Discus ill

[Alex_discus]

Hi everyone,


I Have a 46 G tank with now only 2 discus left 1, angel fish, Plecko and now a yo yo loach which was sugjested for my mts snail problem ( I have cleaned the tank put in new substrate cleaned the leafs of my plants and my driftwood and they re spawned. Will not use chem!! and cannot find assasin snails :( ).

It has been over a month and a half since the new yoyo loach arrival and I noticed with time my 2nd discus which is about 2 inches big was always healthy, hides under the driftwood where I have plants (anubias) and spends his day and night there not moving.

When it's feeding time he comes up but is very shy to get the food from the other fish. he usually waits for the pieces to sink. Not a big appetite but he will always swim to the top of the tank for some food.

His fins are ripped at the ends, his colour is usually dark grey with blue neon spots along his fins. Now he is very skinny, very pale; can actually see through him which i could never do because of his dark colour. His blue neon spots are now red.

I want to keep him very much. I do 50% water changes every weeks temp is at 82F and my ph is 7.4-7.6

I'm wondering is the loach freakin out discus or is it simply the discus that is ill. I was told in a pet shop yoyo loaches are the species in the loach family who get along best with discus.


Thanks you for all info/help,
Alex
:22:

[Alex_discus]

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Tank pic

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sick discus

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YoYo Loach and my 2nd (healthy) discus

[CrazedMichael]

First of all, angels and Discus together are not reccomended.

I cannot be sure, but it looks like your discus are stunted. The eyes look rather large in proportion to their body and it has a football shape with a pointed head where it shoud be as close to round as possible.

I think your discus is hiding because either he is not confident and not healthy or he has recieved some bullying from the Angel.

[ozone]

There is a worm occuring in angelfish that can be fatal for discus. Remove the angel and treat with praziquantel!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

First of all, Angels and Discus are fine, the only issue can be that Angels may out compete the Discus for food. Second, the "angelfish worm" is a myth that has been floating around for while but has absolutely no credibility.

What kind of pleco is in the tank? The are some species of pleco that will attach themselves to Discus and the Discus ends up looking beat up.

[ozone]

I got it out of a book!! can't remeber wether it was a bernerd degen book or untergrasser.The pleco's sometimes feed on the discus while they're sleeping too true

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I don't care where you got it ozone. It's been around for years and it's been propagated online like crazy. People mix Discus and Angels, something kills the Discus that they can't explain so they blame it on a worm, and that is the extent of the evidence for it. Obviously, that is not evidence, that is someone grasping at straws to explain a mysterious death.

[3dees]

sorry, but what your doing is completely wrong. juvie discus are not the easiest to raise. they need to be fed many times per day. they need wc's every day, not every week. they should be in a bare tank to keep the water prestine. there should be more than two. six would be good. although the other fish may be compatable, they may be eating more than thier share of food. discus are slow eaters and won't compete for food with more aggressive fish. a temp of 82 is fine for adults, but juvies will do best with 85-86. your discus may make it, but they will probably never reach more than 3 or 4 inches.

[Lady Hobbs]

I read on a Discus breeders site that Discus should be kept with only small tetras and if you want a bottom feeder to stick with a Bristle Nose. Their article stated Discus is more suspectible to disease and it's best to kept them away from other fish. No mention of a worm of any kind but I would think prized fish would be wormed anyway.

It just could be that the angel is bullying this Discus and perhaps why it's tail is ragged and he stays in hiding but he could very well have a bacteria infection going on, as well. I believe Discus is more shy and subdued than angels and my bet would be on him being bossed around.

I hope the little guy is OK.

[Lady Hobbs]

This article has a bit of info regarding tankmates stating fish to avoid.
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This article states to not have bottom feeders or suckerfish.
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Both state that loaches will stress out the Discus. One article says corys are ok and the other says not. LOL Have fun searching.

[ozone]

If his discus dies and your handing out incorrect info...

Discus not feeding can die quick.the Discus angelfish worm theory had been around since I was a small boy and I've never forgotten it.why a proffessor of fish would say it is beyond me. But praziquantel would get rid of worms and parasites and that could be it. Then Metro and temperature increase. Your the mod not me so you must be right1!!

a 50% water change sometimes or even just plain salt to begin with:)

Check this place out for your discus

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this is the place to be if you want quality discus info!!All the experts comment there

[ozone]

I contacted a person about the worm myth to find out if I was wrong, he will be getting back to me soon...Hows the fish now??

