My husband and I have been keeping discus for a few years now. Really, what finally worked for us was: 1/2 tap and 1/2 reverse osmosis water for a lower but not too low of a GH, a pH of 6.5, a heavily filtered tank, plants which really helped to eliminate nitrates, and a light background and light substrate to help prevent peppering. Most of all though, a UV sterilizer and an auto feeder. These last two were the eventual key to keeping healthy discus. One of the biggest problems with discus is hexamita which is an internal parasite that causes decrease to no eating and eventual wasting. Once they get it its almost impossible to get rid of because the treatment has to be eaten to work well, and if theyre not eating its pretty much always a guaranteed game over. You can dump the medication (metronidazole) in the water, but it is not absorbed well by freshwater fish. So, the UV sterilizer helped a lot. But, our last discovery for keeping healthy discus was having an auto feeder. Not only did the discus explode in size, our problems with hexamita stopped. Also, we would treat for hex and worms every 3-6 months just as a prevention depending on if anyone seemed to be hiding and not eating as well as they usually did. Once we followed this, the discus were so freaking healthy and so much fun to own. They were no longer this massive headache and worry. I have a few pics in my album.
