New Discus Update

[wallace]

Liz sent me some very nice blue scorpion x RSG juvies. They have been here for 2-1/2 weeks.

They are doing well but they don't like light so its hard to get a good picture. If I let some light in through the window they huddle and go dark and stare at the floor. I think they would be more comfy in a smaller tank or a bigger crowd.

I had cloudy water in their tank for the first 10 days or so. I had a hard time figuring out what was causing it. The sponge filters were plenty cycled. The water started clear after every WC and 20 hours later it was full of a billowing cloudiness. Under the microscope it was a rod-shaped bacteria, unusually long rods. Thats all the ID I could do without more equipment but at least I knew it was bacterial and not some kind of mineral precip.

It was the sponge filters that were causing it. I had been doing experiments with those filters for 6 months. pH crashing, low pH, ammonia starvation, all sorts of experiments. The filters were built up to handle 10 times as many fish as this, and that was the problem. I didn't squeeze them out first and the lower bioload probably starved most of the bacteria to death, and the dead stuff was coming out of the sponges during WC when the water level got close to the floor... and that loose biofilm and plaque was feeding the bloom. Thats my theory anyway. Squeezed out the sponges and that fixed it.

[LizStreithorst]

I like how they're looking.  How do you deal with WC when you come home from work dead tired?  Do agree that the SS types are better quality than the Turk types?  It was hard for me to find Turk types that were good enough to ship.  The two Turks I have from a previous spawn both have strong thick straight horizontal lines but they're not a pleasing shape.  You never know what you will get as far as consistency of type with Discus except with the German fish.

The thing with the sponge didn't do them any harm.  I've done the same thing and never figured out why it was happening.  All I did was change water until it went away which didn't take long.  It never bothered the fish.

When they were here the light didn't bother them.  Nothing spooked them.  Didn't you tell me that you have them in a 40 gallon?   My guess is that the tank is too big for them at their size.  They're still little guys.  Do you have a 29 you could put them in?  If not, buy one.  You'll use it for this and you will have it on hand as a QT tank should you need one.

My wish is that you grow them out and get a pair and keep the line going.   You won't have the fertility problems that I had to deal with.

[wallace]

The two 9-bar you picked out look pretty good... time will tell. I've been doing WC at 10-11 at night, its only 3 or 4 tanks so it doesn't take very long. I usually get a second wind at night and have to make myself go to bed.

The cloudy water is harmless but I hate seeing it. If I can get a better understanding of the cause then maybe it can be prevented.

I've been debating with myself about switching to a 29g tank. It must be the roominess that bugs them. Something I might try first  is putting another pot and moving the sponge filters to create a tighter space, not hiding places, just a smaller area.

Here's lunch time

[LizStreithorst]

Mamma Bear respectfully suggests that you put them in a 29

[wallace]

Uh-oh, mama bear is here..... I better just do it then, lol

[Mugwump]

Uh-oh, mama bear is here..... I better just do it then, lol

LOL......