Discus daker color

[Steverd]

I know Discus can change color, but can't find any info on it.

I bought a 4" pale blue discus a month ago, but since the discus has
been in it's new home it's almost always a dark blue..
Is there anything I can adjust to bring back his lighter color?

50gal tank
Pressurized CO2 planted tank
PH 6.7/6.8 controlled by PH controller on CO2 set-up
Temp 82-84
25-30% water change weekly
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 20, it's them same as our Nitrate in our drinking water,

Fish:
4 Discus, others are smaller than this one
20 neons
3 black mollies
3 clown loacher

Any suggestions?

Thank you,
Steve

[Elaine T]

Steverd wrote:
> I know Discus can change color, but can't find any info on it.
>
> I bought a 4" pale blue discus a month ago, but since the discus has
> been in it's new home it's almost always a dark blue..
> Is there anything I can adjust to bring back his lighter color?
>
> 50gal tank
> Pressurized CO2 planted tank
> PH 6.7/6.8 controlled by PH controller on CO2 set-up
> Temp 82-84
> 25-30% water change weekly
> Nitrites 0
> Nitrate 20, it's them same as our Nitrate in our drinking water,
>
> Fish:
> 4 Discus, others are smaller than this one
> 20 neons
> 3 black mollies
> 3 clown loacher
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thank you,
> Steve
>
Nobody has answered so I'll take a stab. I only kept discus in a
display tank for a few years so my experience is limited. I'm assuming
that the fish is otherwise healthy - fully open fins, clear eyes, good
slime coat, eating heartily, no odd behaviours. My discus darkened up
and showed their stripes when they were stressed, so I'd look for stressors.

Your water quality seems good except for the nitrates. A CO2 injected
planted tank should suck up nitrates quite fast, and a 25% water change
with 20 ppm from the tap should only raise them by 5 ppm. My old
planted discus tank stayed below 5 ppm. If nitrate in your tank (not
your tapwater) is really at 20 ppm, you might want to consider adding
either a nitrate absorbing resin to the filter or some fast-growing,
weedy plants like hygrophila, rotala, or water sprite. These tall
plants are also good cover, in case your discus is just a bit stressed
from his tankmates. Clown loaches can be a bit rambunctious for timid
discus, or yours may have a low spot in the discus pecking order,
despite its size.

Other subtle water things - I ran with Boyd's Chemi-Pure instead of
carbon in the filter. Chemi-pure pulls more ions out of the water than
carbon and can pull toxic metals like copper and zinc out of tap water.
I can't remember whether it absorbs nitrate or not. I also found that
adding Kent trace elements (they now make one specifically for Discus)
sometimes colored up the fish and improved plant growth.

My other thought is somewhat less optimistic. A lot of discus are
treated with hormones to make their color very bright. Once the
hormones wear off, the color darkens and the fish's growth is stunted.
When I was working in a store, the owner was always suspicious of discus
that came into the unfamiliar environment of the store and maintained
their bright colors. Of course fish store owners have little control
over what is ordered vs. actually shipped from Asia so there wasn't much
he could do. If your fish was hormone treated, his color now is
probably how he will stay.

I don't know how much of this you've already considered, but I wanted to
at least try to help out.

Elaine T

[Craig]

possibly just settling in, to the new water chemestry i think.
origenally my discus used to have dark brown bands down there body but
after a few weeks in the tank they had nearly completly clear skin.

on of the few mysteries of these fish

(i am by no means a discus expert, mine died within a year due to poor
tank maintainance, a real shame as they are very nice fish)

i wouldnt worry too much if all your other fish are fine, it probley is
a personal thing.



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