Problem with accidental discus

[DaniBri]

I am really new to aquariums. I recently bought a fish in impulse (I know... Don't do that) I trusted the people at the chain pet store when they told me he was a rainbow fish. He was the only one they had because he was a special order but the person didn't want him. As it was the first time my husband showed an interest in a fish I took him home. After releasing him into my 10 gallon tank I realized something was wrong as he wasn't swimming and he couldn't move in the cramped quarters despite being told 10 gallons was enough. I started researching and found out he was actually a discus! My tank was too small, the water wasn't right and my temp was too low. I panicked. I didn't want to return him to the chain store so I contacted the local small fish store to see if they could take him. They aren't currently set up for discus fish. They do have a couple guys fairly knowledgeable about them though. I've gotten some advice from them (he may be accustomed to our water and temp but will outgrow the size extremely fast) I was given a 20 gallon tank and switched everyone over. (Used everything from the original tank including the filter) and he is doing better. HOWEVER his fins remain clamped most of the time and he will not eat. I've tried frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, and tropical flakes. I know he needs a friend but 1, my tank isn't big enough for more discus and 2, there are not discus available from any provider in a reasonable distance (closest is 2.5 hours away)
Is there any other fish I could put in as a buddy? I currently have 4 platies, 3 mollies, 3 Cory cats, 1 pleco. One of my mollies and one of my platies try to befriend him but he ignores them. My husband agreed to a 150 gallon tank upgrade on the conditions I keep him alive and I have to wait until we can reasonably afford it.

 

[Colin_T]

Discus are probably the hardest freshwater fish to keep and you are new to fish keeping. You really jumped in at the deep end without any floaties

What is the temperature of your tank?
Discus like warm water, 28-30C (82-86F). If the temp is less than 28C raise it to 28C. Do not raise it to 30 if you can help it because when discus get sick you raise the temp then to treat them. Also Corydoras do not like 30C.

Make sure the water has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and less than 30ppm nitrate. Keep the pH between 6.0 & 7.0, which is going to be an issue for the mollies and platies because they need neutral to alkaline water.

Do not feed them too often and remove any food that is not eaten immediately. Any rotting food will cause water quality problems. If the fish is not eating frozen food get some live brineshrimp from a petshop and offer a few of those to the fish. Keep the rest of the brineshrimp in a bowl in the fridge and use over the next few days. You can also try live black worms and most discus will eat them.
Once the fish is taking live food you start offering frozen (but defrosted) foods like bloodworms, brineshrimp, prawn and fish.

Discus do not grow that fast so a bigger tank is not essential at this stage. In Asia where they are breed they keep adult breeding prs in 2ft square tanks.

Personally I would move the platies, mollies and Corydoras into the smaller tank with half of the filter material. Buy some more filter media to fill both filters. Keep the discus and pleco in the bogger tank and drop the pH and raise the temp for the discus.

Get some photos and video asap so we can check the fish's overall health and condition.

 

[DaniBri]

I can't seem to resize a video to post but I did get a couple pictures before he hid

 

[DaniBri]

Second picture where he is clamped. Yes I bought a fake discus in the hopes it would calm him

 

[DaniBri]

Lol then he decided to pose

 

[DaniBri]

Right now my temp is at 80f worried if I go higher it will stress the others. All I have in in hand are the test strips but I'll take a water sample in to the store tomorrow for thorough testing. Unfortunately no one around here has live food beyond crickets for reptiles unless there's something in my yard I can dig up ( kind of joking kind of not. If it's a possibility I'll totally go dig in my yard) . Food rarely goes uneaten but ive been using a turkey baster to remove anything I can see. I do suspect there may have been some fry in there as one Molly is looking a bit thinner so he may have munched on those last night.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish looks good in the first pic but 2nd and 3rd is not so good.

Have you added anything to the water? If no, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank each day for the next 2 weeks. There are lots of air bubbles gathering on the surface in the pics and that can be caused by chemicals or ammonia. Big daily water changes will dilute anything in the water and make it safer for the fish. And gravel cleaning will remove any uneaten food that can cause water quality problems.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Try to get the new water to a similar temperature as the tank before adding it. You can add a bit of boiled water to raise the temperature of the new water before it is added.
Try to aerate the new water with conditioner in, for 30 minutes or more before adding it to the tank.

Only offer food once a day and remove anything that is not eaten within a few minutes.

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All suckermouth catfish require driftwood to graze on. If you don't have any driftwood in the tank, then grab some the next time you are at a petshop. Rinse any new driftwood and then put in the tank somewhere. It doesn't have to be a huge piece but they need some for roughage.

 

[mikey11]

in all honesty....no offense....the humane thing to do would be to sell him (or even give him away if you have to) to somebody who KNOWS what they are doing, and can provide a proper home for him

unless you are willing to buy a bigger tank in the next couple of weeks (50 gallon minimum) and that would really be an absolute minimum....bigger if possible

 

[Colin_T]

A gravel cleaner like the one in the following link is more effective at removing uneaten food and gunk from the gravel.
http://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

Don't feed crickets to fish but if you have roses in the garden, tap any aphids off them into a bucket, then feed the aphids to the fish. And if you have a bucket of water with some leaves in, sitting outside under a tree, you will probably get mosquitoe larvae in the water and can scoop them out with a fine mesh net to feed to the fish. Earthworm farms can produce lots of small worms that are suitable for bigger fish. Baby mollies and platies are an excellent food too.

