Discus help!!

[Monkey Magic]

Hey guys got 3 discus yesterday and all they seem to want to do is sit next to the heater or hide under a piece of driftwood when i turn the lights on is this normal or is their something i should be doing. two have been eating one looks a little more stressed than the others ive dosed discuss nutrient, stress zyme even covered the tank for 2 hours after i let them out of the bag any advice would be great!!

 

[Mlani]

What's your tank temp? How long did you acclimate them and how? Drip? What size is the tank? What are you parameters? (ammonia, ph, nitrite,nitrates)

 

[Monkey Magic]

The tank is set on 28celcius which i think is 82f tests show ammonia 0ppm nitrites 0ppm nitrates are well under five but not 0 because i dose fertilizer tank is 44 gal and the discus are about 3 inches in size

 

[Monkey Magic]

Oh and ph is under 6.5 i also dosed bullseye which is a water softener that brings it all under 6.5 also they acclimatised for about an hour and a half probably wouldnt have done it for that long however something came up which i had to attend to. dont quite understand drip??

 

[Mlani]

How did you acclimate them? Any tank mates?

 

[Mlani]

How did you acclimate them? Any tank mates?

Edit *
sorry I missed your answer the first time around. Lol
Drip is where you have them in a bucket and run a tube from your tank to the bucket dripping water from one to the other slowly getting them used to the new tank water. How did you acclimate them?

 

[Monkey Magic]

in the tank is a school of ten neons tetras. i acclimatised them just in the bag they came in and putting in small amounts of water every 10 mins or so.

 

[Zactheninja]

You need to drip with sensative stuff like that.

 

[Mlani]

in the tank is a school of ten neons tetras. i acclimatised them just in the bag they came in and putting in small amounts of water every 10 mins or so.

Were they in the bag for an hour and a half? How long did you leave the lights off once they were in the tank? Is the tank in a busy area of your home? Lots of traffic by the tank?

 

[Monkey Magic]

ill remember that for next time!! yes they were in the bag for an hour and a half the lights where off for pretty much the whole night and then i even covered the tank for 2 hours and the only real traffic is me walking past them which dosent seem to bother them

 

[Mlani]

You got them yesterday? How is their color? They could be still trying to adjust to their surroundings. What temp were they being kept at before you got them? They might like it to be a little warmer. Between 79-84. I keep my tank at 83. Try turning up the heat a bit your cardinals will like it too.

 

[Monkey Magic]

their colors are pretty dark but then again they were dark when i got them i had the lights on for a little bit this morning and their colours actually got lighter and they looked good then when i was just about to leave this morning they just went back to being shy. i didnt ask what temperatures they came from

 

[Mlani]

If you can get a picture, post it? It's hard to tell without seeing them. If a discus is dark it usually means it's stressed or sick. A lot of them will actually turn blackish just before death. Not saying yours are close to that. Just that a picture would help to see whats going on.

 

[Monkey Magic]

gonna upload them now jkust have to figure out how

 

[Monkey Magic]

couldnt figure out how to upload to this thread but i put them in my album

 

[Mlani]

From what I could see the one does look stressed. (The black spots) Do you have tall plants in there? That provide a canopy for them? They like being covered from the top it gives them security. If you google images of wild discus you will see they come from heavily planted areas. Also really warm waters. I would keep the lights off and the room dark if possible, turn the heat up, put some tall plants in and watch that they're eating good. What are you feeding them?

 

[Monkey Magic]

I am getting some Hydgro or temple plant depending on what you call it this week sometime. I feed them frozen discus food i think its beef heart or something, discus pellets and I also have blackworms ill try and get some tommorow

 

[Mlani]

Keep us updated if there's any change. They are very sensitive fish. I'm hoping they're just stressed from the move and the acclimation was the cause. Next ones google drip acclimation or even check out the videos on you tube. It's very easy to do and is in my opinion the best way to acclimate these guys.

 

[Monkey Magic]

will do I really appreciate you replying so quickly. And ill definately keep you posted!

 

[Mlani]

You're welcome. Please do. They're beautiful fish and I'd love to see their colors as they mature