New 252l tank - Discus Behaving Weird

Shimbob said:

Hello guys and gals, I'm new to here, so a big hello and also very new to fish keeping.

I need some help please, I'll try not to bore you all to death with a long winded story, here goes...

I recently got a Fluval Shaker 252L tank. I have a few live plants, some driftwood, which I quarantined for 2.5 weeks and planted the shrubbery into a soil/substrate which sits underneath sand. My fish arrived last Friday, after also 2.5 weeks of running the cycle. I used RO water (the shop messed up and threw in for free), tap water + tap safe. Last Friday, 7th May my new little babies arrived. 6x 4cm discus, 2x little plecos, 4 x corydoras and 10 neon tetras. I have a proper test kit and a pH pen. My readings were 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and pH was 7.4. Arguably a little higher than expected for discus but the aquarium shop assured me this would be fine and not to worry.

All the fish were swimming around like the owned the place, the corydoras make me giggle, they're so active.. However, the discus have all pretty much been in hiding. Whilst I appreciate that this change of scenery can cause a little stress, I did not expect them to stop eating. I left the lights off, as advised by the shop, and also by a few people I'm chatting to on Instagram who breed discus. There is one chap on Insta who has said that them not eating is a bad sign. I have been feeding NT labs food twice a day and I have discus health frozen food and also beefheart. I will only throw in one of the frozen foods and the other two feeds per day. Over the last couple of days, these guys seem to have these little white markings, I sent pics to the shop, they said turn up the temperature a little, so I did (just today). They said they'd been de-wormed so no need to get any de-wormer.

Yesterday and the day before, the pH has increased to 7.8, Nitrite 2.0 and Ammonia 0.5. Yesterday, I added Evolution Aqua Pure Aquarium Balls into the filter and a couple into the tank. I have added seachem 7.0 regulator as per instructions. Same readings today.

I appreciate it takes a while for it all to regulate, and I need to be patient, but I don't want to have missed something, knowing things can escalate very quickly in an aquarium; my gut feeling is something isn't right. This could be because I too am learning...

See attached pictures of the discus, they also seem to have a gangster lean on and also, this Insta guy is freaking me out about their tummies esp as they are not eating. The faint white spots on tails etc, are these gill flukes?

I would appreciate some advice, I know I may be in over my head, but hoping I have joined a respectful community of fish lovers who all one day were in my shoes (hopefully in a better place ofc!).

Thanks very much guys
S

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redtailshark34 said:

Hello
When your tank was cycling did you add pure ammonia?

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Shimbob said:

Hi there. No I didn’t, told not necessarily needed ?‍

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NannaLou said:

@Shimbob - we all get told that...?

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redtailshark34 said:

Okay, did you get any form of ammonia into the tank? If not your tank most likely never did a fishless cycle. You are now technically doing a fish-in cycle. For a fish in cycle there are several threads on here that can help, most are found under cycling your tank. I don’t know much about fish in cycling but a lot of people on here do. Also do you use a liquid test kit or sticks? Sometimes sticks can come back reading things wrong.

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Naughts said:

First thing, get rid of the ammonia and nitrite - it is poisoning the fish.
Usually large water changes are advised but I understand discus are too sensitive for that so you will need to do lots of small changes and use a conditioner that 'locks' the ammonia such as Prime. This is a temporary fix ( I believe 24 hours) so you will need to do the water changes with the Prime daily for a number of weeks until the tank is cycled.
Get better pictures of the white dots.
Don't worry about the fish not eating for now, they can survive for a fair while without food.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

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Shimbob said:

Thank you for making the time to respond, appreciate it.
Ok so should I do 10% water changes every day and get some prime? That’s 25l, which is easy.
Thanks for your help!

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Naughts said:

I have never kept discus so I hope @mark4785 , @kribensis12 , @Lajos_Detari may see this and offer more tailored advice.
Initially do 50% water change every 4 hours until the nitrite and ammonia read 0, then reduce the water change to once daily.
Aqua balls help the bacteria build, but are in no way an instant cycle. Regardless, add the whole pack.
Reduce feeding and add live plants, especially floating plants. These measures limit the ammonia build up.

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Shimbob said:

50% every 4 hours, is not too much? These guys are stressed out already and I don’t want to keep disturbing them?
Thanks v much for the tips!

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Shimbob said:

Hi there. No I didn’t, told not necessarily needed ?‍

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