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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

skittish

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13 Mar 2015 13:55 #1 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Just wondering guys.

I have 5 discus - all with there own personalities - which i love.
Ever since i got my biggest guy last year he has always eaten out of my hands and bread with his mate.
Everything was grand.

But recently none of my discus eat out of my hand, or even eating the beefheart i drop in the tank. (i dont drop too much in for this reason any more)
I was feeding them alot and the would eat it all - but now i'm only feeding them about 1/4 and they barely eat it all

The water quality is fine. its Co2 inject to about 25 ppm and easy carbo'ed to the minimum required. Tank is nicely planted and has a ton of other fish.
They still fight over territory, which is a healthy sign
(plenty of room for everyone)



I've taken to giving them frozen blood worm as the seem to only like that, and i see them chasing shrimp the odd time.

But when ever i approach the tank , they dash into the vegetation. and don't come out for food.

Been going on for a while, (about 1 month)

I recently changed the light timer for weekends to be shorter ?
And i recently changed the filter media in the sump (but left some of the old media to help colonize the new)
All about a month ago.

Actually now that I'm thinking about it, maybe its the heaters are in sync, could be a temperature change a night time?
30 at day and 28 at night - might look into this to make sure all heaters come on at the same time.


Any other suggestions?

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13 Mar 2015 14:19 #2 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
Only thing that comes to mind is they dont like change- of any kind.
I am not expert on temperature but not sure they would appreciate the change = I keep a constant 28 for adults and 30-31 for juvies.
Bloodworms seem irresistible for Discus. But either your beefheart has changed or maybe they have some type of parasite affecting them (it can take a while for a Discus to actually look sick) => have you dewormed them at some point?

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13 Mar 2015 14:43 #3 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
dewormed about 3 weeks ago,

might do it again though

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13 Mar 2015 15:43 #4 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
interesting post darkslice keep us updated

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13 Mar 2015 16:28 #5 by trent (trent)
Replied by trent (trent) on topic skittish
mine do that sometimes, i find its down to one that scares the rest

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13 Mar 2015 18:02 #6 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
The first thing (of importance) I would check when fish get skittish is the ammonia levels..........but here you have a problem as it is not necessarily the ammonia levels the test kits can measure but the slightest sub-lethal ammonia levels the discus can sense (and that could be internal ammonia levels).

When comfortable with ammonia levels then look at other possibilities.

Check fins and gill action..........if the fins have a slight tattering then that would be further indication of ammonia (but lack of fraying doesn't tell the contrary).

Review the diet as well.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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14 Mar 2015 08:41 #7 by Discus-Killester (Sinisa)
Replied by Discus-Killester (Sinisa) on topic skittish

The first thing (of importance) I would check when fish get skittish is the ammonia levels..........but here you have a problem as it is not necessarily the ammonia levels the test kits can measure but the slightest sub-lethal ammonia levels the discus can sense (and that could be internal ammonia levels).

When comfortable with ammonia levels then look at other possibilities.

Check fins and gill action..........if the fins have a slight tattering then that would be further indication of ammonia (but lack of fraying doesn't tell the contrary).

Review the diet as well.

ian


I agree.

Sina

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15 Mar 2015 12:21 #8 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Thanks guys, gills and fins seem perfect.
I'm now only feeding them shrimp and blood worm.

I'll double check the ammonia levels, but I remember moving some of the ada soil around a few weeks ago, (moving it from the front of the tank, to the back)

So maybe that's it, but it was about 3 weeks ago.

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19 Mar 2015 09:33 #9 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
ammonia levels where perfect as where Cl2 levels. so carbon filter is working fine.
Maybe i'm running to much new water throw it?

150 liters per day (on a 750 liter tank) or 1000 liters per week.
I'll half the water change rate

new set of eggs laid , but there are still skittish, and not really eating...

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19 Mar 2015 17:48 #10 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
I think halfing the change rate is a good idea mate it might settle the tank down how many discus are in there

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19 Mar 2015 17:53 #11 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Literally just done that now,
It's now at 1 mill a second
Or
86 liters a day
Or
600 liters a week.

Which is 80% water change per week

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19 Mar 2015 19:43 #12 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
Ye should be grand at that I change half the volume a week and that seems to work well

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20 Mar 2015 18:15 #13 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Well,....

