Fish Care Tips
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Discus Fish Care Discus are a warm water fish. Temperature is a critical factor in not only keeping them alive but in maintaining a good growth rate. Optimal temperature should be between 84-90 deg. Temps. Below 82 should be avoided. We keep all of non-breeding fish at 88, and breeders at 84... The hatch rate of eggs greatly diminishes above this temp. The growth rate in younger fish raised at 88-90 as opposed to 82-84 is unmistakable. Along with the fact that many pathogenic parasites cannot survive above the 86 threshold. Ick should never be a problem for the freshwater aquarist, since 1 cup of non-iodized salt (I prefer Morton blue bag water softener salt... 99.5% sodium, no water softner conditoners) per 100 gallons of water and kicking the temp to 90. This will knock the ick into oblivion. Salt is also great for newly recieved fish or fish that have any fin nips, tears etc. Salt will speed up the healing process greatly and prevent almost all bacterial and fungal problems... I had an adult Uaru jump out of a 125 to find himself 5 feet down on concrete. Fortunaltely for him I found him before time ran out. Long story short, I didn't add salt right away and within 36 hrs his entire side was covered in fungus... 1.5 cups of salt and 36 hrs later all of the fungus was gone, 2 weeks later no signs of the mishap were visable(excluding a better hood on the tank). Salt treatments can be repeated after 48 hrs followed by a water change. I have used the 1 cup per 100 dose on numerous planted tanks with no problems. Salt is poured away from plant bases, but directly in the tank. Keep in mind some plants are salt sensitive and use at your own risk) Hexamita and numerous other ciliates cannot take high temps. Treatments of 90+ may need to occur for 2+ weeks, but if you kick the temp up when you first notice a problem (white/clear feces, loss of color/ appetite etc.) and keep the fish eating (live foods help here) they will recover with no meds needed. If the fish still are having problems after 2 weeks, add Metronidazol directly to the fishes food... (following dosages on metro). Keep in mind that several weeks (up to 6 or more) of quarantine for new fish being added to your existing tanks is the best and ultimate way to keep your existing fish healthy from potential disasters Foods should consist of bloodworms (fresh or frozen), brineshrimp, high protein sinking pellet foods (above 50% protein), beefheart mixes, mysis shrimp, and high protein flake foods. Blackworms, Earthworms and whiteworms are another excellent food. Stay away from tubifex and as they are likely to harbor parasites and harmful bacteria since they come from duck ponds. Waterfowl are the intermediary host for numerous parasites. We currently feed black worms to our fish, in recent years black worms have been pond raised and are an excellent food. Try to verify that they are farm raised to reduce the risk of picking up some nasty bacteria for your fish. Also feed these worms sparingly so that the discus dont get spoiled on this food and will not touch any of there other food... Same goes for the white worms! Since introducing the blackworms into our fishes diet, the spawing, vigor and growth rates are hands down far better than without the blackworms. To this day (8 months) I have not seen one ill effect from this great food source. Just keep in mind how addictive they are for your discus, so feed only every 3rd or 5th meal. Another great food source (especially for getting females to spawn) is live mosquito larva. Just make sure to harvest at least every couple of days unless you and your neighbor get a nice bought with West Nile! De worming your fish is as simple as going to your vet, purchase Droncit for dogs 34-mg. Tabs. Smash tablet into powder add to 4 oz of thawed bloodworms and refreeze. Feed this to all of your fish and repeat once again in 10- 14 days. Repeat every year or so as needed. I have seen studies done on Droncit (pratzequantil) and fear not it is a very non-toxic drug to your fishes. The more often you feed your fish the faster they will grow. Consequently they will also produce more waste with more food. Feedings of 2-4 times a day are suggested with a weekly or twice weekly water change to remove all buildup of detritus from the bottom of the tank. This is a minimum for water changes unless it is a heavily planted tank or you just aren’t set on having full size fish. We do water changes at least every other day of 20%+ with a daily cleaning of all profilers. Cleaning of the filter material is also very important in keeping your fish healthy. Check the filters on a regular basis and keep them as clean as possible. Filtration may be achieved though numerous methods. On a community aquarium of 55 gal. Or more, I would recommend the Marineland Emperor 400 filter. They are very easy to clean and they do a great job for their cost. Check your filter inserts on a weekly basis at first and ascertain a cleaning schedule once your tank has settled in on exactly how often to clean them. Remember that the more debris on the filter the more dissolved solids. We like to maintain the TDS at >100 ppm. For breeding tank a sponge filter will do just fine. With a good rinse in non-chlorinated water as needed. You may either keep a bare bottom tank (very cleanly) of you may chose a substrate for plants and other decorations. Sand is the ideal substrate as it will not allow detritus to work its way down into it and it provides an excellent medium for growing aquatic plants in. Mixing Fluorite gravel and other additives for plants works wonders. Swords and other large rooted plants will reward you with lush growth. One secret I have found in having lush plants is power compact lighting systems! One 96-watt pc can give off the lumens of 5 40-watt fluorescents! I have kept discus for years in highly lit (4-7watts per gallon) with no ill effects... as long as they have objects (plants, driftwood,rocks etc.)they are fine. It is moving shadows that bother them most. I actually have a 1000 watt HPS above several tanks in my basement. So the therory that discus can't handle high lighting is a bit off. We do however normally keep our discus under lower lighting (1-2 watts per gallon), but in a planted tank don't hold back on the lighting...Co2 is another must have if you desire the lushness you have always seen in those books. A Co2 system is worthless without getting the gas into the water … use a reaction chamber with your system! 3-5 bubbles per second is usually a good rate of flow for safe healthy levels. Observe your fish and make sure they are breathing normally and if in doubt get a co2 test kit. Having some decoration in the tank is important to give the fish a since of security. The decorations can be as simple as 2 clay bricks or a fully planted tank with rocks and driftwood. These decorations also provide territorial markers to lessen aggression from more dominant fish. Keep in mind when you place your new discus in their tank to have plenty of decorations... it doesn't matter if it's real plants, artificial plants, driftwood,spawing cones, bricks etc. What does matter is that you have at least 2 or 3 if not 5 or more structures for the fish to feel secure. This will help them acclimate much faster and be less skiddish. The pH should be maintained between 6.0-7.0. The most important thing to remember about pH is that more Discus fish have been killed by rapid pH changes than by most other causes. Discus can tolerate a range of pHs from 4.5-7.8. What they can’t tolerate is a rapid change in pH in a short amount of time. So if you are going to adjust your water pH do so very slowly and preferably adjust the water you are adding to the tank after a water change by no more than .3 of a degree per day. Keep in mind if it’s not broke don’t fix it! If your fish are already in their tank and eating and behaving normally, leave their pH alone. If you want to adjust it for breeding do so accordingly. Hardness is another factor that discus can adapt to a range of variances. Ideal hardness is between 50-85 PPM. Hardness is mainly a concern if you are attempting to breed your fish other wise just keep it at a consistent reasonable level (@ 70-100 PPM) For breeding conditions, a pH of 5.5-6.0, temp of 84-86, and softness around 40-75 ppm is desirable. Call or email, if you have any questions, 812 333 7999 Tom Meador
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