Tank crash?
- Thread starter marinebiologist
- Start date
The trace ammount of ammonia is a clear indication that your tank is underfiltered. To keep discus, you will have to be serious about quality filtration. I don't mean to bash you choice in filters, but I consider Whispers to be the bottom of the heap of all HOB filters. For a long time they had the absolute least amount of bio-media of any filter. I am uncertain if they have since improved their product line. I am no longer a fan of HOBs anyway because of the inadequate amount of bio-material. Your fish will be much better off if you added a second filter, preferably with a bio-wheel. The bio-pads from Whispers will fit in Penguin filters to give you double the bio area. Then when you clean the filters, alternate which filter gets cleaned to minimize bacteria kill off. The best thing you can do for your fish is to move up a level to sumps or canisters.
The filter isn't the culprit of the fish's deaths. For the ammonia to be an influence, the pH would have to be sky high. What is the pH by the way?
The fish's deaths were related to them breathing hard at the surface. It was either a lack of oxygen or gill damage. Low oxygen would be a perpetual problem, so it is most likely gill damage. It is most likely related to your water change method. So...what is your water change method?
The filter isn't the culprit of the fish's deaths. For the ammonia to be an influence, the pH would have to be sky high. What is the pH by the way?
The fish's deaths were related to them breathing hard at the surface. It was either a lack of oxygen or gill damage. Low oxygen would be a perpetual problem, so it is most likely gill damage. It is most likely related to your water change method. So...what is your water change method?
what are you doing to the water before you put it in the tank? How long does the tank get light for? By stressed do you mean that the fish were exhibiting labored breathing? labored breathing usually is related to toxicity, i.e. ammonia, but since yours is acceptable I would say it's an oxygen problem. How many plants do you have and what size? Even for Discus those water changes are a bit much, I would go %10 a day or 15-20 every other day. what are you feeding them? I would also think that if your neons are thriving your discus should be. They are great little indicators. How hard exactly is your water. Discus like soft water though I doubt it's that because you have a dead clown loach which could tolerate beef stew for a day 2! were the fish swollen or otherwise physically augmented when they died? Were they floating or lying on the substrate?
did you test the water before or after you put the stress coat in the water? after will almost certainly give you skewed readings i.e. showing 0.2 ammonia even though they had just gone through the night at 0.8 or something. How established is this tank and how long have you been doing the daily water changes? Do you ever skip days on changes?
I have a lot of sword plants in the tank at about 7" and some other plant That is 6" ph is 7.2 and hardness is 300. I get the vacume thing and put it on the bucket then I put water in the bucket and put it in the tank. I usually add a little salt for stress I don't put anything in the water before I put it in the tank and they were breathing laboring they didn't look swollen and were laying on the gravel. I tested the water then put the stress coat in and it is about 5 months old. I have been doing the water changes like that for a couple weeks I have only skipped a few days when I was busy but that was a while ago since the last time I have skipped a day
I feed them daphnia in the morning I am trying to ween them onto pellets in the afternoon and bloodworms at night
I have a penguin bio wheel 200 that I can put on it but I can only have one filter on the tank because it's a hexagon. I heard that if you keep the wheel on it then the nitrates and nitrites will go up is that true
I also keep Discus and do 50% water changes twice a week Sunday & Wednesday. These are fully planted and aged 90gal tanks, with alot of mulm built up in the substrate. Hard water and Discus are not the best combination. What is the Ph? Rember Amonia is in a higher concentration at higher Ph levels while amonium is higher at lower a PH. My tanks are kept at a Ph of 6.4 and softened by filtering through peat moss. The temp should be between 80 and 86 with 82 to 84 being ideal under normal curcumstances. You can use plants like water sprite and cabomba to suck up excess nutriants, both are very fast growing and are used while slower growing plants such as swords, anubius and crypts become established. Are you using C02? At a high concetration that overpowers your light will suffocate your fish. How long has the tank been set up? How often do you clean the filter? What kind of lighting do you use? Wattage? Color spectrum? Complecated, yes but it doesn't have to be. If you answer the questions I asked I'l try to point you in the right direction. Remember Discus are not really any more diffacult than any other fish just do things correctly and it's really pretty easy.
