so much great info, thanks so much ya'll! So much learned so fast; I feel a lot better about the 'sudden' death- it was my fault assuredly but i bet it'll never happen again ;3 thanks for the links as well, I was looking for a decent discus website~
discus sudden death?
- Thread starter mother monster
- Start date
Also, IMO mollies are a big NO with discus. Mollies like to pick at new fish's slime coat. This could have bothered the discus.
Also it sounds like you did a 50% water change the same day you put the discus in. That would be stressful to any new fish.
I agree with most LFS not caring for discus properly. Some LFS lower the pH in their discus tanks, however they do not know how to. So they end up dumping pH down into the tank after every water change causing pH shock stressing the discus. Your LFS may have had them in unstable water, or acidic water and your water may have been very alkaline and the change could shock them.
Are you using CO2 in your aquarium?
Also it sounds like you did a 50% water change the same day you put the discus in. That would be stressful to any new fish.
I agree with most LFS not caring for discus properly. Some LFS lower the pH in their discus tanks, however they do not know how to. So they end up dumping pH down into the tank after every water change causing pH shock stressing the discus. Your LFS may have had them in unstable water, or acidic water and your water may have been very alkaline and the change could shock them.
Are you using CO2 in your aquarium?
how big were the discus? for 25.00 they were probably juvies or poor quality. putting two small discus in a community tank could cause a lot of stress. probably not from acclimation. I get my wilds from Fla. to Chicago. I float them for about 20 min. for the temp and dump them in the tank. never lost a fish this way. my ph is 7.6 and I change 60% of the water every 4 days with only tap water and prime. do a wc before they arrive and not again for a couple of days. it's hard to say what killed your fish, but my bet is too much stress, or very poor quality fish. if you want discus, my advice is to get a tank for them, get them from a good source, and get at least six. fish under 3" are much harder to care for and are not good for a community tank.
i've not had problems with my community tank at all and my lfs sells discuss for $29 they're usually juvies, but they have been increadibly nstable in my tank. Never had problems vwith mollies either, just had to out my electric blue crayfish cause he was harrassing the discus and my angel rams. Water is the biggest factor usually. evren frequent changes with poor quality water will stress these guys out
ive been keeping discus for yrs its not your water changes you can change as much as u want i change 75% weekly its more than likely the lfs didnt change there water and the difference between yours water conditions were too much too fast they went from bad to good just to fast
