New to Discus - Any Critiques?

[goclassv]

Hi Everyone, this is my first post.

I've had my discus for 9 days now. I purchased 10 from a very nice lady named Martha in MA. They are all Red or Blue Turquoise Discus from 3 different parents. They range from 2-3 inches in size.

Here are a couple of pictures of them:


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z9NGgIzDd0k/UkLqvOOBH_I/AAAAAAAAA70/IWO_ckLIJO8/w433-h577-no/IMG_1335.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BsXyMP_bO6I/UkLqx1GX2MI/AAAAAAAAA78/MHxptcHEBJw/w769-h577-no/IMG_1337.JPG

I am housing them in a 29 gallon tank. I drilled the tank so it drains 60% off a pvc valve and I keep a 35 gallon drum of water next to the tank preheated and aerated for water changes.

My water:
I started with 1 sponge from another tank and filtration has not been an issue so far with my two sponge filters. Except for day 3 when I measured a trace of ammonia, I have had zero measurable readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My Ph is 7.7, KH is 3 and ppm is 110-115. I am using 50/50 RO/Tap. The temperature has remained a stable 84 F.

Cleaning:
Water changes so far have been done every 36 hours, 60%. I vacuum the floor every 12, and I plan to wipe the walls every two weeks. Each week I will clean out one of the two sponge filters.

Feeding:
They are being fed 3-5 times a day depending on my availability... Kens Premium Flake, Hikari frozen Bloodworms and SF Brand Beefheart. Not sure if I am feeding too little, but they only get 1 cube of the frozen food and a sizeable pinch of flake....there is never any leftover.

Concerns:
Concern #1: Fish are still a bit skittish, especially in the morning. I am going to try a nitelight to see if that helps.

Concern #2: Chipped fin on one of the fish, see picture, dark chunk of top fin:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ttHcm6JR8EY/UkLvKmNb9AI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/PZSW31B39is/w651-h577-no/Chipped+Fin.jpg

Concern #3: Some white dots on the back fins of 3 of the fish. I have been watching them and they have not really changed in the past week, so not sure if it is cause for concern.


I plan to hold them all in this tank till they reach 4 inches, then move the best 6 to a 55 gallon hoping for a pair. The rest I will sell or put in my community tank.

Anyways, I'm new here and new to discus. Would love any feedback on my routine.

Thanks!

Mike

[DiscusLoverJeff]

I would change 60 to 70% daily. Wipe walls daily as well. You would be surprised what can develop in 24 hours. The increase in water changes should help.

[Fish from Philly]

Tank is way too small. 10 gallon per discus! I know they are juvies but they will grow quickly, especially if you feed 5 times per day, change water, etc...

Good luck! Discus are awesome fish!!!

[mastermamo]

Tanks way too small for the number you have. Good luck. White patches might be slight fin rot. Do more frequent WC's and it should resolve this. Also plz wipe off tank with every WC as lots can go wrong in a short space of time if u let it.

Here's a tank I keep my growout fish in

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/25/3a2yde4e.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/25/u6y9u5a2.jpg

[goclassv]

Thanks for the quick feedback! I will try to increase my water changes to every 24 hours vs my current 36 hour routine. I will also increase my frequency of wiping down the tank...did not realize this was so important!

I realize the tank is on the small size, but I have also read that there are benefits to this. At a certain point, doing a 60% water change would not be feasible for me, say a 75 gallon tank or larger. That is unless I went to straight tap water, but my tap water is in the high 8's for ph. Perhaps I will try to prepare the 55 gallon sooner than later. What is difficult is to know when water quality is an issue when there is nothing to measure. Really hope the white spots are not fin rot!

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Get a test kit and start testing your water, aged and after putting it into your tank. Once you get to know the consistancy of your waters parameters, the better your fish will be.

[Ryan]

You'll definitely know when the water is off. It will look dingy or cloudy, and the inside of the glass will feel slimy.

If you're only doing a 60% water change then it needs to be at least daily on a tank that size. That's the problem with smaller tanks -- the smaller they are, the larger volume of water you have to change, and more frequently. I'm actually doing 90% daily on my 55 gallon with eleven 4" fish and it still looks disgusting by the time I change the water. Soon I will have to either upgrade the tank or split them over two tanks unless I want to do two daily water changes (which I don't!).

Other than that, the fish look really good. The key now is very clean water and good food. If you don't keep the water quality up you can easily stunt them.

As for your water quality, is the pH always in the high 8s on your straight tap water, even after it ages?

[LizStreithorst]

I think that you are feeding too little. If you're nitrate is 0 your tank is not properly cycled. Keep an eye on the water parameters and as everyone else said, up your WCs. That's a lot of fish for a small tank. If you feed more it will make for more waste and lower water quality so good WCs are even more important.

