Sick discus?

[LvT]

Hello, i'm new here and from the netherlands so i hope my english is not to
bad.


Mij discus (1 of 5) is doing something crazy.

He (or she) swims arround in circles in a very fast and then i mean a very
fast speed. He's hitting the glas and did even hit the 'roof' of the aqarium
and thats about 10 cm's above the surface.

after this he lays down for a short moment underneath a wood. Within the
minute he's swimming again and you will se nothing strange about him/her.

any idees. I know some of the discus holders here have had the same problems
but no one seems to know whats the exact problem (worms mabey)

the no2/no3 are both zero to nothing and the Ph is 6.1 / 6.4 and the Kh is
about 6.

please mail me.

thanx
Leon

[Bob]

No fish I ever kept can panick like a discus...they nearly kill themselves
crashing into stuff...but there is usually a reason...

do they have enough room to swim freely...how big is the tank?

ime, they do that when they are "unhappy" with their tank.

if water quality is okay..is temperature? is gh? are you adding anything to
the tank (co2 or something like that?)

basically my idea is like yours (I think)...the discus is stressed..and
there must be a cause..the history of the tank might help too.

Bob

[LvT]

Hoi Bob,

It's a Juwel Rio 400 so there's about 400 liters of water available for the
5 of them with 3 corydoras.

temparature is normally about 30 degrees celcius. I hav them now for about 6
months and they never did show this behavior. It's starting to become less
but somethimes he is still showing this particulare behavior and i want to
prevent it in the future (if possible)

thanx for you're reply

grt
Leon



"Bob" > schreef in bericht
...
> No fish I ever kept can panick like a discus...they nearly kill themselves
> crashing into stuff...but there is usually a reason...
>
> do they have enough room to swim freely...how big is the tank?
>
> ime, they do that when they are "unhappy" with their tank.
>
> if water quality is okay..is temperature? is gh? are you adding anything
to
> the tank (co2 or something like that?)
>
> basically my idea is like yours (I think)...the discus is stressed..and
> there must be a cause..the history of the tank might help too.
>
> Bob
>
>

[Bob]

Hi Leon,

The only thing left to ask is, how are you getting water for these
fish...straight out of the tap, or RO, distilled, or some other treatment?
....what are you doing to get the 6.1-6.4 ph?

Thanks,
Bob



"LvT" > wrote in message
...
> Hoi Bob,
>
> It's a Juwel Rio 400 so there's about 400 liters of water available for
the
> 5 of them with 3 corydoras.
>
> temparature is normally about 30 degrees celcius. I hav them now for about
6
> months and they never did show this behavior. It's starting to become less
> but somethimes he is still showing this particulare behavior and i want to
> prevent it in the future (if possible)
>
> thanx for you're reply
>
> grt
> Leon

[Bob]

I recieved this information via email, I hope it helps;

Hello. I recently had a discus display this behaviour and here's what I
did. My tank sprang a leak, and having them in buckets, I quickly purchased
a used tank (couldn't afford a new one). Because of the time they were in
this condition, I didn't properly sterilize the new tank, and this was a big
mistake. There were three parasite problems (that I know of): copepods,
nematodes and flukes. About three weeks into the new tank, and my big blue
was clearly

agitated: his colour had darkened (but not black), and he would crash around
in the tank, bumping into the glass. One night, he began spinning in
circles, tightening in circumference and speeding up like a figure skater.
He jumped right out of my tank (it's only open 1/2 inch at the back for

tubing) and hit the floor 5 feet below.



Initially, I scooped him up and put him back in the tank, but he was really
beaten up and I thought I was going to lose him. It was obvious that he did
not want to be in the tank, so I quickly set up a 25g Q tank, put in some
salt and cranked up the heat to 90. He was way happier in there, even
though he didn't like to be alone (and was most likely feeling cramped).
Over the next few days I did heavy water changes (50% twice a day), removing
the salt out of the water, and began treating with melafix for his wounds
and fin damage, and metronizadole. Meanwhile, my other 5 discus began
showing signs that they weren't happy either, so I set about re-siliconing
their original tank. When it was seaworthy, I transferred all of the fish
(everything sterilized this time) and put the blue in as well. Then I
treated everyone with metronizadole. It has been about three months since
the incident, and I'm happy to say that all of the fish are fine. There is
something called "whirling disease" which sounds a lot like what you and I
have experienced, and I believe it is the fish's reaction to certain
parasites. You can read about it online - do a search and you'll come up
with a few good articles. Usually, the prognosis is grim, but I am no
expert, and if I can save my fish, so can you. His wounds have healed, he's
back to his usual boisterous self, and his fins are nearly regrown. Can you
quarrantine him, look for parasites or some other water quality issue? He's
probably acting that way because something in there is really bothering him.
Hope this helps.



