Discus Darkening

[Ethernopian]

Good Evening Discus Folks,

So i have a bit of a long winded question, I'll explain. First of all i made the change to Discus about 1.5 months ago and haven't looked back, i love the little fellas. When i started i got 4 discus in varying size, only 1 large discus and i only got him because he was relatively cheap. The LFS who sold me him explained that the reason he was so cheap was because he was blind in one eye but other than that functioned as normal. Upon arriving at his new "home" he colored up nicely and behaved the same as all the other fish. Since then I have added 3 more discus and changed my lighting system from an almost burned out florescent to 2 very nice sharp bright LED strips in a canopy. This has increased the amount of light in the tank (which is good for the plants in the tank), and all of the discus have remained normal except the one who is partially blind (his name is mossy so i'll be referring to him as such). Anyways Mossy has gotten very dark and is almost black. When looking at him straight on you can see some of his blue but other than that he is dark. I was wondering if this meant anything? Is he stressed out, too much light, too many discus? I have attached a couple supporting documents, hopefully a video and a pic.

Mossy.jpg

Thanks for the help,
Colter

[Ballinxalex]

i have to say he is stressed out whats ur water change schedule. also for that black substrate i would insist changing it to something brighter since they wouldnt have as much peppering unless u like it

[CajunAg]

Darkening that much is a good indication he's stressed. I would start large daily water changes asap (if you aren't doing those already) What are your Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate levels at? Temp? Diet? the Simply Discus is a great forum, lot of help there too.

And while I'm asking questions, what do you have to get the air bubbles to come up from the substrate like that?

[Ethernopian]

So I am currently running 2 water changes a week, at about 25-35%, usually Wednesday and Sunday, with some variance. I haven't noticed any of the other fish being stressed or else i would have increased my WC schedule to 3 times a week, just him and it happened when in increased the lighting. I will run my water analysis tonight before a water change and report back with that. The water temp is at 84 deg F, confirmed by 2 thermometers (one on each end of the tank), diet is Tropical Color (formerly color bits) Tropical Granules, and enriched beef heart. I feed them the granules 4-5 times a day and when i return from work drop in the beef heart. I don't have access to anything other than Houston tap water (no HMA or RO filter) so i was trying to limit my WC's to a slightly less amount to try and limit the Chlorine and other negative chemicals in the water. I have recently moved into an apartment and don't have the space for conditioning water. As for the dark substrate; I much prefer it and only have 2 discus who pepper, which doesn't actually bother me, as long as it doesn't bother their health. i unfortunately learned about it after i switched to Discus but it really doesn't bother me and I was really hoping to not have to change out the substrate cause that is no fun. As for the air bubbles i simply bury airlines under the substrate with no air stones on them. For it to work very well you have to have a coarse substrate then fine, so i use gravel then sand, otherwise it "channels" through the sand and pops up in random places. It will work just fine with just gravel as well.

Thanks for the advice, results to follow

[LordBarron7692]

well most discus are sold here in the Houston area are somewhat used to the local tap water so I don't think its a tap water issue but something in the tank is just off it may be the lighting it maybe that your levels are on the high side but I also noticed that one of the fish has stringy poop which is a sign of illness in discus so you might want to first add some epsom salt for a couple days and if that doesn't do maybe look into getting some metro

[Ethernopian]

I usually add aquarium salt (totally random amounts) to the water when i do water changes, should i change up to epsom salt and if so what concentration? I have a 75g tank.

[LordBarron7692]

thats a good question I personally don't add very much especially with my discus I would only add a tablespoon per 10 gal I know some people say add more some would say not so much but IMHO you have to find what works best for you and your fish

[Ethernopian]

Ok, well i'll add some epsom salt with my aquarium salt after my tank change, and i'll probably go at a relatively low concentration, 1 TBSP/20g to start, then work my way up to 1/10g. Also this whole conversation has got a new bug in my brain for a water filter for my fill process. If i can sketch it up and put it together i'll share.

[LordBarron7692]

yeah that would be cool

[LordBarron7692]

I should also add that I don't add salt with every water change I add to my discus tank every fourth water change

[allysangels]

hmmm... i would skip the salt altogether. i must say "mossy" looks very familiar to me... i think i know where he came from, and if i'm right i'm surprised to see him still alive as i was once one of the caretakers for the entire group that came in that way to the LFS in question. i would like to stress that they CAME IN THAT WAY and were packed badly during shipping which led to the problems with their eyes. the rest of that particular group is deceased now. and for RO water you can buy it cheap from the very same LFS, just bring empty containers to fill. hope this helps.

[elevianne]

I've seen "mossy" too :)
It's good that he is still alive and swimming.

[Tetranerd]

I have never read anything that recommends adding salt to any south American boitope aquariums. Don't know why you would need to use it. Dark color usually means stress. If he is eating and schooling with the rest of the discus then only time will tell. Hot clean water is what always kept my group happy.

[allysangels]

IMG_1575.jpg

look familiar?

[mistahoo]

I have never read anything that recommends adding salt to any south American boitope aquariums. Don't know why you would need to use it. Dark color usually means stress. If he is eating and schooling with the rest of the discus then only time will tell. Hot clean water is what always kept my group happy.

Salt is to help reduce stress plus if for some reason it's being picked on, it'll promote healing. It's not just South American biotopes that a lot of people recommend using salt for.