Very Dark Turqoise Discus

[EBJDLuke]

I've had 2 Turqoise discus in my community 125 for about a week and a half. When I first saw them in the pet shop they looked like they had much more color and I could see the red and blue in them both. Since taking them home they've been a very dark color, almost a brown with almost no visible blues or reds. The larger one eats fine but the smaller has yet to get any real nutrition that I've seen so far. I've treated with Prazipro and still am clueless as to what's going on with these fish. Any thoughts?

 

[Charney]

sure they are not being bullied?
How warm is the tank?

 

[EBJDLuke]

sure they are not being bullied?
How warm is the tank?

My silver Angels will let them know if they're getting too close to them but they get along surprisingly well 99% of the time. The larger discus will pick on the smaller a bit and chase him but this doesn't seem to stress the smaller one too much he just gives the larger one his space most the time. Temp is 80, just added another heater to try to bring it up a bit more.

 

[smitty03281964]

Why are you treating them with medicine with no visible symptoms of illness. They have only been in the tank for a week. They could be responding to the surroundings and any difference in water and temperature

 

[Aquanero]

Have you checked your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH? These are Turquoise so should be pretty adaptable to your water since they are not wild fish.

 

[EBJDLuke]

Why are you treating them with medicine with no visible symptoms of illness. They have only been in the tank for a week. They could be responding to the surroundings and any difference in water and temperature

The smaller of the two is very skinny, almost emaciated, showed all the signs of internal parasites.

 

[EBJDLuke]

Have you checked your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH? These are Turquoise so should be pretty adaptable to your water since they are not wild fish.

Ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrates around 5. Ph is 8.0.

 

[Aquanero]

The water seems fine unless it is very much different than the water they were kept in provided they were at the LFS for any length of time or the water they were raised in which was in turn very different than the water at the LFS and again different from the water you are now keeping them in......you get the picture, very stressed fish from being moved around.

However they could be sick. This could be, parasitic, bacterial or viral. Mycobacterium marinum aka Fish TB could also be a possibility. I had a discus that was always dark and wasting away, it hadn't eaten for about 3 weeks. I treated it in a bath of Metro, Kanamycin, meth blue and salt. I treated every other day for 30 mins for 10 days (5 treatments). The fish lived and started eating but was never as big as the others. If the fish is eating try feeding some NLS Hex Shield to start.

Find out what the parameters were at the LFS or how long they had them if you can.

 

[EBJDLuke]

The water seems fine unless it is very much different than the water they were kept in provided they were at the LFS for any length of time or the water they were raised in which was in turn very different than the water at the LFS and again different from the water you are now keeping them in......you get the picture, very stressed fish from being moved around.

However they could be sick. This could be, parasitic, bacterial or viral. Mycobacterium marinum aka Fish TB could also be a possibility. I had a discus that was always dark and wasting away, it hadn't eaten for about 3 weeks. I treated it in a bath of Metro, Kanamycin, meth blue and salt. I treated every other day for 30 mins for 10 days (5 treatments). The fish lived and started eating but was never as big as the others. If the fish is eating try feeding some NLS Hex Shield to start.

Find out what the parameters were at the LFS or how long they had them if you can.

My water parameters are very similar to what theirs is, there pH was just slightly lower at 7.8. I don't know if they'd eat that NLS, I have NLS Thera A and feed that to my angels and Cory cats and the discus aren't interested in it at all. Only stuff I can get them to eat is frozen brine shrimp and blood worms.

 

[UnstoppableJayD]

2 discus is usually not a great idea... you usually wind up with one very dominant and one bullied. Discus unlike other fish when they are bullied it does not mean they need to be constantly chased... they get spooked stop eating and darken up. You could try adding a few more to disperse the aggression but before you do that.. what else is in the tank? Lots of things can cause discus unseen stress.