.25ppm as I don't think without a 100% change I can reach 0ppm w/o a working bio filter.

Starting today, I'm changing the hospital tank water with water from the 180, I don't know if that'll help the cycling process... but I can't think of anything else.

There is gravel on the bottom of the tank, perhaps it is generating ammo? I forgot to clean it before moving him to the tank. Should I remove it?

Is my discus just a dead fish swimming? He is always dark, and not eating. Is there something I can do that I'm not? I'm about to put him back in the community and let him take his chances.

Thank you in advance.

Hi. Discus likes to be in a shoal of 5 or more. They feel safer that way and other fish might not even bother them. What else do you have in the tank? Discus shouldn't be fighting for food with the other fish for they take their time when eating. They can not compete with faster fish. That will cause stress and discus will lose weight. With the 180g you can get more than 5.. With what's happening in your 10g now is basically like you are doing a fish-in cycle. Looks like you already know what to do to keep your parameters in check. I would stop using old tank water from your 180 and putting it in the 10g. Your just adding more nitrates and there is not much bacteria in the water column or if there's any. Since you've been doing PWC, why not vacuum the gravel? If you'll take out all the gravel, it might just stress the discus even more. I'd leave it there and Just clean it. How about getting some gravel from the 180g? That will make the cycle faster as well. For now your best bet would be doing all the PWC until the 10g cycles.

 

[JustinKScott]

It's been over 10 days now. Tank is completely cycled. Discus is still alive, has some/most of his color back, his color stays consistent all day, and is eating (quite a lot more than "usual").

Looking back I'm glad I made this change. He seem quite a bit happier than before.

Thanks to Roy for helping me out in my week of need.

 

[roydooms]

Glad to hear your discus is doing a lot better

 

[JustinKScott]

Wow. Wow.

This morning discus decided to lay eggs! She is alone, so there is no chance for fry. But what a big change from expecting her to be dead any minute!

Also, a big change from the 'him' I thought she was for as long as I've had her