One of my discus Died and another acting weird.

[rking117]

Yes i am new to your forum. I lost one of my Discus today. Her name was Spock because she had a black dot on her head like she was wearing a cap. So we first though spot but then it literally came out as spock. Anyway, for those experts in the group here is one for you. My tank has been setup for a while.

PH - 6.4
AMMON - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
R/O - PH 6.4
GH is like 30
KH is like 30
R/O right set for Discuses
Temp 84.5 -85F
I have algae growing in the tank and have been cleaning it away over the past few days. I did a 50% water change as my weekly ritual and decided that i needed to check the health of my substrate guys (pleckos that live under the sand i just wanted to give them a cool name but never found one i liked so voila) anyway, I rooted around the tank to find them, the hard buggers to find that they are. Obviously, this stirred up a lot of silt into the water. I then replenished the water that I removed. The tank cycled for 24 hours and I noticed the water never cleared. So i started making more water and tried to figure out why we had a problem. After looking at the filter i noticed that the flow had been demished because of algae build up so i took out the inlet tubes and cleaned them. After cleaning them i saw that the flow was back to normal. I then took another water sample and got the following results. I also noticed that Sunshine was doing laps around the tank in figure 8s which i thought was weird.

PH - 6.4
AMMON - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
Temp 85F
didnt test hardness because there was no need.

I then did another water change to clear the water, and to make sure there were no other toxins that i would be unaware of which could cause them to freak. Shortly after the water change Spock started swimming sideways and upside down. I immediately quarantined her in another tank that i just setup quickly using the same water in my regular tank and in just over 4 hours later i was burying her in my back yard. :-( Spock was never a good eater because she was on the bottom of the pecking order. The funny part (or not so funny part) is i have a runt (well he is the smallest) in my tank and he owns it. He even shoves around the much bigger discus fish that are in there.

I am going to continue cycling 50% water daily and medicating for parasites/fungus (just in case) for the next few days.

Has anyone else had anything like this? Water is perfect! Temp is perfect! A little Algae but heavily airated to accomodate. Plus water changes frequently about every 5 days.

I miss my fish but i certainly dont want to lose more. Thanks everyone for your input. Is there some other test that i can do which i am not? I know there are mnay different types of toxins and testing for them almost requires you to be a Doctor.

 

[dkpate]

Are you using strips to test the water? If so, they are horribly inaccurate. Liquid test kits are the way to go, especially if you have a sensitive fish like a discus.
Did your tank go through the nitrogen cycle? (It takes about a month).
How long have you had the tank set up?
How long have you had the fish?
How big is the tank?
How often do you normally do partial water changes? (PWC)

 

[rking117]

Are you using strips to test the water? If so, they are horribly inaccurate. Liquid test kits are the way to go, especially if you have a sensitive fish like a discus.

No i am using a liquid chem test kit, i also got my water tested at my local fish store and they got the same results.

Did your tank go through the nitrogen cycle? (It takes about a month).
How long have you had the tank set up?

Yes i am long past that, about four months.

How long have you had the fish?

the one that died was only in my tank for about a month. When i got her she had had trauma (her fins were almost gone). I treated her individually and got her healthy to the point where her fins were normal.

How big is the tank?

46 Gallons, plenty big enough for the few fish i have especially since i do such frequest water changes.

How often do you normally do partial water changes? (PWC)

See previous post.

I did a 50% water change as my weekly ritual and decided that i needed to check the health of...

I am now on a parasite regimine just in case even though none was evident.

 

[dkpate]

I wonder why you don't have any nitrates if your tank is cycled? Do you have alot of plants?

 

[rking117]

I wonder why you don't have any nitrates if your tank is cycled? Do you have alot of plants?

Yes i have a few plants in the tank. It provides the Discus fish a place to hide in the event they get picked on regularly. I think i had a large amount of algae growing in the tank. I didnt see it until i drained a bit into a white bucket. then it was obviously green. I did a 90% water change and then treated for Algae and bacteria blooms. The water is very clear now and back to normal. All the fish are acting normal as well. I think they are hungry though because i found two neons half eaten yesterday. I am going to up their intake so they are a bitmore happy. Also after cleaning out the filters i found that the algae growth in the tubes was slowing down the water criculation so i think they were having a hard time getting oxygen even though i airate. Thanks for the responses.

 

[dkpate]

Glad they're doing better.