capekate

I lost one of my Discus today. Moe had been fine until yesterday when he spazzed out all over the tank, and then pretty much stayed by himself in a corner. Couldnt find anything wrong with him or the others and I had just changed the water so I know it wasnt a water issue. Woke this am to find him at the bottom of the tank. At least the poor thing wasnt stuck to the filter tube, like they tend to do. He was one of my original Discus that I brought home in July. He was the largest one with beautiful tourk markings and was hanging out with another that I thought maybe they would pair off at some point. Moe was very likable and friendly and didnt shy away as some Discus can. I am saddened at his loss....
Here is a photo of Moe that I just took yesterday morning....
Good bye Moe.... I will miss you...

~ kate

Attached Images

oct 24th 2007 Discus 001.jpg (188.2 KB, 6 views)

armadillo

Oh Kate. It's awful that he went like that, practically without warning. And he was one of your first discus and he was really friendly and you had pairing projects for him. I am really sorry you've lost your little friend, Kate. He sounds like he was a great fish.

from me.

capekate

thanks so much Armadillo...
I really love the Discus fish, they are so gentle and peaceful ( well most of the time lol). And being a larger fish.. it is so sad to net them out of the tank. I wish there was something I couldve done for him, but didnt know what to do. I could have moved him to another tank and started treatment, but had no idea what was wrong and its not a good idea to medicate without having a diagnoses of what is wrong. I just figured the stress of a move would have done more harm than good. When two of my other Discus got sick, and I thought they would die but they survived. One I put into the breeder net because it was so weak and after laying on its side I thought it was a goner, but somehow it recovered whatever was wrong with it and it is doing fine now. After that I did more frequent water changes and all seemed well til yesterday. Im going to keep an eye on the rest to make sure they are ok too. even tho I did a water change on wed. Im going to do another one today just to make sure...
~ kate

COBettaCouple

oh no.. poor Moe! back in May, we lost a betta the same way. We're sorry to hear that one of the stooges is gone. He was a beautiful Discus!

Tom

I saw the title on the big page and thought 'Please tell me it isn't Kate's discus'. Then I opened this and saw you put it here and I am sooooo soooorrrrryyyy to hear that. I know you loved your discus and took the best of care of them too. Are you going to get another or just leave it at the number you have?
Tom

armadillo

I would love to have discus. I think they can really give a lot of love to their owner. You can tell by the way they look at you in the shop.

It must be heart breaking to scoop one out.

Well what can you do? I would have reacted the same way. There's no point in moving a fish to treat it if you don't know what's wrong. That will only stress it out plus they HATE to be isolated, and like you said, sometimes they just recover after one day, and you're none the wiser as to what was bothering them in the first place. If we had to medicate every fish that starts acting odd the second we see something awry...

I really hope this was an isolated incident and you wont' have any more losses.

Bonochick

Sorry to hear of Moe's passing.

COBettaCouple

how are larry & curly doing?

capekate

Hi Tom, thank you so much for the response to my loss. It was an awful shock to see Moe spazz out like he did and then the next day he was dead. I do a lot of water changes and vacuum and try to keep them happy with the best foods for them and the best care that I can give. So this was a big let down for me.
As far as getting more goes, I know how badly they reacted to new discus when I brought some in after a few were established in the tank, so Im not sure that I would do that at this point.
What I ended up doing was moving the two smallest Discus, they are only about an 1.5 inches round to the 29g tank. They seem to be getting picked on by the three largest Discus and I have not seen any growth in them since Ive had them, whereas the others are growing very fast. So I am going to assume that they are not getting the food fast enough. By moving them to the 29g tank Im hoping that I will be able to get them to grow some by having the chance to eat better. When they are larger I will move them back to the 55g tank.
My thoughts on the addition to the Discus tank is getting a pair of GBRs and a pair of cockatoo rams and possibly.... with much consideration maybe a pair of small angel fish. I will think that one for awhile...
So for now there are three large Discus in the 55 with 5 cardinal tetras.
the two new guys that I moved to the 29 were really spooked at the move but have settled in nicely. the GBRs are very curious with their new neighbors and have tried to peck at them from time to time but nothing serious as the Discus will turn and chase them away from them, thats a good sign that they will be ok. Keeping my fingers crossed that the move was the right thing to do.