[strawberryblonde]

I'm basically doing what you're doing. I'm raising a slightly smaller batch of 3" discus in a 20g. Here's my schedule and it works really well (this is my fifth batch that I've raised so far)

1) Water Changes- I do a "small" water change first thing in the morning after they have a flake breakfast. It's only about 40%. I clean the bottom and sides with a quick swipe of a scrubby brush (buy them at walmart for $1.50). It's a soft scrub brush made up of foam, not bristles and cleans things really well.
Then at night I do the "large" water change. I drain the tank to about 1/2" above their top fins. I do the scrubbie thing again, and rinse one sponge filter in the tank water as it drains into my sink.

2) Feedings - They get flakes for a quick breakfast, then a cube of freeze dried blackworms to hold them over for a few hours. At about 11am they get another cube of the worms, then again at 2pm. At dinner time they get a cube of frozen beefheart, then one more at 7pm. At 7:30 they get the nightly water change and at 9pm they get their final blackworm cube as a bedtime snack. They munch on it all night and it's completely gone by morning.

I plan to move them to a 55 gallon tank when they reach 4"...which should be in about a month. Ohhhh, I've only had them for just under a week, so they still are a wee bit scared of me. They're adjusting quickly though and have learned that when I approach from the left and open the lid, it means food! LOL

I use straight tap and my pH is well over 8. So long as you test your tap and do an aging test (fill a bucket, heat and aerate it for 24 hours and check to see if the pH shifts), you should be able to get away with straight tap. If you do have a pH swing when you age your tap, just be sure to aerate it overnight before doing water changes.

Ok, for the spots on the tail. That's not fin rot. Those are fairly normal to see, especially when you first get your discus. The fins are very fragile and can be slightly damaged by the nets and moving from tank to tank. It will heal with nothing but fresh water and time.

[alexsano]

wow good reading

[camuth8]

wow good reading

Yeah, don't see too many beginners with this much information on here.:) Also, is it just me, or are the fish slightly stunted? It seems like they're a bit too colored to be at 2 or 3 inches.:confused:

[goclassv]

Thanks for the continuing feedback...

Jeff, I do have a test kit, although I am questioning my observations on my ph.... more on that later.

I have to take back my zero nitrates. I had only checked it after day 1 and day 3. I checked it last night before water change and it was 5ppm. There remains zero ammonia/nitrite. The reasons for my 0/0/0 values initially were probably due to low feeding and not having a chance to build up.

Strawberryblonde, I wonder if I am feeding enough too....perhaps that is why I am seeing so little nitrate buildup.

I scrubbed the tank down last night and tonight based on the advice here....there really was no build-up to be seen, but I imagine it will come.

Camuth, I was concerned about that too. I do have to retract my initial estimate in size. I tried measuring them by putting a tape measure up to the glass.....what a mistake....fish FREAKED OUT. One tried to jump out of the tank, not sure what is so scary about a yellow measuring tape. Anyways, I ended up just measuring the sizes of the sponge filters and using that judge the length of the fish. All fish except 2 are 3 inches or more. The 2 smallest are about 2.5 inches and the 1 largest is about 3.5. Not sure if that makes a difference.

In terms of my Ph, my estimate of 7.7 was based off of my api test kit (This was based on my estimate between reading 7.6+ on the regular ph and definitely less than 7.8 on the high ph). Last night I recalibrated my ph controller on my planted tank and for the heck of it, dipped it in the water from my discus tank and got 7.3.....what gives! Are my ph kits no longer accurate or do I need a new probe for my controller....little frustrated. Planning to bring the water into the shop this weekend to see their estimate, but perhaps all my kit readings are high?

I plan on doing some more tests either way with straight tap or maybe a 2:1 mix of tap:RO. Maybe it is not as high as I initially thought. I hate wasting all this water (and paying for it too). Thanks for your re-affirming post strawberry.

Lots to think about as always...thanks everyone!

[Brad27]

I found that growing out with a min of 15 gal per fish to reach full adult size. 10 gal even with daily big wc never reached the size i would get when i gave them the 15 gal.
jmo

[goclassv]

So nitrates remain at 5 ppm tonight and two nights ago. I've kept up the 60% every 24 hours for 5 days now in a row I think. Fish are less and less skittish, even after water change, so that is good. Also I have been scrubbing the walls and bottom every night!

Only strange thing is that the fish seem a little darker overall and stripes show more often now. Not sure why they would be stressed :-/ I attached a video to show better how the fish look. The white dots remain on the fin, unchanged. The chipped fin however is no longer visible, and I can't tell even which fish had it... :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts9b3OBXmY4

I will be splitting these fish in the next month, with the 6 largest moving to a separate 55 gallon.

[Ryan]

You have a dark background and the tank bottom is not painted or covered. Discus will darken if they're in a darker environment. This is probably why the colors are dark and you're seeing their bars more. These will fade with age, but also if you paint the bottom a light tan or blue color. Like this:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/IMG_1823-1.jpg

[goclassv]

Ahh, that makes total sense. My killifish do the exact same thing. Yeah, your picture is closer to the color they were when I purchased them, and now mine are a light brown. I definitely like the light blue for the background.

Thanks for the tip, makes me worry a little less :-)