Sick Discus

[Michaela521]

Hello everyone, I have a discus and he doesn't look like he is doing to good. He isn't eating and just hides in the back. He has been like this for 2 weeks. Is there anything I can do for him. This is during my cycling stage. The ammonia is around . 4 ppm while the nitrite is about 2 ppm and the nitrate is about 20 ppm. The ammonia went up to 1.75 ppm and then started to go down while the nitrites shot up around 5 ppm before starting to go down. Thank you.

 

[Tolak]

If I could pick the worst fish to do a traditional cycle with, discus would be at the top. They require very clean water, any ammonia or nitrites is out of the question. High nitrates are a bad thing for them. If this were a cycled tank with a mature filter, I would suspect internal parasites, but any treatment would either be useless, or would hasten the death of this fish, so I won't bother with a long treatment post.

Best bet is to find someone to take this fish in, someone with a mature filter to quar & med this fish properly.

 

[Michaela521]

Thank you for the reply. I was planning on keeping the nitrates lower than 30ppm all the time. Is that a good number.

Also in your recommendation what is the best way to keep nitrates down. i.e. adding plants etc. Thank you

 

[Tolak]

Best way to keep nitrates down is water changes. Plants will help, but only to a certain extent. Discus do require plenty of fresh water, I know breeders who do water changes daily or every other day, of 50% or more on cycled tanks. Shoot for 10ppm, either through water changes, or understocking.