spikey fins

[Serpio]

My two discus have spikey fins, and they are constantly dark in colour. What is wrong with them?
Help needed, been like that for a few days, and getting worse.
They do eat though, but hide a lot.

[jts112278]

How often do you do water changes and how much?

[Serpio]

Twice a week, about 30%.
By the way, I just got them last week.

[jts112278]

I personally would increase thw wc's to every other day at the least with preheated, aged water. the more the better, also give them some time to adjust and they will be eating out of your hand in no time. When it comes to discus just keep doing w/c's.

[RedTurquoise]

What jts said!

Most important is to keep the water parameters constant. Thats ph, temperature, gh, kh, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and low nitrates, lots of 0[sub]2[/sub].

[Serpio]

Well okay, will do that.
Thanks!!     ryingsmiley*
But can what about the fins? Is it some sort of disease?

[wayne]

What do you mean spiky fins - are they just being held very stiffly.  What's in the tank for decoration, other fish?  How big are they?  Are they a breeding pair?
 It sounds like they're very scared.

[Avalon]

Before we jump to any conclusions, understand that discus are timid fish, and due to the capturing/transporting process, the undergo severe stress. They may just need to recover, which could take a couple of weeks. Make sure they have a place to hide. If you don't have any plants, you may want to go out and pick up some fake floating plants at least. When discus are stressed, they will do anything to hide from the light, including hiding in each other's shadows. Also they max water pH should be about 7.6, and the max hardness should be about 15 degrees. Don't forget that the temp should be at least 82F, up to 88F or 90F. Make certain this is correct. If your other fish don't like it, either get rid of them, or the discus.

However, if they did not look like this when you got them, there may be a problem. I won't even consider disease until we have the basics ironed out. You will do more harm than good by treating for disease when all you may need to do is adjust the water temp.

[Dave C]

When I get new fish I put them in a separate tank, turn the temp to 90ºF and add 1 TbSp of salt per 10g.  I change 70% of the water in the tank 3x a day and feed them about 6x a day.  The salt is added after every water change to maintain the salinity.  After a couple of days I stop adding salt and it goes away with the water changes.  I drop the temp to 86ºF after 3-4 days so long as there is no fin damage and all the fish look fine.  I leave them in this tank for 6 weeks and continue the water changes.  After about 4 weeks I add one of my pre-existing Discus to the tank for the last 2 weeks.  After the 6 weeks are done they are fully acclimated, disease-free or at least I can make a diagnosis and usually they've grown at least an inch.  They are usually scared of the water changes for a couple of days but because I'm in there so frequently they quickly get over it and the clean, warm water sparks their appetite and they eat ravenously.  It's quite common for new Discus to hide and eat sparingly for a month or two.  I've never had this problem since switching to this method.  It also gets them over the hump of tank / city change.  My fish always are flown in and spend at least 12 hours in the bag.  In the past I've found that their growth is slowed by a month or two after shipping.  Now they continue growing immediately upon arriving in my tank.

Dave