discus dying help

[nursingshark]

i have 180litre tank with discuss in came down this morning and 2 dead on bottomn during the day 3 more have died they look almost like they have been burnt on the side checked ph its 7 nitrite is almost 0 ammonia was a little high so have treated that its a bare tank with sand on the bottomn any idiea have only 2 left they do tend to sit by the heater could this have burnt them help please dont want to lose these as well

 

[WILDER]

I would buy a heater guard, can you describe what it looked like, can't see that they all got burnt of the heater.

 

[black angel]

If it looks black then its ammonia burns healing. Discus are sensitive to their water and you need to do more frequent water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite in check.

you may have overstocked as well.

 

[elgecko]

What temp do you have your tank water set at? They like it around 83-86 degrees.
How long has your tank been set up before you placed the fish in?
Did you get all the fish at one time from the same tank or did you get fish from different tanks and different times?

 

[nursingshark]

temp is 80 deg they tend to hang out round the heater it was set up for a month first only had them a week and they all came from same source is 6 too many in 180litre tank the burn marks looked like they had skinned themselves all dead now would like to restock but scared to they always hid from us if they could would this be a sign of problems not a noisy house only me and old man we got them from a local man and his were kept in a shed so saw no one could this be stress related

 

[nursingshark]

my other tank is now dying too had some neons from another supplier could this be prob put some in with discus for colour but discus did not seem to like them so put all in the tank that is now dying could that be prob

 

[elgecko]

I would suggest raising your temp at least 3 more degrees to 83.

Discus have weak immune systems compared to many of the other tropical fish, so they can pick up diseases that other fish show no symptoms to.

Are you sure that your tanks are cycled? If your ammonia was a little high it does not sound like it was. If you did not place any fish food in your tank for that month it was set up, most likely there is very little bacteria to convert the ammonia.

How often do you do water changes? Discus need very clean water. I have mine in a barebottom tank, vac and water change twice a week.

When you say it looks like they skinned themselves, it sounds like the Discus Plague. I read in a fish magazine not that long ago how Jack Wattley cured his fish when they got it. No meds work in curing them. He lowered the PH in his tanks every couple of hours till it was about a PH of 5. At a low PH viruses and bacteria do not multiple and start to die. He kept the PH there for a few days and the fish recovered. Maybe do a google search and see what you can find on Discus Plague.

 

[nursingshark]

thanks for info have done search and it sounds exactly like what happend to my fish would they have come to me with discus plague or could i have brought it in as i only had them a week do you think i should strip tank and start again

 

[elgecko]

I'm not sure if you need to strip down the tank or not. I never dealt with Discus Plague, so I have no experience and never read up on it. Do some more searching and see if you can find anything about that.
You can also try over at http/www.simplydiscus.com/forum/ its just about discus so someone over there might be able to help you.