We mean the aquarium salt used for salt water fish tanks. I live in stewartstown pa 17363 how far from me are you?
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- Thread starter jkruger83
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sorry for your loss. How many do you have left? I have a feeling that if your still interested you should start over wil a good new stock. If your buying these discus adn there dieng a week later it might not be your fault
Huh, dumb question here (since your tank was ok up until recently), but fish gasping at the top often means something is wrong with the water, and the fungal infections are often a result of stress. Not always the case, but worth looking into. At 86 degrees, are you really sure there is enough oxygen in the water? And are you sure that they couldn't have had ammonia burn a few days ago? Either case could create your problem.
The ammonia is in check, I have noticed there are like a hundred snails though, they musta been on the plants i recently put in. I had 6 discus, now i only have 2 left and they look like crap. The water paremeters seem ok but they are still hanging around the top of the tank. My tetras had white spots on them but they seem to be doing better. My discus and ram are still not looking well. Im almost certain it was the new addition of tank mates that caused this. Tommorow im going to do a thorough water change and cleaning and try to get these stupid snails with my vac. Any other suggestions?
Your mistake was not in the water quality or parameters, but the lack of quaranteening the new discus. This is very important for all new fish, but for some reason, discus need proper QT time than others. The new fish had a different bacteria on them that the other discus in the tank did not...this caused them to get sick and die. And the new ones are not doing well because they have not been exposed to the current bacteria(s) in the tank...so they got sick as well. If you QT them in a separate tank for several weeks and allow them to acclimate their bodies to the water and bacteria found in the water before putting them into the tank, all discus would have done MUCH better.
Also, a point was brought up earlier in this thread regarding the health of the discus bought....this is also very important. DO NOT buy your discus from your LFS. This is just asking for trouble. buy them from a local breeder or if there are none to be found, then buy them from a reputable discus breeder/importer who can ship them to you. The reason why I say avoid LFS discus is because theyare most likely discus imported from brokers in Singapore or Thailand for very cheap....couple bucks each. Discus bought from brokers run extremely high risks of being sick due to multiple sources without proper QT time. They go around to several farms, buy fish in bulk and bring them altogether in one facility for a short while before they are exported out. And most of the time, each farm the broker buys from only specializes in 2-3 color types at most. So if you are importing a whole array of colors from a broker (which most wholesalers do), you are bringing in fish which come from multiple sources and have not been properly QT before export. And because of this, they usually begin to break down in the wholesalers tanks shortly after being imported and may die. This is the primary reason why discus are hard to find in a LFS. They dont want to spend the little extra money to buy discus direct from breeders. Wholesalers only care about who has the cheapest fish...and with discus, cheap is most certainly not good. Other times, the fish do fairly well once imported, but dont do so well once they are shipped to a LFS. This is because they are kept in less than ideal conditions (low temp, dirty tank, no w/c, etc...) and may even be mixed in with other sources of discus. All of this stress destroys their immune system. This all leads to a time bomb effect. When you buy your discus and bring them home, they will start out doing good, but shortly after start to degrade in health. And lets not forget to add in hormones to the mix...which compounds things even more. Hormones are used to color the discus at a small size...so a 3" discus which isnt supposed to show its true colors until atleast 5" will show full adult colors once treated with hormones like Methyl Testosterone. Hormones will severely damage and scar internal organs such as the liver, kidney's and various others. Then organ failure will set in which leads to the fish dying.
So, to sum it all up....properly QT your new discus in a separate tank for several weeks....4 weeks minimum is recommended. Buy discus from a local breeder. If you cant find one local to you, then buy them from a reputable breeder/importer who can ship them to you. Cheap discus are never good discus....you get what you pay for when you are dealing with discus.
-Ryan
Orlando Discus
Also, a point was brought up earlier in this thread regarding the health of the discus bought....this is also very important. DO NOT buy your discus from your LFS. This is just asking for trouble. buy them from a local breeder or if there are none to be found, then buy them from a reputable discus breeder/importer who can ship them to you. The reason why I say avoid LFS discus is because theyare most likely discus imported from brokers in Singapore or Thailand for very cheap....couple bucks each. Discus bought from brokers run extremely high risks of being sick due to multiple sources without proper QT time. They go around to several farms, buy fish in bulk and bring them altogether in one facility for a short while before they are exported out. And most of the time, each farm the broker buys from only specializes in 2-3 color types at most. So if you are importing a whole array of colors from a broker (which most wholesalers do), you are bringing in fish which come from multiple sources and have not been properly QT before export. And because of this, they usually begin to break down in the wholesalers tanks shortly after being imported and may die. This is the primary reason why discus are hard to find in a LFS. They dont want to spend the little extra money to buy discus direct from breeders. Wholesalers only care about who has the cheapest fish...and with discus, cheap is most certainly not good. Other times, the fish do fairly well once imported, but dont do so well once they are shipped to a LFS. This is because they are kept in less than ideal conditions (low temp, dirty tank, no w/c, etc...) and may even be mixed in with other sources of discus. All of this stress destroys their immune system. This all leads to a time bomb effect. When you buy your discus and bring them home, they will start out doing good, but shortly after start to degrade in health. And lets not forget to add in hormones to the mix...which compounds things even more. Hormones are used to color the discus at a small size...so a 3" discus which isnt supposed to show its true colors until atleast 5" will show full adult colors once treated with hormones like Methyl Testosterone. Hormones will severely damage and scar internal organs such as the liver, kidney's and various others. Then organ failure will set in which leads to the fish dying.