 

[DaniBri]

in all honesty....no offense....the humane thing to do would be to sell him (or even give him away if you have to) to somebody who KNOWS what they are doing, and can provide a proper home for him

unless you are willing to buy a bigger tank in the next couple of weeks (50 gallon minimum) and that would really be an absolute minimum....bigger if possible

I actually tried to do that. The local shop isn't set up for them but they do have my name, number and a picture of him in case anyone comes in looking for a discus. I will not take him back to the chain store. I'll at least try to take care of him, they didn't even realize he was a discus.

 

[DaniBri]

The fish looks good in the first pic but 2nd and 3rd is not so good.

Have you added anything to the water? If no, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank each day for the next 2 weeks. There are lots of air bubbles gathering on the surface in the pics and that can be caused by chemicals or ammonia. Big daily water changes will dilute anything in the water and make it safer for the fish. And gravel cleaning will remove any uneaten food that can cause water quality problems.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Try to get the new water to a similar temperature as the tank before adding it. You can add a bit of boiled water to raise the temperature of the new water before it is added.
Try to aerate the new water with conditioner in, for 30 minutes or more before adding it to the tank.

Only offer food once a day and remove anything that is not eaten within a few minutes.

---------------------
All suckermouth catfish require driftwood to graze on. If you don't have any driftwood in the tank, then grab some the next time you are at a petshop. Rinse any new driftwood and then put in the tank somewhere. It doesn't have to be a huge piece but they need some for roughage.

I'll pick up a piece of drift wood tomorrow when I get the water tested (I would go today but I'm home alone with a 3 yr old and no transportation) it's a bit early in the year but mosquito larvae will definitely be easy to come by, they are constantly in my bird baths outside.

I used stress zyme and stress coat to treat the water when I cycled it (nitrate is 0 according to test strips) the bubbles at the top are from a bubble stone he likes to play in. I also have a bubble sponge going and 2 filters (a 55gallon filter given to me with the tank and the 10 gallon cycled filter) I do use a gravel vacuum every 5 to 6 days and have 4 different live plants to help with amonia. I've been doing 25% water changes when I vacuum the gravel.

 

[seangee]

Good on you for wanting to do the best for him and not taking him (or her) back to the chain store.
Discus are hard work - check out http://meethepet.com/discus-fish/. Most people on here use Seriously Fish for profiles but their discus profile is a bit gappy.

I disagree with the statement in the article I cited that you should change 25% of water weekly. Most people say every 2 days (but daily is preferable), and that's in a 200 litre tank. The fact is discus are very messy (not just them but also their food) and also extremely sensitive to ammonia and nitrite - so as Colin said they are hard work.

I'm not trying to put you off - but you should know what you are in for if you want him to be healthy. Personally I would love to keep discus but the only way I could get my water soft enough is to use RO and that's just too much water for me to carry from the fish shop

 

[DaniBri]

Good on you for wanting to do the best for him and not taking him (or her) back to the chain store.
Discus are hard work - check out http://meethepet.com/discus-fish/. Most people on here use Seriously Fish for profiles but their discus profile is a bit gappy.

I disagree with the statement in the article I cited that you should change 25% of water weekly. Most people say every 2 days (but daily is preferable), and that's in a 200 litre tank. The fact is discus are very messy (not just them but also their food) and also extremely sensitive to ammonia and nitrite - so as Colin said they are hard work.

I'm not trying to put you off - but you should know what you are in for if you want him to be healthy. Personally I would love to keep discus but the only way I could get my water soft enough is to use RO and that's just too much water for me to carry from the fish shop

Right now my goal is to keep him alive long enough to get him into the hands of someone that can make him healthy and happy. As beautiful as discus are they are far too much work for me to start with. I already have more than I bargained for with a Molly having 18 fry 2 days after I got her. I've only been at this 3 weeks.

 

[Colin_T]

One way I use to get marine fish to eat was using a piece of thread for sewing. I tied a small knot in the end and trimmed off the little bit of string below the knot. I threaded the other end of the string thru a needle. I cut small pieces of raw prawn/ shrimp (that had no shell) and pushed them onto the needle and down the thread until they hit the knot at the end. I then gently dangled the bit of food in the tank and slowly moved it about for the fish to see. Most fish would check it out pretty quickly and grab it off the thread. Because there is only a small knot stopping the food coming off the thread, you don't move it too fast or it falls off by itself.

The idea is to have a bit of food suspended in the water so the fish can see it, and the food moves around so it activates the fish's hunting instinct. Once they start eating they are usually fine.

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Re: 25% water changes for discus, they are useless. Do 50-75% water changes on tanks to keep the water clean, especially with a pleco in the tank.

We had a 10ft display tank in the shop and it had discus, angels, tetras, barbs and everything else in it. Each week we did a 75-80% water change and gravel clean and the fish were fine. Just make sure the water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank. And try to aerate the water for 30 minutes or more before adding it.

 

[DaniBri]

I don't know if anyone is following this thread but I have rehomed the discus. The guy I found doesn't have any discus but has a 75 gallon tank of RO water with German blue Rams.