Discus & other cichlids with ICH/ fin rot
- Thread starter Smithmode
- Start date
I am going to agree with WarrendaFish,
This really is not an ideal situation for the Discus
Your temp is too low.
Ideal would be around 86*F. Lower and they will be prone to.....Ich and fin rot.
The tank mates are not ideal. The other fish will stress them out. Which will make them prone to Ich and fin rot.
Discus should ideally be in groups of 5+. If they are not, they will get stressed, which will make them prone to Ich and fin rot.
I think you know where this is going.
The way things are at the moment is not ideal for Discus.
Decide whether you want them, or the other SA cihlids, and then research that group, and take it from there.
This really is not an ideal situation for the Discus
Your temp is too low.
Ideal would be around 86*F. Lower and they will be prone to.....Ich and fin rot.
The tank mates are not ideal. The other fish will stress them out. Which will make them prone to Ich and fin rot.
Discus should ideally be in groups of 5+. If they are not, they will get stressed, which will make them prone to Ich and fin rot.
I think you know where this is going.
The way things are at the moment is not ideal for Discus.
Decide whether you want them, or the other SA cihlids, and then research that group, and take it from there.
82 - 84F is fine for discus. Higher temps (86 - 88) work well to speed up their metabolism and encourage them to eat, but you don't need to keep them that warm all the time. However, extended periods below 82F will certainly have an impact. Try to make the sure the temperature doesn't fall below 82F for them.
Due to the hierarchical social structure of discus, it's best to keep them in groups of at least four but preferably six to eight. They form a social structure with a dominant fish at the top and a submissive fish at the bottom. When you only have two or three discus, all the conspecific aggression gets directed to one or two fish. Without other fish to spread this aggression out amongst, the one or two weaker fish will often remain in a constant state of stress which will cause them to hide, quit eating, and usually leads to secondary issues like hexamita because the immune system is weakened. In most instances with people who keep two discus, one will stress the other until it wastes away and dies, and then you're left with one discus.
I have kept discus for years and I am not afraid to mix them with unusual tankmates, as long as the water parameters are suitable for the tankmates I choose. What you do have to understand is that even if another cichlid is not directly attacking/harassing your discus, their aggression and behavior in the tank in general can still stress the discus. For instance, if you keep discus in a boisterous environment with active nocturnal fish (like some species of catfish or loaches) or fast shoaling species (like silver dollars), the discus tend to be jittery and on-edge all the time. Again, this leads to a constant state of stress, which is bad for any fish, but especially discus. For this reason I would not keep them with cichlids like jewels or JDs.
Back to your issue at hand -- it seems very odd that you'd have an ich problem if the temperature was in the 80s. Are you sure it's actually ich? Can you post pictures for confirmation?
Due to the hierarchical social structure of discus, it's best to keep them in groups of at least four but preferably six to eight. They form a social structure with a dominant fish at the top and a submissive fish at the bottom. When you only have two or three discus, all the conspecific aggression gets directed to one or two fish. Without other fish to spread this aggression out amongst, the one or two weaker fish will often remain in a constant state of stress which will cause them to hide, quit eating, and usually leads to secondary issues like hexamita because the immune system is weakened. In most instances with people who keep two discus, one will stress the other until it wastes away and dies, and then you're left with one discus.
I have kept discus for years and I am not afraid to mix them with unusual tankmates, as long as the water parameters are suitable for the tankmates I choose. What you do have to understand is that even if another cichlid is not directly attacking/harassing your discus, their aggression and behavior in the tank in general can still stress the discus. For instance, if you keep discus in a boisterous environment with active nocturnal fish (like some species of catfish or loaches) or fast shoaling species (like silver dollars), the discus tend to be jittery and on-edge all the time. Again, this leads to a constant state of stress, which is bad for any fish, but especially discus. For this reason I would not keep them with cichlids like jewels or JDs.
Back to your issue at hand -- it seems very odd that you'd have an ich problem if the temperature was in the 80s. Are you sure it's actually ich? Can you post pictures for confirmation?
I believe there is strains of ich that can survive higher temperatures and it can be difficult to fight for that reason. I don't know much about discus but my recommendation is turn up the temperature over a day or two to the higher end of the tolerance range for the fish in your tank. Then dose with the appropriate amount of aquarium salt. I don't like to use medication because i have a lot of clown loaches. Thankfully I've only had ich once with them in the tank and the heat and salt cured them in about a week with 25% water changes every other day. If that doesn't begin to show results after a few days use any ich treatment with malachite green in it and remove the activated carbon but retain the mechanical filtration (you'll definitely need that with the oscar in the tank). Having sick fish sucks but its such a relief to see them recover i wish you the best of luck, hope something i shared ends up being useful.
If your fish don't eat all the food remove the excess, especially bloodworms they destroy water quality faster than flakes.
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Your your advice and thoughts are excellent. My temp never drops below 81-82 for some reason my tank stays at that temp without my heater kicking on.
Your statment about the pecking order on discus makes sense my older and bigger discus Is the shy one.( the one that has ICH as well) the other swims next to all the fish especially the oscar. My oscars has fin rot bad on his right fin as of this morning
he has actually cause me the most issues. I think I'm going to let him go tomorrow. My JD and parrot are the only other fish with signs of fin rot. But it's not bad at all. My discus with ICH looked ton better today. I raised the temp to about 84. T looks a lot better. There are a few(like 1-2 dots on my angels and discus) but that's it now. Basically I'm more worried about this fin rot now. I have handled ICH before with success.( only had it once) I also do plan to add another discus to see if it helps once I give my oscar away sadly.thanks and if u have anymore advice I welcome it.
I guess the real question isn't CAN it be done but rather SHOULD it be done?? Obviously you can do anything you want w/ YOUR tank & possibly be semi successful, but is it in the best interest for ALL the inhabitants involved?? The answer to that is somewhat debatable. Are we talkin survive or thrive? Discus aren't as delicate as some may think however they have unique requirements in order to THRIVE! Both research & experience will show you that the scenario you have at present is not IDEAL for your Discus to reach max potential or longevity. Will they survive -- yes, for a while if that's all you want. There is so much more!!!
