New Discus

[shiwas]

Hey guys,

I'm so glad I found this site because I have sooooo many questions, I live in Mexico and a people don't know much about these fish.

Ok, I have a 15 G tank with 2 guppies, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 goldfish or japanese orange with white i don't know what you call it, and 1 small discus.

A week ago I bought 2 more discus and everything was perfectly fine until the small discus that I orignally had died on me the next morning after doing a water change. I figured that it must've been the water change that caused my fish to die, even though the rest of the fish are ok.

I checked my PH and it was above 7 I went ahead and took it down to about 6.5 and I thought well that should take care of the fish til the next water change. (BTW, temp is 30 degrees celsius)

But then a day after, later on that night, one of the new discus was all flacid and the water flow from the filter was just carrying it all over the fishtank, the Discus was trying to swim and all but I guess it was all tired and probably half dead...(BTW, the oher discus changes color from light blue to dark blue...why is that??)

Anyway, I didn't know what else to do, so I added some salt to the fishtank in hopes that the discus would get better, but in reality I thought to myself "that fish is gone".

So the next morning I woke up and looked at my fishtank to see what had happened to the half-dead Discus and to my surprise IT WAS SWIMMING ALL NORMAL WITH THE OTHER FISH!!!! Another thing that I noticed is that its tail is a little bit cut or ripped? I dont know how to say it's like its tail is cut in half.

I'm planning on doing another water change later on this afternoon but, could someone please tell me what might be happening to my Discus??? Am I putting my Discus with the wrong fish and maybe they're stressed?? HELP PLEASEEEE!!!!

 

[Cichlid-Man]

1 Adult discus per 10gals of water. Your tank is to small for those fish.

Well my best advice is to keep everything stable. Fish are very adaptable, discus not as much as other species but still very adaptable to their water conditions. Instead of adding chemicals to lower the pH i suggest a more long term stable method such as driftwood or peat. That way you don't have to dose chemicals every time possibly screwing up the amount each time.

Discus change color when they are stressed or scared. The black you see them turn could be either of those, a lot of times discus will be very stressed and turn black and hide in a corner the first few days-weeks you bring them home. They will be very skiddish as well.

Contrary to what people say or think, discus are still cichlids and still hold a pecking order in the tank. Its possible the new guys are on the bottem of the totem pole in the tank and getting pushed around a bit. Could also be where the rips in the tail came from but not sure.

All in all i think they are stressed by the overcrowded tank, as well as the fish selection. Arn't goldfish coldwater fish?

 

[Kissyboots]

I have no clue about any of those fish in there...but the combination seems a little weird. Goldfish get big, are coldwater fish, and need like, what, 20 gallons per fish? According to C-Man, one discus needs 10 gallons. So you've got more fish than gallons. I would say you either get rid of some fish, or (the better option imo) get another tank!

Welcome to the site, btw.

 

[shiwas]

Thank you so much guys for clearing things up for me. I'm pretty new to this (I got the fishtank 2 months ago) and I really really need some good advice.

So I guess I'm going to have to buy a new fishtank because eventually I would like to have more discus eventhough they're so hard to care for.

Some people that i've talked to about havind discus in their fishtank have told that they always die on them and even advised me NOT to buy them but I think I can be the exeption and hopefully keep the ones that I have alive even if one already died on me...

Another problem that I have is that the tap water down here (Mexico) is very hard and i cannot find R/O water anywhere in the city, so I'm using purified water, like for human consumption...is that ok?? That's probably the purest water I can get down here.

So what do you think happened to my half-dead discus??

About the goldfish, it's really small, about an inch, but i guess i will also have to get rid of that huh?? I'll do whatever it takes to save my discus.

 

[crocodylus]

Que parte de Mexico compa? yo estoy en la Baja

Viendo tu album y tus fotos del "BOB" diria que estas en Mexicali o en alguna ciudad del norte de Sonora

 

[shiwas]

Que parte de Mexico compa? yo estoy en la Baja

Viendo tu album y tus fotos del "BOB" diria que estas en Mexicali o en alguna ciudad del norte de Sonora

Que es BOB?? no entiendo

 

[crocodylus]

Que es BOB?? no entiendo

Si no me equivoco, cuando abrio el estadio en Phoenix se llamaba Bank One Ballpark por eso lo de BOB Creo que hoy en dia se llama Chase Field o algo asi

 

[shiwas]

Si no me equivoco, cuando abrio el estadio en Phoenix se llamaba Bank One Ballpark por eso lo de BOB Creo que hoy en dia se llama Chase Field o algo asi

Ah si, de hecho esas fotos fueron en el Chase field en phoenix.

 

[silver dollars]

I have a 55gal tank with four discus and its a challenge lol! Discus are very sensitive fish and very beautiful!!! Since you said that your going to set-up a discus tank in the future, i suggest getting a 55gal or larger tank. Do you know about cycling your tank? If not you definatey need to read about it.