Blue diamond discus accelerated breathing

[highlarnia]

Hello everyone,

Since I had 2 blue diamond discus, since they were one month old, they have had accelerated breathing all the time, they are now 4 months old and have grown about 3.5". They have not shown any signs of illness, they usually eat 5 to 6 times a day and I make 30% changes every two days. My tank is 20 gallons with Aquaclear 50 filter (sponge, aqueon bioceramic rings and matrix media) air diffuser stone, Temp 84.2ºF, pH 7 amonia=0 nitrites=0 nitartes<10 and there are only the two of them in it. What could be causing this accelerated breathing?

Thank you for your answers

 

[Andy Sager]

Hello everyone,

Since I had 2 blue diamond discus, since they were one month old, they have had accelerated breathing all the time, they are now 4 months old and have grown about 3.5". They have not shown any signs of illness, they usually eat 5 to 6 times a day and I make 30% changes every two days. My tank is 20 gallons with Aquaclear 50 filter (sponge, aqueon bioceramic rings and matrix media) air diffuser stone, Temp 84.2ºF, pH 7 amonia=0 nitrites=0 nitartes<10 and there are only the two of them in it. What could be causing this accelerated breathing?

Thank you for your answers

There are a couple of possibilities for the rapid breathing: lack of oxygen or poor gill structure. Since the fish have been doing this the whole time you've had them and they still have grown, the only way to really know is to first, check the dissolved oxygen level in the water. If it is poor, you can add an air stone to break up the surface more for better exchange of gases. Keep in mind that oxygen levels lower the warmer the water gets. If adding an air stone does not solve the issue, you would have to physically examine the gills to see if they are proper. Sadly, with all of the cross breeding of Discus to get different colors, fish can have physical deformities anywhere on the body. One way to eliminate this possibility is by if the fish were not breathing heavily when you purchased them. If they were store bought, did you notice them breathing heavily in the store's tank? If they were, it's more the fish. If they weren't, it points more towards their tank.
Keep in mind also that a 20 gallon tank is really too small for Discus. That's probably not the reason at this point but you should be prepared to either rehome the fish or get them a much larger tank.

Hope this helps.

 

[highlarnia]

There are a couple of possibilities for the rapid breathing: lack of oxygen or poor gill structure. Since the fish have been doing this the whole time you've had them and they still have grown, the only way to really know is to first, check the dissolved oxygen level in the water. If it is poor, you can add an air stone to break up the surface more for better exchange of gases. Keep in mind that oxygen levels lower the warmer the water gets. If adding an air stone does not solve the issue, you would have to physically examine the gills to see if they are proper. Sadly, with all of the cross breeding of Discus to get different colors, fish can have physical deformities anywhere on the body. One way to eliminate this possibility is by if the fish were not breathing heavily when you purchased them. If they were store bought, did you notice them breathing heavily in the store's tank? If they were, it's more the fish. If they weren't, it points more towards their tank.
Keep in mind also that a 20 gallon tank is really too small for Discus. That's probably not the reason at this point but you should be prepared to either rehome the fish or get them a much larger tank.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Andy for your quick response.
Thanks Andy for your quick response.
I bought them online, so they came breathing quickly and I thought it was from the stress of shipping, but they continued to breathe like that until today (that's what happens when you buy them without seeing them first). I definitely agree with you that it is due to some physical deformity in the gills. The rest appear physically healthy.
I would just like to know if this will shorten their lifespan.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks Andy for your quick response.
Thanks Andy for your quick response.
I bought them online, so they came breathing quickly and I thought it was from the stress of shipping, but they continued to breathe like that until today (that's what happens when you buy them without seeing them first). I definitely agree with you that it is due to some physical deformity in the gills. The rest appear physically healthy.
I would just like to know if this will shorten their lifespan.

No real way to know unfortunately. Those fish are working harder to breath so who knows what effect that is going to have on them long term. Do you have any other fish in that tank breathing heavily?

 

[highlarnia]

No I don't, just these two dicus in that tank. I have another one with cardinal tetras and rummy noses, where I planned to move them when they are older, but now I think it would be better to have them alone.