Tropical Fish Discus Forum Questions Answered!

Archive for July, 2005

Pregnant Discus

Sunday, July 31st, 2005

My Discus is pregnant but has got “flukes”. Can I treat her with medication while pregnant…Thanks.

Reply:
1. Yes. Why not?
2. How do you know she is pregnant?
3. Discus fish are egg-layers. They lay eggs.
4. A female fish has eggs most of the time.
5. Not like swordtails or guppies. They are live-bearers.

Sick Discus

Sunday, July 31st, 2005

My big red dragon’s tail and fins are coming off. I just saw there was a hole in the tail and later on I saw the tear in the tail and lower fins. I am observing my sick discus and it is just staying at the back of the tank and not eating. I can see white thing attached to the fins and head. What is the problem? How can I cure my sick discus. There is no fish addition in my tank. I have 9 discus and 16 neon tetras and 1 white cloud fish. I’m changing my water once a week. Just recently I missed cleaning it for 2 weeks. Please advise me what to do. I went to the aquarium shop and asked what to do and they gave me Primafix to put in the tank for one week. Would that be enough?

Reply:
1. Your fish are already suffered from fin rot and fungus attacked.
2. It will spread quickly to other fish.
3. Apply methylene blue and salt solution. (Fungus)
4. If not effective change to acriflavine solution and salt. (Rot)
5. Formalin is better than both. It is very poisonous. If you can handle carefully, follow this dosage. (2ml/100liter of water).

Fries not going the body of the parents

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I have new pairs of melon discus . They breed well and have many fries but the fries when they become free swimming do not go to their parents’ bodies to feed. They do not seem to find the parents bodies but remain on the bottom or are swimming about somewhere in the tank. The parent discus try their best to get the fries on their bodies but fail to do so. Please advise. Thanks.

Reply:
1. This is quite common to the new parents.
2. The eggs are not fertile and the fries are not healthy and active.
3. After one or two trails they will be ok.
4. You can try this. Change water partially. The fries become active.
5. Lower the water at the level of 6″. So the fries get to the parents bodies easier.
6. Don’t be disappointed. Try again. You will succeed.

Sponge filter cycling

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I have a small Discus hatchery with 3 20 gallon tanks with breeding pairs, one 75 gallon tank, 2 60 gallon tanks, and two 30 gallon tanks. I use the “Rainbow” brand double sponge filters (each sponge is about 6 inches x 2 inches. My large tanks have two filters (4 sponges) in them and the small tanks have one (2 sponges). I moved to a new home almost two months ago and I tried to preserve the biological cycling on the aged sponge filters by packing them in 5 gallons cans with aquarium water. When I setup my tanks in the new location I discovered 4+PPM of ammonia in all my tanks. It seems all my sponges had un cycled. I had to use a triple dose of Amquel daily to remove the Ammonia and all the fish became very lethargic. I recognized that they were under extreme stress. I changed over
to Ammo-lock, a product that doesn’t remove the Ammonia but converts it to a harmless state. It’s been almost two months now and I’m doing daily 80% water changes in every tank and cut down on feedings to once a day and still get very high ammonia readings so I continue to use the Ammolock.
I tried some of the over the counter products that are supposed to speed up the cycling process by adding bacteria to the water but I haven’t noticed any change. Is it possible that my sponges are no good anymore. I have never had to wait 2 months for the cycling process to activate.
Marineland make a product that is supposed to get a cycle going in one day but they are out of stock at least until July. My baby fish are dying even with the ammolock. Can you offer any suggestions?

Reply:
1. May be we are lucky in my country in Malaysia. Our water is not so complicated.
2. We use bare tank with aeration. That is all.
3. And we change water everyday.
4. We can’t afford to have all these products to maintain the water daily.
5. So our fish practically have built up antibody and immunity.
6. Why not try this way. I think if you buy the fish, which is imported from Malaysia, should save your problems.

Mixed the group

Friday, July 29th, 2005

Can i mix the disucs from 1″ & 2.5″ size together.What will be the impact? Small fish always get attack by larger fish. Small fish became inactive.

Reply:
1. You can mix them.
2. Make it a bigger group of 10 and above.
3. The bully wouldn’t have so much energy to bully everyone.

Jewel Chilids

Friday, July 29th, 2005

Is it ok to mix Jewel Chilids with discus if so what kind of Discus would fit the best?

Reply:
1. Most of the discus are ok in the community tank.
2. Do observe them. Whichever is aggressive remove it.
3. If it is a community, surely you have plants and driftwood for smaller fish to hide when they are attacked.

How we find male discus?

Saturday, July 23rd, 2005

I want to find out the the male from lot of my discus fish can u help me to find out the same any simtums of male to find easily. I am very satisfy to see your beeding information of discus.

Reply:
Goto: Determine the sex of discus fish

Intestinal flagellates or tapeworm?

Sunday, July 17th, 2005

I have a blue striped discus fish which has been unhappy for about 1 week now. He has changed to a very dark colour and wants to hide and he also has had this white stringy excreta coming away so I went to a very good aquarium shop and they gave me bloodworms and an internal worming solution to give to the discus. Because he isn’t eating at all I don’t know if any of the medication has been absorbed through his gills. This morning I noticed a very long white excreta coming away and don’t know if this is possibly a tapeworm or not. The aquarium shop said to treat him every 3 days for 7 days. Could you please tell me if there is anything else I can do for him and if once the tapeworm (if it is one) has passed will he pick up? Thank you for your help Very concerned discus owner.

Reply:
1. When discus fish turn into dark color, definitely she is sick.
2. The white stringy thing, I think it must be worms.
3. If you have applied de-worming solution, it should be ok.
4. Once you do the de-worming treatment, you don’t feed her.
5. No feeding. Keep the water clean. The solution must remain in the water for three days. Raise the temperature to 30 degrees C.
6. On the third day before changing water you can feed her.
7. After changing water, repeat the same treatment again.
8. If you have other fish in the same tank I think they must be affected. So treat all the fish at the same time.
9. I suggest you do the de-worming every month.

How to get rid of parania?

Wednesday, July 13th, 2005

Recently my discus’ tank start showing white worm look like things moving on the glass and also lots of them in water, my local aquarium shop told me it’s probably cause by over feeding, normally I feed fish with dry food, but one of the new comer doesn’t like the dry food, so I start feed with frozen blood worm, this is where the problem starts, could you please tell me how to get rid of those parania and how to prevent it happening again in the future, and can i still feed my discus with frozen blood worms?

Reply:
1. No description about the tank; bare, planted with live plants, decorated with artificial plants?
2. If it is a bare tank, change water then do parasite and bacteria treatment.
3. Your tank contains of parasite and bacteria.
4. Add salt after water changed.
5. Over feeding can cause endless problems. Feed the amount they can eat. It is not because of bloodworm or dry food. It is because of left over food that causes trouble

Change in color from blue to black

Wednesday, July 13th, 2005

My Discus has changed color from a bright beautiful blue to a deathly black and his eyes are shaded and glossy. He is the only male sharing a tank with 3 females.
What has caused this horrific change in color? How can I help my poor fellow?

Reply:
1. Your male is sick.
2. The eye probably attacked by fungus.
3. Give them Acriflavine and salt bath for a week.
4. During the treatment do not feed them. Unless you think they are ok.