I feed my discus 3 times a day and the amount of water change I can do is 30 percent. How can I get the best result by doing 10 percent water change after each feeding or 30 percent after last feeding?

Reply:
The main reason to change water is to keep water quality constant and good.
If the water quality is stable and good, there is no need to change water often.

After feeding the water quality will be affected by the left over food and the waste of the fish. Both will pollute the water, so changing water is necessary.
If you have a filtering system to manage waste (ammonia) from the fish, then do not overfeed so that there will be no left over food to decay at the bottom of the tank. You can then do less water change and only do it to remove left over food.

The best time to change water is after feeding.

Necessary precaution you should bear in mind when you change water. Check the in coming water with the chlorine tester. So you know the concentration of chlorine at this moment. Sometimes water contains no chlorine. Water conditioners you apply vary all the time.

Amount of water you change (25% or 50%) does not matter. You can even change 100% (We always do).
After you have topped up the water, add the water conditioners gradually. Check the water with the chlorine tester every time you add in the water conditioner, until you are satisfied and make sure there is no more chlorine.

I just wanted to know if it is safe to use Carbon filter For Discus fish. I was also interested in getting a RO unit what doyou think? I have a 46 Bow front Tank with 7 Discus.

How many water changes shall I do a week? Also vacuum gravel?

Reply:

Personally I do not like to use carbon filter, especially for discus. Many trace elements and minerals required by discus fish will be disappeared.

We use water direct from pipe. What we need to do is to neutralize the Chlorine with Chlorine conditioner.

If it is a show tank with complete set ups, you need to change 20 to 50% of water a week.
The important thing is that: do not overfeed your fish.

I am having trouble with water becoming infected with ammonia. I do part water changes daily. The tanks are 30 gal bare bottom. Fillters were sponge and box but I have since changed to internal canisters. I feed discus frozen worm , discus meal, twice a day. May be I am over feeding them?

Reply:
Over-feeding is a bad practice or habit of feeding.
Feed the amount they can eat within 5 minutes.
Feed them little bit at a time.
Allow them to have time picking up uneaten food.

Any type of filters will be good as long as you do not overfeed them.
Once the uneaten food get into the filter system, it will circulate the ammonia instead.

How do we prepare the water in a tank suitable for Discus and  what food is the best? I had some discus fish, but when I changed the water in the tank, they died. I think it’s because of less Oxygen and the condition of the water such as temp, PH count, and acidity… how do i prepare water and stuff? And, how do I keep the tank clean because in a week or two, water gets greenish..

Reply:

Water:

• Clean
• Good aeration
• No Chlorine
• Temperature 26 to 30 degree C
• pH 5.5 to 7

Food: Live food, fish burger, dry food (Tetrabit)

Fish died after water changed:

• Chlorine that kills your fish
• Add in Chlorine conditioner

Water turns green:

• Sunlight cultivates algae, water becomes green
• Control the light
• Water change 20% everyday

What do you mean by 80% volume drain?

Reply:
It means you let out 80% of tank water.
You have 20% water left in the tank.
Then  you top up 80% of fresh water.

I have a ten gallon aquarium with a 10-20 filter by regent, aqua-tech. I had a population of 12 fish and the aerobic pad in the aquarium was very discolored due to the # of bacteria. Well I had to treat the water with an algaecide (which did not work by the way), and since then, 2 fish have died (one was constipated I believe and the other one was pregnant and her eggs exploded in her womb and caused her to bleed to death). The aerobic pad is now the same color it was when i purchased it w/ only a few dark spots. Could 2 fish being removed cause the bacteria to die like that, or could it be the stress zyme that I am using? or could it be the algaecide?

Reply:

Algaecide is very poisonous.
Light dosage cannot kill the algae.
Stronger dosage you will kill the fish.
Algaecide must be handling very carefully.

I just set up my tank for discus, every thing seems to be right, the only thing I can’t do is a lower PH, the PH in my tank water is always around 7.0 to 7.2, I have treated the water with PH down
products, but it’s hard. What do I have to do or to take in consideration to get the right PH for my tank? At same time I wonder how easy or complicate could be each water change when needed. Thanks.

Reply:
Why do you want to put the pH down?
pH around 7.0 is quite okay for discus fish.
Unless you want to breed the wild discus then you have to put it down to 5.5

I know about ph, and temperature, but what does it mean by the water being a certain hardness?

Reply:
Hardness is defined as the concentrations of calcium and magnesium ions expressed in terms of calcium carbonate.

Most natural water supplies contain at least some hardness due to dissolved calcium and magnesium salts. Other minerals, such as iron, may contribute to the hardness of water, but in natural water, they are generally present in insignificant quantities.

Water hardness has a major effect on pH and pH stability. It will affect the toxicity of many common substances, including some fish disease treatments.

Different species of fish have varied water hardness requirements, so it is important to find out what hardness is best for your fish.

I have been advised that the temperature for these fish is critical and that they need the water cooled and heated to maintain exactly 28 deg.
How true is this? My tank is currently 32 deg (summer in Aust) and the of fish are surviving well.

Reply:
Water temperature between the range of 26 to 30 degree C should be okay.
The change of water temperature should be gradual.
Sudden change of water temperature will stress the fish.
It will give you endless of problems after then.