Constant 'panic attacks'??

[BmoreBraap]

The fish, not me!! hah. But really they are starting to stress me out a little. I figured it was maybe the new tank but they have been in it for a month now and seem to be getting worse.
Out of no where, even sometimes while I'm sitting motionless in front of the tank and they could be eating, one or 2 will have an insane panic attack sending the entire group at lightning speed around the tank smashing into walls and decorations, then hiding wedged under something for a few minutes, then repeat. One or 2 have scraped themselves up pretty bad on the driftwood during this.

This happens at random with no specific thing setting them off, they could be eating, I could be 20 feet from the tank, theyll do it when I walk by the tank, get near the tank, etc . Basically the only time they chill out is if I sit and melt into my chair and they forget I'm there. I find it even more strange that my mother who got into Discus just after me, who has only had her fish for 3-4 weeks, her fish could absolutely care less when you are present or even working on the tank. They just school and swim about like normal and they are 1-2" smaller then mine.

These are the same discus that would eat from my hand constantly and still sometimes do so I'm not sure what is causing this. I know my newest discus is the most skittish of the group and I'm wondering if him freaking out constantly is leading to the others doing the same.

Have any of you experienced this? If so what did you do? Thanks.

[Ryan]

- Check for stray current from a heater or filter.
- Make sure there is nothing causing vibrations around the tank.
- Are they in a location where shadows move across/above the tank? This will cause them to stampede.

[Phillydubs]

Matt,

I don't blame you for freaking out a bit. I would and do, do the same, sometimes it makes me wonder why I even keep these creatures, I feel like at times they cause me more stress and grief than pleasure...

I would go down the list of usual suspects and make sure you are clear and nothing has changed.

Have you tested the water? Params all good?

Is the tank painted or covered? Do they feel secure.

Are their lights or shadows on the tank at all? Do you approach fast or swift where they will try and retreat?

You really need to go through it all. Something is causing this, normal, healthy, active discus should not react like this, so to me it tells me they are saying something isn't right.

You said you added a new one? Was it in QT? Did you add one single fish?

I will say that I notice that one erratic fish can def cause stress to others, and they may display as scared or sick even cause this one is all over the place. If one darts, insticnct will kick in and others likely will follow. They are in a confined place, not like a big lake where boom they jet for cover. In a small glass box their options are limited.

Do you have a test kit? I'd post water params and all that and lets see if we can help you and your fish.

[BmoreBraap]

Thank you both for the response.

Ryan-Ill check the currents. As for vibrations, just the normal hum from my canister under the stand as well as my air pump but neither actually vibrate the tank. The tank its self is setup in my living room, the most used room in my house which also has my dogs out all day so they are very used to movement. No shadows cast on the tank though.

Phil-Agree haha, definitely how I feel sometimes but the rewarding feeling of keeping great fish out weighs it.
Water parameters are OK. And I only say OK mainly because of my source water with Nitrate count comes out a little above 20ppm. So my tank sits around 15-20 ppm.(PH-7.8,ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 15-20, Hard water TDS 445) I went ahead and got an RO unit when I found this out recently which will be getting set up today, so this week I will slowly be lowing their PH, hardness and Nitrate count hopefully. I did consider the high Nitrates being a possible source of the skittishness, but my mothers Nitrate count is the same for comparison.
Back of the tank is covered with a blue background. Lots of dritwood and fake plants.
No sunlight or shadows cast on the tank. I do approach fast around a corner and they almost never freak out then, its when Im standing in front of the tank it happens most often. The one new fish(bought 2 new at the same time, who did NOT go into qt and I learned from my mistake the hard way by now having 2 get sick and wound up in qt anyway) is by far the most skittish and is the only one who wont eat from my hand. Maybe I will try working with him on that and get him used to me.

The only other thing I can think of since its most frequent when I am right in front of the tank, is maybe they are expecting a water change? Since I do it daily and spend the most time in front of the tank during that time. I also made the rookie mistake of having a 1500gph pump that I do my changes with(dumping fresh into the tank) and when I first started, trying to break up the flow I would spray it across the top of the water level to the other side of the tank creating a serious current around the whole tank and the fish would meatball in a corner until I was done. I have since realized that dumping it straight down into one corner only creates flow around that square foot and doesn't even reach the middle of the tank. Could that be a source of the issue?

[Phillydubs]

Hmmm...

Are they eating? When things are clam and good they are good? No heavy stress bars no weird behavior?

Sounds like there could be a few issues, most of which you are working on. Slowly work that RO in and see. Your moms fish are from the same source? Is her set-up the same? Husbandry. It is hard to compare 2 groups, you know? Hers, also sound healthy, where you may have some issues as you said with cross contam and some new fish and sick fish.

I think and hope things will slowly settle with the new ro and all of that. New fish too can take a while to settle, add in the other factors maybe it is just stressed.

[Mattgoanna]

Are any of them keeping one gill closed? I have seen my fish do this when they have gill flukes. It is as if they have been bitten by something and they dart away, spooking the rest of the fish.

[BmoreBraap]

Phil-all are eating, color looks great, no heavy stress bars, and they settle in and school normally with no weird behavior after they realize im not in the tank chasing them. Lol in fact I worry so much about me maybe doing something wrong, if its something I thought was weird theres probably a post about it here! But really the last "weird" behavior I saw was a fish twitching, made a video about it and turns out its ready to breed and doing the mating dance. In fact the twitching fish is the newest of the group and most skittish if that says anything.
Moms fish are exact same source and their water parameters are almost identical minus theirs being pretty soft and I do at least double the water changes they do!

Matt-All breathing normally as I was looking for that also. No gill issues but that type of behavior is exactly what I see. They could be eating in a group and then all the sudden one jumps like it was bit or something. No electric currents in the tank and when it does happen, none of my other fish respond or act weird in anyway, just the discus then sending the whole group into a frenzy.

Well see if this RO water helps anything...