Discus Discussion

[macman7010]

Brian,

I added a clownloach a few months ago to my disc tank, mainly to control any snail populations. Do you think this bothers the discus, the do steer clear of the loach.

 

[BrianNY]

I have 3 clown loaches in my discus tank. No problems at all.

 

[greenmaji]

I think I got an answer about skimming.. there needs to be some salinity in the water for a protein skimmer to work.. Im trying to find out how much..

 

[jason8612]

Ive been doing a bit of saltwater keeping in my time, and what I know about PS is this.

What it sounds like one would use is the air stone one ( the wooden block) What it does is it has very, very small holes and what happens when its in the water, the bubbles are so fine that it is able to "capture" the fatty oils (the mucus or oil on a SW tank) and bring it up to the top, breaking it down to what one sees as while bubbles. Its kinds similar to a jacuzzi filter in a way that if you dont clean the water after time, the oil from peoples skins create a yucky ring on the side and the bubbling from the jets create that oily bubbles.
The airstones run at 3$ at almost any LFS. Im sure ill try it on my new discus setup.
You can make you own PS with some PVC pipe, that airstone and air tubing and air pump and a PH to circulate the water. I made a 3ft one for my 150gal and even though I was over doing it a tad, I never had a problem. I dont see what salt would make a huge difference. Ill try it in the next few days simply by putting oil to a cup with my tank water and hooking up one of my spare airstones and see if I get anything.

Hopefully I explained something, and hopefully im right Ill let you know in a few days to see what I got. (My jacuzzi example involved no salt.....)

 

[greenmaji]

I just got a reply that the PS would be hard to get to opperate in FW because of the diffence in the size of the bubbles.. SW makes much smaller bubbles, creating more surfase area.. It seems like it could be tuned for FW though.. more air possibly? Im not sure.. :?

 

[macman7010]

Green Magi,

Sorry to not settle this delema for you earlier. I have tried using my protien skimmer from my SW tank on my fresh. Forget it, no point. It just does not generate any foam whatsoever.

 

[greenmaji]

does you skimmer have adjustments? Im assuming if it was tunned for your SW tank that it wouldnt do anything on your FW tank.. Im also assuming that a PS that is sold for SW use would not be adjustable enough..just a though..

 

[africamonk]

http://www.aquariumfish.net/pages/protein_skimmer.htm

 

[greenmaji]

It seems like that link basically says that the skimmer is too expensive for operation for a FW tank. :?

 

[macman7010]

Brian,

Thanks for the water change advice. When I was doing 30% changes every other day two of my fish were showing stress bars nearly all the time. I upped the changes the other week, as your recommended, to 30% daily. What a change! They all are more active and no longer showing any stress bars.

Now if only they would SPAWN!!!!

 

[BrianNY]

Great macman!! Be patient. They WILL pair off and spawn and then MTS will set in. LOL

 

[BillD]

With regard to protein skimming in fresh water, it seems it will work to a degree, but you will not get the brown foam you get from a SW setup. A clue to this, is the foam you get on the surface of the tank after a water change.The ultra fine bubbles coming out of the cold water bring all sorts of things to the top, which I try to manually skim off. A few years ago, in the old waste water treatment facility at work, they rented a giant 20' tall skimmer, that was fed ozonated air, and it radically reduced the DOCs. Whether it was the Ozone or a combination of the skimming and Ozone, I can't tell you. I do recall speaking to Joe Gargas a few years back, when he first went to Wardley, and he seemed to think there was a future for skimming in fresh water. It looks like it needs more investigation to see if it is practical and eonomical enough to warrant doing it. It is one of the things I was going to investigate, if I ever get the time. Right now, it is much easier to change water, and cheaper too.

 

[africamonk]

compared to the water/cost ratio, yes ... and it would take higher pressure to obtain foaming, since the FW is not as heavy as the SW, giving you bigger bubbles .......

 

[greenmaji]

I was not conserned with cost.. I dont see how skimming is all that expensive actually.. expesially if its DIY.. Im glad to hear that its possible in FW though BillD.. maybe it just needs more investgation..

 

[BillD]

I'm thinking that, if you can't build the column of foam enough to get it into a collection cup, then possibly another method of collection is in order. i guess more research is in order. I would suspect it would work better on something like a Tang setup than on the softer water of a Discus setup.

 

[greenmaji]

Skimming the waste out of the tube...maybe? or lowering the height of travel?

macman7010... hope the increased pwc's do it for you! good luck!

 

[greenmaji]

I understand that Discus can be aflicted with illnesses that other fish do not get..
You recomend a book but can the illnesses be discussed in this thread and still be on topic?

 

[BrianNY]

Of course Bill. Without writing a book discus will suffer more intestinal diseases and blockages than most other fish due to relatively short digestive tract. For this reason ruffage in their diet is essential.

They also seem to be more prone to a variety of gill infections. Parasitic, bacterial and fungal. Due to the high temperatures needed as well as the slime coat, if their water is not clean bacterial infections can be common.

Lastly there is the discus plague which I now know first hand affects angel fish as well. This is a viral infection which is highly infectious to some but not all cichlids.

 

[macman7010]

Brian,

I have moved one of my Discus a near adult White Butterfly to a hospital tank. This fish keeps his top fin clamped, spends almost all of his time in the one corner of the tank and has not eaten in some time. His eyes are clear and he shows not outward physical symptoms that would spell parasite, bacteria, or the other.

I put him in a 20 gallon hospital tank and treated him with Mela Fix, and some Para Pro I think its called, its a newer medication for external and internal parasites. Any ideas? Anything better I can do to treat him. Ive soaked some New Life Thera A in Vitamins and am hoping he will eat it.

 

[greenmaji]

Lastly there is the discus plague which I now know first hand affects angel fish as well. This is a viral infection which is highly infectious to some but not all cichlids.

ACK!! It can affect angel fish!! Can the angel fish become carriers?

macman7010.. I personally am a little concerned about using medications before knowing whats wrong with your fish.. Im certainly not trying to criticize it just concerns me.. Im curious about how BrianNY will respond..
Have you bought the Discus Heath book yet?