The Mellon head discus is dead...
My pigeon blood is swimming sidway
And my breading pair now have about 100 wigglers...


WTF?

I've just dosed again with kusuri wormer plus again.

What is going on?

Water levels are perfect, no sign of chlorine.
But going to replace the carbon filter just in case. (its only on water going into the tank)

Co2 is only 25ppm and easy carbo is at 4ml per hour for 6 hours a day....

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20 Mar 2015 19:19 #14 by baan (Fintan Breen)
Replied by baan (Fintan Breen) on topic skittish
is temperature ok?

How many discus have you in there again? Is there any chance there is bullying going on?

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20 Mar 2015 19:22 #15 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
4 left now, temp is 28, no bullying

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20 Mar 2015 21:02 #16 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish


Poor guy is completely zoned out...

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20 Mar 2015 21:48 #17 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
This is weird are u a bit heavy on the easycarbo and how much wormer plus have u used

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20 Mar 2015 21:51 - 20 Mar 2015 21:54 #18 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Keep in mind it's a 750 liter tank, think I'm on the light side of the carbo.
I can dose up to 33ml

He was like that before the wormer, I put in 2.5 grams. Same as a few weeks ago.

Don't think the you tube video is showing?
Here's the link Link
Last edit: 20 Mar 2015 21:54 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh).

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21 Mar 2015 01:08 #19 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
I seen the link mate to me it's very strange the fish looks like it's under anesthetic or something which would suggest something chemical, has this problem started since worming I would defo ease off on the carbo put it down to the minimum recommended dose

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21 Mar 2015 01:16 #20 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Min dose is 2.5 ml per hour, max is 5ml, I'm dosing at 3.5.

So in a 750 liter tank I'm only putting in 21ml which should be fine. However il dump the 21ml into something else tomorrow to make sure it's the right amount.

This happened before the worming, I wormedit as a result of this behaviour.

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21 Mar 2015 01:47 #21 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
I've never dosed easycarbo per hour just dose it when the lights go on there is something funny going on if the fish was like that mate I would try reducing all chemicals and I would start with ur easycarbo coz I havnt read u use anything else is there any possibility ur drop checker isn't reading right and u have too much co2 in there

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21 Mar 2015 02:08 #22 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
Also how is the water ur putting in get declorinated

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21 Mar 2015 08:59 #23 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
RO UNIT with carbon block

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21 Mar 2015 09:08 #24 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
could it be the carbon block is too old?
I would try putting the fish in a small tank on its own and just clean water, heater and air stone => see how it reacts

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21 Mar 2015 09:56 #25 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Carbon block was only put in on the 20th of January. However I have replaced it yesterday to be on the safe side.

I think baan might be right out the easy carbo, I think the auto doser might be putting too much in, I'll find out by the end of the day.

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21 Mar 2015 10:35 #26 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
Replied by JustinK (Justin Kelly) on topic skittish
Was there anyone over that might have being banging on the tank ?
Moving the substrate can release toxic build-ups. As I an said this can be undetectable by test kits but still affect the fish.
Double check your dropper also as they could be slowly getting poisoned by a buildup from increased CO2 or easycarbo.

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21 Mar 2015 11:25 #27 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
He's dead :(

My favourite discus raised from a baby is dead.. Sad day.....

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21 Mar 2015 11:26 #28 by baan (Fintan Breen)
Replied by baan (Fintan Breen) on topic skittish
It's possible the skittishness and the sluggishness are unrelated. The skittishness could be due to having four fish. They tend to like being in bigger groups, but you should be ok.

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21 Mar 2015 20:40 #29 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic skittish
I have a single discus in one of my thanks d there is no problem with him I think there is something up with the water here so I am with miami on this

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22 Mar 2015 12:51 #30 by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh)
Replied by Darkslice (Stephen Walsh) on topic skittish
Auto dosing was putting in 22mil a day which is perfect.

So what we know.
2 discuss are dead,
Looks like a chemical reactions. He was swimming aimlessly.
They where not eating well a month before.
Discus are still mating.
Only chemicals going into the tank was Easycarbo and co2.
I lowered the water cycle rate from, ( I guess) 2k liters to 600 a week.

Tempature fluctuations between 28 and 29 degrees.


I've lowered the easy carbo to 17ml per day.

Only thing I can't check is the oxygen levels?
Maybe they died of oxygen starvation?

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