I just lost 2 discus in 1 day. This tank has been up for about a month. I'm not new to this but I've forgotten some general rules of thumb. My ammonia level was high and my PH was around 7.3. Ammonia level suddenly spiked. Guessing this is what caused the deaths. How many times a day do you feed? Flakes, blood worms, both at once or alternating. I don't want to lose any more. These things ain't cheap. I run an under gravel and a good side filter on a 46 gallon tank. Any other tips I don't know or have forgotten?
Just lost 2 discus
- Thread starter Rosco124
- Start date
Hello; can we get some more data?
How was the tank cycled?
Did anything happen or was anything added in the days prior to the deaths?
Do you do water changes and if so, How much and how often?
Do you use water conditioners?
water temperatures?
How was the tank cycled?
Did anything happen or was anything added in the days prior to the deaths?
Do you do water changes and if so, How much and how often?
Do you use water conditioners?
water temperatures?
Not sure what you mean by "cycled." Started it up and let it go for 2 weeks. Did a 20% water change. All readings were fine. Added community fish and 1 discus. All seem to be doing well. Received some fish I bought online last Thursday. 4 discus. 2 died right away. Other 2 were healthy. Then lost 1 of the 2 remaining from the online purchase and then the original discus today. 10 gallon water change weekly. Temp is 77. I use Prime dechlorinator and conditioner.
Hello; OK. I will not be able to cover "cycling" in one post. Essentially a tank needs a population of what we call beneficial bacteria (bb). These bb use ammonia as food/nutrient source and convert it to a less toxic form.
It can take weeks to get a population of the bb to become established in a tank starting from scratch. That may have been one of your issues in that he bb population is not fully established.
Another possible issue is that you appear to have added a fairly large number of fish in a short time. The balance between a bb population and the number of fish is dynamic and ongoing. Add a lot of fish all at once and the amount of ammonia they make overtakes the ability of the bb population to use it. You get an ammonia spike until the bacteria can reproduce a few generations until there are enough to use the extra ammonia.
likely the best you can do is up the water changes a lot. Not sure how much but the ammonia needs to be removed by taking tank water out and then diluted with fresh water. A guess is maybe 30-40% every day or so and perhaps even more. The ammonia is toxic and on top of that discus are reported to be especially sensitive to water conditions.
Alright. I'll up the water changes to daily until I get a much lower Ammonia level and no more new fish for a while. Is there a way to create/add a BB to an existing tank?
Discus are very sensitive fish. They should only be put into a well-established tank, not a new one. They're also messy, which contributes to your problem. Most people do much larger water changes due to these reasons. As in 50% weekly. Some even do multiple water changes per week.
They would also do better in a larger tank, especially if you want a group of them.
(You need zero ammonia, zero nitrite reading, not just lower ones.)
Sorry you lost your fish.
They would also do better in a larger tank, especially if you want a group of them.
(You need zero ammonia, zero nitrite reading, not just lower ones.)
Sorry you lost your fish.
Little too late for that. Discus are already in and the tank is what it is. I'll try to keep the ones I have left alive. Thanks for the info.
According to your post, you only have one left out of 5, right? A solo discus might do OK in a tank that size but I personally wouldn't try to keep that many again. I've read that they like to be solo or you need to go for like 5-6 to keep aggression down. A 65 gallon would work if you started with small fish and wanted to move up later. But I think ultimately it will be a challenge to keep a discus tank stable in a smaller tank.
How big were they - grow outs or adults?
How big were they - grow outs or adults?