So, to sum it all up....properly QT your new discus in a separate tank for several weeks....4 weeks minimum is recommended. Buy discus from a local breeder. If you cant find one local to you, then buy them from a reputable breeder/importer who can ship them to you. Cheap discus are never good discus....you get what you pay for when you are dealing with discus.
-Ryan
Orlando Discus
Oh, and to help your current discus...
You need a round of a broad spectrum antibiotic like Furan 2....double dosed. Salt at 4-5 tablespoons per 10 gallons (all of this in a separate bare bottom hospital tank....so as not to hurt the plants). Keep the temp the same. Increase the water changes to atleast 50% everyday. If they do not start to respond to the antibiotic within 5-6 days, switch to a gram-specific antibiotic, like Oxy Tetracyclin....most bacterial problems that afflict discus are gram negative. But, before you add in any anitbiotic, try to treat them with some kind of anti-parasite med, like formalin or even quick cure....something to get rid of anything external that may compound the current problem, and to possibly help with their breathing by reducing the slime coat over the gills.
-Ryan
Orlando Discus
You need a round of a broad spectrum antibiotic like Furan 2....double dosed. Salt at 4-5 tablespoons per 10 gallons (all of this in a separate bare bottom hospital tank....so as not to hurt the plants). Keep the temp the same. Increase the water changes to atleast 50% everyday. If they do not start to respond to the antibiotic within 5-6 days, switch to a gram-specific antibiotic, like Oxy Tetracyclin....most bacterial problems that afflict discus are gram negative. But, before you add in any anitbiotic, try to treat them with some kind of anti-parasite med, like formalin or even quick cure....something to get rid of anything external that may compound the current problem, and to possibly help with their breathing by reducing the slime coat over the gills.
-Ryan
Orlando Discus
where do i get these antibiotics? I have also located a breeder that will ship to me. His website is called, www.Discusmadness.com. I talked to them on the phone and they seem pretty knowledgeable. Check it out and let me know. Also I am down to only my Red Mellon and My golden Discus. They look like they are going to pull through, I finished the med cycle and did a 50% water change today. I think theyll be okay. But where do I get these meds for furture use? Just incase i need something?
I get all of my meds from either www.jehmco.com or www.4fishstuff.com (download their catalog).
I have never personally delt with Discus Madness, but have only hear from what people say. They are ok IMO. If you want home grown discus (not imports) for a very reasonable price, I highly suggest you talk to Jack at Discus KC. Good friend of mine with very good prices as well. Here is his phone number (816)746-6845 and ask for Jack. His website is: http://www.geocities.com/kc_discus/
Website is a tad bit outdated on what he has to offer. Right now, his latest price list consists of:
Summer Sale (ends July 20 or while quantities last).
Mandarin Passion 2.5" @ $35ea.
Ocean Green 2" @ $20ea.
Leopards 2.5" @ $40ea.
Carnation 2.5" @ $35ea.
Leopard Snakeskin 2.5" @ $45ea.
Cobalt 2" @ $15ea.
Very good quality and very healthy.
-Ryan
Orlando Discus
I have never personally delt with Discus Madness, but have only hear from what people say. They are ok IMO. If you want home grown discus (not imports) for a very reasonable price, I highly suggest you talk to Jack at Discus KC. Good friend of mine with very good prices as well. Here is his phone number (816)746-6845 and ask for Jack. His website is: http://www.geocities.com/kc_discus/
Website is a tad bit outdated on what he has to offer. Right now, his latest price list consists of:
Summer Sale (ends July 20 or while quantities last).
Mandarin Passion 2.5" @ $35ea.
Ocean Green 2" @ $20ea.
Leopards 2.5" @ $40ea.
Carnation 2.5" @ $35ea.
Leopard Snakeskin 2.5" @ $45ea.
Cobalt 2" @ $15ea.
Very good quality and very healthy.
-Ryan
Orlando Discus
mela and pimafix are not anti parasite medicines. thats why they arent getting any better. for ich you need some with melcalite(sp*) green in it. quick cure has it and so do some of the other more potent ich medicines. you should keep your temp at 86* and do HALF DOSE FOR TWICE THE TIME. with quick cure its 1 drop per gallon for 2 days. with the discis and tetras, do 1 drop per 2 gallons for 4 days. this workls VERY well at killing it and wont harm the fish.
