bikerbarbieca

I got 4 new blue discus about 3 weeks ago. one of them is now almost black, but seems otherwise fine. A little shy but eating. The rest are okay. What would cause this and is this normal?

thanks

capekate

When Discus turn dark, they are very stressed or sick. You will have to make sure your water perimeters are at their best at all times with these fish.
You have to do frequent water changes, no less than every three days. Its also possible that it is getting bullied by another Discus, since your other Discus are doing fine. More hiding places would help in that case.
Can you let us know what your water change schedule is? What else is in the tank? What size tank... and how long its been up and running?
thanks...

~ kate

Sabi

Kate is right, if the body colour darkens, then something is wrong.

Narcicius

I learned something today, a little weird because I'm at school. I hope the fish gets better if it doesn't after having new hiding spots return it and the others should be fine.

capekate

Unfortunately Narcicius this is not always the case with Discus, and cichlids in general. When I had 7 Discus together, there is always one that wants to be the dominate one in the tank. The lesser always gets picked on. This also changes a lot. One that was an aggressor can turn around and be the one that is being harassed. Returning one doesnt necessarily mean that the others will be ok, as there will be one to take the aggressors place. Its just a fact of life with Discus and cichlids.
I noted more hiding places may help. But they find each other and chase all around the tank no matter where they are hiding. A hiding place can offer a resting spot for awhile.
The shy Discus in the tank may eventually get more spunk and become more defensive. Other than that, it just learns to try to stay out of the way of the aggressor. If the shy Discus looks like it may get physically hurt by the aggressor, which rarely happens, than I would suggest bringing it back to the LFS and hope for a refund if possible.
~ kate

Sabi

Sound advice Kate! When i buy my discus, i'm going to make sure with the store owner that i can get a refund or swap one if i have problems.

capekate

Hi Sabi
when you do get your Discus, its a very good idea to get them all together at the same time. Its hard on one when you bring it into an established tank that is already home to Discus. A new Discus at that time is very shy and gets picked on.
Good luck with your plans for Discus.. and yes, good idea.. ask about refunds. They can be pretty expensive fish.. and hopefully the LFS can make that arrangement for you.

~ kate

Narcicius

Sorry if I confused anyone, just tried to perpetuate some seemingly helpful info. Now I learned something else though, so even though I might have been wrong, I shouldn't if anyone needs to know ever again.

capekate

I understand your need to help... thats nice. BUT on the other hand, its really important that the information you give others is correct. Either through your own experience or something you have researched first. We wouldnt want to give out the wrong information due to a guess.. thats for sure.

~ kate

Narcicius

I'm still sorry for any confusion, but I have to say it was your post that inspired me to enforce more hiding spots, I thought that because this usually helps most aggression problems, and you reccomended it yourself that it would be good to advise it more. People usually respond to advice better if given by multiple sources.

capekate

Hi there, I was referring to your response that you posted of 'returning the discus to the LFS and that others would be fine'...I then went on to explain the dominance factor of the Discus Cichlid. You are correct in saying that in a lot of cases, more hiding places certainly do help, some cases due to the species it will not. We were talking Discus...
I mentioned that the hiding places could help ie giving the harassed Discus a place to rest or hide for awhile. I am not nit picking and thought that my response still stands that its important to give accurate advice. Which was in direct response to your post that you gave confusing advice.
I did not intend to inflict any hard feelings here.... and I apologies if I did.
~ kate

vi3trascal

hey i know its been awhile but heres what i know from experience. when i got my discus they were all fine. i then bought two more and one of them turned really dark in color the next day. i did alot of research from the discus forum and also from this site which really helps. http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/ they help you diagnose the problem. at first i thought he was scared but found out he was losing slime a couple days later. so the darkness may be a sign of disease. i went to my lfs and bought primafix and melofix. i dont know if that is the correct spelling but you use the primafix for 7 days then do a water change then the melofix for 7 days then another water change. i had a 55 gallon so i recommended to do the water change in one week intervals. sure enough after 2 weeks my discus has gotten all its beautiful color back. So if i were you i would first check water perimeters like what capekate suggest then diagnose the problem from there. Also instead of making more hiding spaces for the discus i did the opposite. i tried making more hiding spots but they were just hiding all day so what i tried was to get rid of all the hiding spots all together and now they are used to me and others so they dont get spooked anymore. just my . thats what worked for me

Jess

Hello, I'm a newbie to your site.
I did a similar thing that vi3trascal did in that I went from a planted tank to a bare bottom tank and the fighting among discus seemed to stop. Also even though my water was very good, no problems with levels except the phosphates. I was sick of seeing dark discus. So radically last Sunday I took apart the tank. Saving filtering media (carefully) and then replacing the guys. Suprisingly the 4 discus stopped picking on each other and started schooling together, the darkness lightened and hurray! colors and patterns appear! I guess you could say the same philosophy when you take the toys away for bad behavior .
I have some questions but think I should start a new strand.
Great suggestions everyone!
Thanks
Jess