Rescue Discus

[dazz]

I have kept fish for a couple of years now but still consider myself a noob so wondered if you could help me with 2 rescue discus i have been given. I have a 240L tank with 4 Angels, various teras, 2 catfish, coredora, a royal and a common plec, red tail shark and 8 cloan loach. They have never been diseased and seem happy enough in my partially planted tank. I was recently given 2 small discus of which i know very little and am trying to read up on. I have had them 2 weeks now and they seem quite happy with the community albeit my ph is very high. i have tested my water this morning just prior to a water change and have ph 8.2, ammonia is 0.0, nitrite 0.1, nitrare is 12.5 mg/l, my major concern was the ph for the discus but they seem to have adapted well. could anyone please firstly tell me waht type of discus they are and anything that may help me look after them. so far they only eat bloodworm. many thanks darren

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I'm not sure what type of discus you have, but they do need very clean water, how often do you do water changes on your tank and how much do you take out on average ?

 

[fish-r-fancy]

You will also need to buy a product or add bogwood to the tank to lower the ph. Also have you considered rehoming your 8 clown loaches? They will get very big and will need a bigger tank.

 

[dazz]

I'm not sure what type of discus you have, but they do need very clean water, how often do you do water changes on your tank and how much do you take out on average ?

I do a water change once a week and usually take out a quarter of tank water, and every month to five weeks clean filter and hoses. Atm i have a large tetratec in there capable of cleaning up to 300l tank. I must admit my ph is high in Surrey / UK but they appear colourful and have adapted to the change, what concerns me is the long term effect to them, will pop down to lfs and buy some bogwood to help lower ph. As for loaches, i did have 4 but with the discus came another 4 which i could have taken to lfs to rehome but figured tehy would be happier staying together and integrating with my current 4. I do love clown loaches and how sociable they are together and every moring prior to feeding guarenteed all 8 of them will be dancing at the front of the tank waiting to be fed.

would love to know more about the discus and what type they are etc.

darren

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I'm not sure what type of discus you have, but they do need very clean water, how often do you do water changes on your tank and how much do you take out on average ?

I do a water change once a week and usually take out a quarter of tank water, and every month to five weeks clean filter and hoses. Atm i have a large tetratec in there capable of cleaning up to 300l tank. I must admit my ph is high in Surrey / UK but they appear colourful and have adapted to the change, what concerns me is the long term effect to them, will pop down to lfs and buy some bogwood to help lower ph. As for loaches, i did have 4 but with the discus came another 4 which i could have taken to lfs to rehome but figured tehy would be happier staying together and integrating with my current 4. I do love clown loaches and how sociable they are together and every moring prior to feeding guarenteed all 8 of them will be dancing at the front of the tank waiting to be fed.

would love to know more about the discus and what type they are etc.

darren

I believe that there is only one type of discus, just many colour/pattern varieties which have been selectively bred. Your ph is rather high for keeping discus, but changing it could cause more stress to them (as changing ph tends to cause it to fluctuate which can be very stressful for fish, and water which goes into the tank to replace old water lost by water changes also needs to be changed too etc) than keeping the ph the way it is.
Personally i would go do a thread on the Discus in the central and south american cichlids section of the forum, as there are many experienced and knowledgeable discus keepers there that would probably be better able to advise you than i am on the pros and cons of changing the ph of the tank for the discus's sake. According to the discus profile in the fish index, discus can be kept at a ph of more than 7.6 after careful acclimatisation, but you must be very vigilant about doing water changes (i would also advise increasing the size of the once-weekly water changes you do to around 50%);

http/www.fishforums.net/Discus-t42070.html