Discus help

Hi Everyone

I’m looking for advice with my male discus I’ve had for roughly 10months. He is a pair female is fine and well but my male has been discolouring over past few weeks he’s still eating, find not clamped but looking very ragged.
Roughly two months ago I added two Geo’s to my tank which are very aggressive I seen one Geo bite my discus I have now noticed his fins and look extremely bad i am unclear as to if he has been bitten or has a parasite. I removed carbon and treated tank with cloverleaf absolute wormer + just to rule out any internal parasites followed by water change. I have seen no difference and today he is missing a ventral fin. He is still eating daily and I don’t see anymore obvious signs of illness or infection so unsure how to go forward. I have both internal filtration and external fluval 307. My local fish store doesn’t think he has fin rot and he is only fish in tank with fin damage. Please could you by any chance take a look and give me a suggestion of your personal opinion. I am due a water change today which I’m going to conduct but then ideally want to treat if necessary. Also I have a quarantine tank but worried if he is weak moving him may kill him.



Many Thanks



Natalie



Tank size 239L

Substrate - Sand and live plants

2 air stones tetra 400aps

3x mollys

6 x bleeding heart tetras

4 x electric blue rams

1 bristlenose pleco

2 x Geophagus

4 x Adult angel fish

2x juvenile discuss

6 x large adult discus

1x platty

4x torpedo barbs

Unsure roughly how man dwarf sucker algae eaters remaining

1x apistogramma female



Tank temperature - 28 degrees

KH 40

GH 180

No3 20

No2 0.5

PH 7
Ammonia 0


Many Thanks

*fins not clamped*

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

Picture of the torpedo barbs so we know what they are.

What species of Geophagus did you get?
If the problem started after they were added, I would remove the Geophagus for a few weeks and see if the discus improves.

The fish appears healthy apart from the fin damage and if it's eating well and doing normal coloured poop, then do not treat it with anything. The fins should heal on their own if the problem is the Geophagus and they get moved out.

The Geophagus could also cause problems to the rams.


The GH is a bit high for all the fish you have except the mollies and platy. Mollies like a GH above 250ppm. Platies like a GH around 200ppm.
The other fishes come from water with a GH below 100ppm. Unfortunately if you drop the GH for these fish, the mollies and platy will suffer. But right now the other fishes won't be as healthy with the higher GH. Ideally you get a second tank for the mollies and platy and keep them in the harder water and use reverse osmosis or rain water to reduce the GH in the discus tank.

NatCardiff88 said:

GH 180

Click to expand...

Is this the highest reading on your test kit? If yes, the actual number could be more.

Hi Colin

Thanks so much for your response is appreciated Torpedos and Geo’s In pictures hope they are ok.

Sorry I will be replying in parts if that’s ok. i need to check dimensions. I did try netting Geo’s out yesterday there pretty quick and a nightmare to catch they keep hiding under internal filter so I can’t get them I’m considering removing decorations when water changing today and trying to catch them again do you have any tips on removing them? they have attacked and killed several plattys, eaten 2 electric neons, several dwarf sucker loach, and killed a few apistogramma hence only a few of each fish. I didn’t expect them to be so aggressive in the shop they were tanked with other fish and actually seemed coy it’s as if they got comfortable and just now harass most of the other fish.

I use PH neutraliser to keep PH 7.

My general hardness is just my tap water are you suggesting buying reverse osmosis machine? I’ve heard this can take a long time. Is it worth me putting some melafix in as it’s natural to help discus? Or do you think this may be pointless?

Apologies I’ve also seen another message has came through but unable to view it. I will look and get thank dimensions and reply again sorry.

Naughts said:

Colin_T said:

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

Picture of the torpedo barbs so we know what they are.

What species of Geophagus did you get?
If the problem started after they were added, I would remove the Geophagus for a few weeks and see if the discus improves.

The fish appears healthy apart from the fin damage and if it's eating well and doing normal coloured poop, then do not treat it with anything. The fins should heal on their own if the problem is the Geophagus and they get moved out.

The Geophagus could also cause problems to the rams.


The GH is a bit high for all the fish you have except the mollies and platy. Mollies like a GH above 250ppm. Platies like a GH around 200ppm.
The other fishes come from water with a GH below 100ppm. Unfortunately if you drop the GH for these fish, the mollies and platy will suffer. But right now the other fishes won't be as healthy with the higher GH. Ideally you get a second tank for the mollies and platy and keep them in the harder water and use reverse osmosis or rain water to reduce the GH in the discus tank.

Click to expand...

Colin_T said:

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

Picture of the torpedo barbs so we know what they are.

What species of Geophagus did you get?
If the problem started after they were added, I would remove the Geophagus for a few weeks and see if the discus improves.

