I have a 2.5"- 3" Red Melon discus has some tiny black spots that began appearing about 2 weeks ago. The research Ive done says that this is called Peppering and is normal for a Red discus because of genetics. Recently (just noticed today) my Golden discus has begun showing similar spots. Should I keep on the look out for it to spread quarentine them into a different tank (I have a empty cycled tank) or am I just over reacting. Tried to get pics but both discus were in hiding as there has been people in and out all day. Ill try to post a couple pics tomorrow.
"Peppering" on Discus
- Thread starter upaquariest
- Start date
Peppering as it is called is a 100% sure sign that the fish has Pigeon Blood (PB) genetics...not necessarily any discus that is red based. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but now a days breeders are trying to "clean up" the peppering by minimzing it as much as possible through selective breeding. On the other hand, high amounts of peppering is a sign of a low grade discus. There are many techniques to improve the appearance of peppering you can do, which include a white/light color background, lower ph (below 7), improving water quality through frequent water changes. You will notice that all PB based discus do not have any of the traditional stress bars a normal discus has. This is because the PB discus is derived from a mutated gene over a decade ago from a farm in Thailand. With that said, the more peppering they show, means the more stressed they are. You will see at times that the peppering will almost completely disappear, because they're doing well. Same goes for discus with stress bars.
-Ryan
-Ryan
