Disus Help!

[Rohit1076]

Hi Experts,
Need Help.......
I've got a few Discus of mix sizes 1"-4"
I've lost 4 of my fishes in a span of 1month all small one's....

The below are the details:
Tank size - 4ft
2 nos of Sponge Filters
1 Drift Wood
2 Pleco's
WC - Morning - 50% & Night - 50%
Feeding:
WC - 8am
2 spoons of Tetra Bits - 9am
1 spoon of Freeze Dried Worms - 12pm
1 spoon of Tetra Bits - 3pm
1 spoon of Tetra Bits - 8pm
WC - 9/10pm
1 spoon of Tetra Bits - 11pm
Lights off....

Water earlier used was normal water from tap TDS : 700-790 & pH : 7.5
For the last few days I'm using RO water. TDS of Tank : 250-295 & pH : 6.8
I lost 1 today. Have no clue whats wrong with them???????

[Achintya]

first to all it's sad for your loss .

there are so many reasons for this death. it is advised that discus fish should be kept of same size. there are so many advantages of keeping discus of same size. a same size discus can grow well and there will no (/less) fighting with each other. also in that case, all discus can take food equally. where as if you keep discus with different size (in your case 1 inch to 4 inch) then bigger size discus can harass juveniles and they don't let those juveniles to take food. in your case 1 inch discus fishes are too small where as we can consider 4 inch discus as a quite mature or adult discus. so due to size it's obviously show domination towards juveniles and they'll chase smaller ones. also they take most of the food whenever you feed them.

if a bigger discus continuously chase any other discus then with in few days it will be stunted and stop feeding. stay at the bottom with less moving. it will hide in most of the times. ultimately it die. the same thing happen to your case.

ONE MORE THING. yes, one more thing due to this your juveniles are dead.this is all about ph fluctuation. in general it is seen that 70% of all fishes die due to ph fluctuation. few days ago your tank ph level was 7.5 and now since you use RO water it is 6.8!!! so there is a 0.7 ph drop. that's quite big. you know juvenile discus are more susceptible to any change than mature discus. due to 0.7 ph drop your juveniles were stressed and die after few days of suffering

[Zakk]

Am no "discus" expert but i have been around long enough to know that unless you acclimatized them to the new water in a slow manner, the pH shock is probably what killed them off.

[SCORPIO]

1. Check bigger discus are not chasing smaller ones.
2. Fluctuations in pH is the main cause of death of discus. You have bring those from a pH, after that putted in a pH 7.5 and now they are in 6.8.
3. Is there any external signs of stress or diseases?
4. Have you applied any medicine on the fishes?

Figure out the cause as early as possible.

[Rohit1076]

Thanks for comments & suggestions.
No fish is chasing the other..... I think pH is the culprit.

In addition, how do I keep the hardness & pH in control for Discus as changing the water daily (though is not tough) is problematic. I've to fill up buckets & pour water in the
tank which is exhausting. Any other kind of arrangement to attain the best environment for the Discus fish. The water is Dwarka is really hard.

Ideas & suggestions awaited.......

[apuda2010]

Hi Rohit,

Water in Gurgaon , Dwarka etc are very hard indeed. One solution is RO water. However , note that while discus prefer slightly acidic pH, its not that they cannot adapt to higher pH as well.

As others have posted, dont initiate rapid pH changes. If you have hard water , keep hard water in the tank. If you plan to use RO water , continue with RO water only.

Some more suggestions...I think you are overdoing the WC bit. Do you plan to breed this fish ? Or watch them grow from juveniles to WWE wrestlers in 3 months ? If yes , continue with the regime. If no, then please do a water change once or twice a week and feed them once or twice a day. In my view , you are overfeeding them. Also , there is really no need for a 50% change ....even 25% will do. Too much of a water change will also stress the fish out.

Lastly , you may think of going for an external filter , given the tank size. External filters provide a lot of surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow which in turn keep the tank chemistry right.