The fish appears healthy apart from the fin damage and if it's eating well and doing normal coloured poop, then do not treat it with anything. The fins should heal on their own if the problem is the Geophagus and they get moved out.

The Geophagus could also cause problems to the rams.


The GH is a bit high for all the fish you have except the mollies and platy. Mollies like a GH above 250ppm. Platies like a GH around 200ppm.
The other fishes come from water with a GH below 100ppm. Unfortunately if you drop the GH for these fish, the mollies and platy will suffer. But right now the other fishes won't be as healthy with the higher GH. Ideally you get a second tank for the mollies and platy and keep them in the harder water and use reverse osmosis or rain water to reduce the GH in the discus tank.

Click to expand...

Is this the highest reading on your test kit? If yes, the actual number could be more.

Click to expand...

Yes I use API test strips max on strip is 180.

Torpedoes look like Denison barbs
… I keep mine in a cooler tank, than I would ever keep Discus fish in… and actually several of the fish don’t seem right for the environment needed for the Discus…
Nice looking setup though

NatCardiff88 said:

Yes I use API test strips max on strip is 180.

Click to expand...

Have you checked your water provider's website for their water quality report? They may give water hardness.

Apologies I’m unclear as to what happened then I’m pretty sure my Geo’s are red head I thought I purchased one male one female but suspect they are both male they flare there gills up and tend to mouth lock and the larger one harasses the smaller one daily.

I never knew rain water could be used I like the sound of that would I need a lot to bring down general hardness?

I have a Ciano tank the dimensions are:
Height:61mm/2 ft
Width: 40.2mm/
Length: 120mm/47 inches

Also I have some black algae in tank so excuse pictures it’s killing my plants but I’ve held off treatment as wanted to do worker first and water change run carbon etc.

Magnum Man said:

Torpedoes look like Denison barbs

Sahyadria denisonii – Red-line Torpedo Barb (Barbus denisonii, Puntius denisonii) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

… I keep mine in a cooler tank, than I would ever keep Discus fish in… and actually several of the fish don’t seem right for the environment needed for the Discus…
Nice looking setup though

Click to expand...

Hi thanks for your reply,

Yes I am worried as temperature is a little high for them and angels. Yeah I’ve heard discus live better and are less likely to get hexamita if temperatures are around 32c.

It’s so difficult to find room I have two tanks and a separate 60L quarantine tank. This hobby is so addictive! I’ve heard of multiple tank syndrome I can easily see how it’s done.

I must say though my torpedos I purchased in December and they’ve grown so much I have no problems with them.

Thank you I feel the tank is not looking its best.

Naughts said:

Is this the highest reading on your test kit? If yes, the actual number could be more.

Click to expand...

Can you recommend a more accurate testing kit?

NatCardiff88 said:

Can you recommend a more accurate testing kit?

Click to expand...

I'm not saying it's not accurate exactly, just that it can only read as high as 180ppm. So 200 or 250 would still read 180. You could buy the liquid API GH and KH kit, but if your water provider's website tells you the information that would suffice. Source water rarely changes in the UK so once you know the GH numbers you don't need to keep testing them.

Liquid GH testers read a lot higher than 180 ppm. A lot come paired with KH testers, API make one for example.

However you can find your hardness on Dwr Cymru's website. I used to live in Cardiff many years ago, so I went to the website and entered the postcode for that address to see what I could find.
Load this page
Enter your postcode in the box. That should give a map of South Wales with a menu bar across the top. Click on the arrow next to "water quality" and in the drop down box, click on "for more information about water hardness click here". That opens a pdf with a lot of boxes. Look for two boxes - Hardness (German) near the bottom right and alkalinity in the top middle. Hardness German is your GH in the dH unit of measurement and alkalinity is what water companies call KH. Make a note of those two numbers. GH as dH can be converted to ppm using the forum calculator

NatCardiff88 said:

Roughly two months ago I added two Geo’s to my tank which are very aggressive I seen one Geo bite my discus I have now noticed his fins and look extremely bad i am unclear as to if he has been bitten or

Click to expand...

I would definitely separate the more aggressive fish from the discus. I had to move aggressive fish out of my discus tank because of the very tattered fins, as you have seen. I would take the more aggressive fish back to the LFS for an exchange for a more peaceful fish.

Hi guys sorry I’m back. I removed my grid from the tank into my quarantine tank they weren’t happy and it was too small so I returned them to the shop. My discus appeared to be coming around but past few days he’s hiding away from others. Has white stringy poop. Spoke to my aquarium shop they said not to isolate him just treat whole tank. I’ve started a hex treatment but he’s looking worse daily do you have any suggestions?
No3 -20
N02-0
PH 7.5
Kh 40
Gh-180

He looks dreadful tempted to do 50% water change but I’m on 3rd day of treatment he looks so bad I just don’t know what to do to help him. He was eating until today also so wondering if treatment may be making him worse