Dee Dee Russell





"LvT" > wrote in message
...
> Hoi Bob,
>
> It's a Juwel Rio 400 so there's about 400 liters of water available for
the
> 5 of them with 3 corydoras.
>
> temparature is normally about 30 degrees celcius. I hav them now for about
6
> months and they never did show this behavior. It's starting to become less
> but somethimes he is still showing this particulare behavior and i want to
> prevent it in the future (if possible)
>
> thanx for you're reply
>
> grt
> Leon
>

[LvT]

Hoi Bob,

Realy a good helpfull text, thanks for that. I will go look for the
'whirling disease' and start treating them like you did.

i can put him into quarantine and there are no external things i can see
that suprises me and the water values are;

ph 6.1 / 6.4 (by using filtering over turf)
GH about 10 to 16
KH about 3 to 5
No2 0
No3 10 to 15
temp. 29 / 30 degrees celcius

grt
Leon


"Bob" > schreef in bericht
...
> I recieved this information via email, I hope it helps;
>
> Hello. I recently had a discus display this behaviour and here's what I
> did. My tank sprang a leak, and having them in buckets, I quickly
purchased
> a used tank (couldn't afford a new one). Because of the time they were in
> this condition, I didn't properly sterilize the new tank, and this was a
big
> mistake. There were three parasite problems (that I know of): copepods,
> nematodes and flukes. About three weeks into the new tank, and my big
blue
> was clearly
>
> agitated: his colour had darkened (but not black), and he would crash
around
> in the tank, bumping into the glass. One night, he began spinning in
> circles, tightening in circumference and speeding up like a figure skater.
> He jumped right out of my tank (it's only open 1/2 inch at the back for
>
> tubing) and hit the floor 5 feet below.
>
>
>
> Initially, I scooped him up and put him back in the tank, but he was
really
> beaten up and I thought I was going to lose him. It was obvious that he
did
> not want to be in the tank, so I quickly set up a 25g Q tank, put in some
> salt and cranked up the heat to 90. He was way happier in there, even
> though he didn't like to be alone (and was most likely feeling cramped).
> Over the next few days I did heavy water changes (50% twice a day),
removing
> the salt out of the water, and began treating with melafix for his wounds
> and fin damage, and metronizadole. Meanwhile, my other 5 discus began
> showing signs that they weren't happy either, so I set about re-siliconing
> their original tank. When it was seaworthy, I transferred all of the fish
> (everything sterilized this time) and put the blue in as well. Then I
> treated everyone with metronizadole. It has been about three months since
> the incident, and I'm happy to say that all of the fish are fine. There
is
> something called "whirling disease" which sounds a lot like what you and I
> have experienced, and I believe it is the fish's reaction to certain
> parasites. You can read about it online - do a search and you'll come up
> with a few good articles. Usually, the prognosis is grim, but I am no
> expert, and if I can save my fish, so can you. His wounds have healed,
he's
> back to his usual boisterous self, and his fins are nearly regrown. Can
you
> quarrantine him, look for parasites or some other water quality issue?
He's
> probably acting that way because something in there is really bothering
him.
> Hope this helps.
>
>
>
> Dee Dee Russell
>
>
>
>
>
> "LvT" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hoi Bob,
> >
> > It's a Juwel Rio 400 so there's about 400 liters of water available for
> the
> > 5 of them with 3 corydoras.
> >
> > temparature is normally about 30 degrees celcius. I hav them now for
about
> 6
> > months and they never did show this behavior. It's starting to become
less
> > but somethimes he is still showing this particulare behavior and i want
to
> > prevent it in the future (if possible)
> >
> > thanx for you're reply
> >
> > grt
> > Leon
> >
>
>