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

this is the place to be if you want quality discus info!!All the experts comment there

Yup, been a member there for over 5 years. ;) Anyone who does a quick search there will find that the idea that "there is a disease/worm that Angels carry that Discus are susceptible to" is a myth, as both Discus and Angels carry Hexamit, and neither species is any more at risk of being infecting by the other. Angels and Discus even inhabit the same waters in the wild in certain areas, and a little logic will tell you that there is no disease that one will be exposed to in those environments that the other is not.


Alex, I suspect the real source of your problems are with that Pleco in the tank. Certain plecos do not get along well with Discus, and the Discus become a bit of an easy target for them. While a 46gal is plenty room for a spawning pair of Discus, it becomes problematic when you add a fish like a pleco. While I did keep an Ancistrus genus pleco with my Discus, I also have them all in a 125gal heavily planted tank, and had no issues. There are certain combinations of fish that do not work well in small spaces, and Plecos and Discus is generally one of them.

[Lady Hobbs]

Your the mod not me so you must be right1!!



Since I am the only Mod in this thread, I have to assume your directed this to me. How about pulling your horns in for a second and reading what I have written again?

I only gave him information that I had "read" just as you did. With article links stating about the same.

So far I have said that all prized fish should be wormed.
That Discus is "best" with only small tetra's due to disease.
That suckers should not be with them. One of the articles even state loaches can be stressful to them and Alex did say he added a loach to his tank?

People often keep fish together that may not be on the approved list but sometimes it works for them and other times it does not.

IF I had a Discus tank, which I do not, I would keep it a species only tank with only some small fish and no bottom feeders. So not sure what your beef is and where you see I am handing out incorrect info.

[Alex_discus]

Ok thank you all very much for help.


My discus is now starting to feel better, I have been doing water changes more frequently. With time he began day by day to swim arround and now they're all fine!

I Do agree keeping species of fish which are not compatible is not a good idea. But as always, I believe what I am told by the store clark. As far as the loach I am wondering if i can put it in my 30G tank which inhabits 5 tiger tetras. The tetras killed the plecko. Anyone know if the yoyo loach can keep up with them? They are 2 very fast swimmers, they seem to fit.

As far as my plecko it is from what I can tell from google pictures a "sailkfin pleco"

The angel fish and the discus are great. Honestly they go great, not saying they all will be but mine does his own thing all the time. When comes feeding time it is my discus which are agressive and the angel is well and angel when feeding.

Sorry for the delay, Thanks everyone for tips.

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm so happy to hear he's feeling better and all appears good now. That one little loach probably won't upset him much, either. I can see a swarm of them so he's probably fine, too. Good job.

[Alex_discus]

Would you think the pleco should go in the 30g tank with tiger tetras or the yoyo loach ?

If the yoyo loach is a good bottom feeder I wouldnt mind keeping him in the discus tank where he can take care of my snails and putting the pleco in my other 30g tank.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

If that is a Sailfin Pleco, it's going to outgrow both of those tanks. But no, it really shouldn't be in there with the Discus so I'd personally move it to the 30gal. Sailfin plecs are known to be one of the more aggressive plecs available.

[ozone]

It's amazing what water changes can do for fish, glad to hear your fish is swimming around more, the capillaria worms that angels can carry especially wild caught in the olden days can infect discus but this is old information not for tankbred fish. Noone can corrobarate that in the modern aquarium trade the worm myth is true hehe I read it over 20 years ago.So good luck with your fish it's amazing what water changes can do for the discus.

[Alex_discus]

I have removed my pleco and placed him in the 30G tank with the tigers tetras. He is doing good. Hope to see some changes taking place in my discus tank now.

thank you very much all

[Alex_discus]

What a back fire.... the tiger tetras have killed my pleco. Woke up the next day and saw him being attacked. I removed him and put him into a recovering tank and he just died now.

:( I actually liked that pleco so much... had him for over 6 years.