Discus help!

[DIY_Dad]

Hi Fellow Aquarists, 6 weeks ago, we added 12 discus fries(1.25" to 2.25") from a local breeder (Boston MA tap water) in our 75gal planted community. (Let me just share that this gentleman gave us 8 "runts" that was below his standards because of our interest in attempting our hands on discus!)

Chemistry has been stable; 7.6 pH, 0 ppm for Ammo, NO2, and NO3 at around 78 degrees. Our plants have been pearling, we gravel vac daily for loose detritus, everyone has been active and eating extremely well!

Now, 3 weeks ago, we lost one of the smallest discus fry, followed by a second 5 days later. (The first two fries had physical deformities; one had a missing eye, the other deformed gill plates.) A third fry died a week after and today our fourth.

Now, Today's fry had a slightly bulging belly and what appeared to be white, curly and stringy fecal matter from its anal area. I had noticed one of the live larger fry (2.5")with a similar white strand 2 days ago, which raised some concerns for the tank.

Should we treat the whole tank, and for what...what would be the ideal medication for a planted community with shrimp and snails? TIA

 

[Brookster123]

Dude... no.... all wrong. You need to do your research before buying anything really but especially discus. Growing out juvies requires a bare bottom tank, for 8 a 40b. 3-4 daily feeding with atleast one 90%wc a day. 2 is better. You dont just plop and drop these fish into a community tank. They also like it hot, 82-84. Not a community fish. Whos the guy? I'm in dedham

 

[DIY_Dad]

Dude... no.... all wrong. You need to do your research before buying anything really but especially discus. Growing out juvies requires a bare bottom tank, for 8 a 40b. 3-4 daily feeding with atleast one 90%wc a day. 2 is better. You dont just plop and drop these fish into a community tank. They also like it hot, 82-84. Not a community fish. Whos the guy? I'm in dedham

We've done our research and even consulted with Gabe at Wattley discus. We explained our tank parameters and neither he nor the breeder had any issues with us adding the fries into an established 75gal planted. We are running a 560 gph overflow into a 20g sump, 25 micron sock, then through 4" of poly batting, over a sq foot of ceramic media and u/v sterilizer. They are fed 3-4x daily with beef heart mix, flakes, freeze dried blood worms with no change in chemistry whatsoever.

I think the only question here is, since all 4 fries that we have lost are roughly the same size and potentially from similar batches...could they have had parasites? And how should I deal with treating the tank?

I understand that everyone has their own opinion when it comes to raising discus, and ours is certainly outside of that "common" norm. We feel that our tanks a pretty clean and our parameters have been extremely consistent, So please take our attempt with a grain of salt!

 

[Brookster123]

No, sellers say what you want to hear, you're killing those fish in that tank. Get them into a bare bottom 5 gal bucket with a heater and air stone and theyll be better off. They look terrible.

 

[Brookster123]

Ugh.. ruining my saturday man.. beefheart is like going to the bathroom in a toilet l, after you go, you flush, otherwise that toilet is going to get gross. Quick!! What's your wc schedule? How old is the tank? Temp? Gravel?!?!?! Show me a link where gravel us listed as a suitable substrate for discus, absolute worst actually. Yup, discus hardo melting on your thread. Everything you're doing is wrong. Literally everything. If they had parasites you'd see a visible sign. They look like they're trapped in an elevator with a Fisher cat.