~ kate

capekate

Hi Dave,
well larry the pigeon blood died on august 30th. Another isolated without symptoms death, before I realized that I needed to do more wc's weekly, which is what I started to do after I lost Larry. The last one, Casper aka Curly.. is the sole survivor of the trio that were my first purchase of Discus in July.
As stated on the above post to Tom I have moved Casper aka Curly to the 29g tank with another small Discus in the hopes to give them special attention and more food. I hope they do well there... I worry with every change in a tank.
Thanks for asking!

~ kate

capekate

thanks Armadillo...
The time that two of my other Discus were sick, Ricky blue turned really dark, wasnt eating and getting listless, and when Casper was almost dead, so badly that he stuck to the filter tube a few times, and was found laying on his side in the breeder net, I thought he was dead for sure. But somehow with a lot of water changes they bounced back and still today are both doing fine. That really scared me... I used one dose of maracyn in the tank the time Casper was really sick, but other than the one dose and a lot of water changes he faired well thankfully.
Even loosing other fish like I have ... a lot! Its so hard to remove such a big fish ( well, big to me) and those eyes of theirs... seem to just reach out to you, even in death. It was very hard to take and I felt like I had failed it.
Im hoping that it was an isolated incident and have an idea of what may have happened.. and will post that in the next response box.
Thanks for your support and concern... we do love our fish babies dont we!

~ kate

capekate

thank you Bonochick...

~ kate

capekate

I would really hate to think that somehow I contributed to the death of Moe. Who was the largest Discus and really personable one that I had and who I believe was keeping company with the other one that I thought they were going to buddy up.
Last sunday at the thrift store I picked up a silk plant with a green plastic base that I assumed came from a aquarium tank. It was made of the same silk and plastic as my other plants. it is in the photo above that shows Moe next to it. I washed it really good under boiling hot water, with no soap and added it to the tank on sunday evening. Three days later Moe was dead. I cant help but think that it was either possibly connected or a coincidence that he got sick at the same time. Somehow I doubt that it was anything else but that plant... so of course I took it out and did another water change right away and hopefully have spared any other loss of Discus.
It saddens me to think that he may have died because I brought in a second hand silk plant to pretty up their tank. Now I will never buy anything second hand like that for the tank.. and will always... and ever buy only aquarium true silk plants from now on...

~ kate

TheEssigs

So sorry to hear of your loss, Kate.

COBettaCouple

unless Moe was in the tank all by himself, i don't think it was the plant.. if it was, i'd really think any other fish would've had trouble too. we did have a betta pass the same way and i think it's just one of those things that happens & not related to the plant.

capekate

thanks Dave....
I sure hope it wasnt my stupidity that put an end to Moe. I wont be able to ever know for sure, but at least I have taken the steps to correct it. By taking out the plant and doing another water change today as well, Im hoping that I have cleaned out the tank of whatever it was...
Guess its so hard to know what causes them to act that way, by suddenly spazzing out and going crazy amok throughout the tank hitting the sides.. decorations, hood... and then calm down to almost not moving at all. After he went amok like that he layed on his side on a plant and when I went to get him to put him in the breeder net for his own protection he got up and swam away. then pretty much stayed under a leave of the plant and next morning is when I found him in a upright position but sitting on the gravel. It took me netting him to realize he had passed during the night or morning. There was no gill movement or breathing thru the mouth but I was still hoping... netting him proved that there just was no hope and that he was gone. I have buried him in my flower garden.... poor lil guy.

thanks for the 'hug'....

~ kate

capekate

thank you for the condolence Theessigs...

~ kate

COBettaCouple

yea, i'm 99.999999999% certain it wasn't the plant.