No, I only have glass tanks right now. A 55 and a 13. This will be my first acrylic, that's why I was wanting feedback from someone who has had a larger one for a while. And you are correct, it will be 1/2" thick acrylic. It's still several months away, but I'm trying to collect all the info on the tank, equipment, and fish I can beforehand. I've got plants quarantining and growing out in my 13, and am getting ready to start seeding filters in my 55. Thank you so much for your feedback.
Starting A 125 Discus Tank.
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Again it’s been a long time 
. I’ve got a new thread going on a 180 I started earlier this year. Now the main tank from this thread had many problems after the cross contamination. This tank had lots of salt and later the rid-ich. I’ve lost most of these fish over the last year. I believe it was the salt that did them in. Only ones left are 1 Hans the brown and 2 of the first 6. So 4. Nothing I was able to do helped. The other tank did fine and I’ve still have that group. They’ve moved into the new 180.
Now I’ve redone that first tank. 3 of the originals are still in there.
still playing with the look.
. I’ve got a new thread going on a 180 I started earlier this year. Now the main tank from this thread had many problems after the cross contamination. This tank had lots of salt and later the rid-ich. I’ve lost most of these fish over the last year. I believe it was the salt that did them in. Only ones left are 1 Hans the brown and 2 of the first 6. So 4. Nothing I was able to do helped. The other tank did fine and I’ve still have that group. They’ve moved into the new 180.
Now I’ve redone that first tank. 3 of the originals are still in there.still playing with the look.Again it’s been a long time
This reminds me - on another forum there was a long discussion about discus diet after someone suggested feeding them beef heart; so one of the more scientific person on the forum who was explaining that beef heart is not healthy for the fishes dug out a scientific article that discuss that the majority of food found in wild discus stomach is actually plant matter. The conclusion was that it is quite healthy to have plant matter in discus tanks for them to nibble on... The issue with beef heart is that generally speaking meat contain too much fat matter as well as protein that fishes find difficult to properly digest.
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As for salt killing fishes; i recently had an ick break out and for various reasons I decided to treat with 2 tablespoon of salt per gallon. The good news was that the ick was gone in 5 or 6 days; the bad news is it killed off 2 of my cory (which did not have ick) and all my pangio semicincta; oddly it did not seem to impact the pangio shelfordii (closely related to pangio semicincta). I'm unsure if the salt actually killed them or the change in tds. I added the salt too fast but removed it very slowly.
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With discus I am curious why you used salt since I would think they would be extremely tolerant of high temperature.
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It wasn’t ich. It was what we call a cross contamination in discus. Discus like all fish carry diseases. Some breeders breed out some of these diseases but none can remove them all. So sometimes when mixing discus from different breeders disease spread and can wipe out your tanks. Just another discus problem . So what my fish had was a bacterial disease that rid-ich cured. It’s not just for ich but many bacterial diseases. Discus rarely get ich.
Salt also does help them as it helps many other fish. But to much salt also isn’t good. I usually add 1tb of salt per 5g. In one of the tanks from advice given I gave about 7tbs per 10g. In the long term I think that much salt gave them long term problems on there internal organs.
Thing with beef heart is it fattens discus up when young. Also breeders have been feeding beef heart to discus since the 80s. So is it good for them have they adapted to it? I don’t know and I don’t feed it a lot. But it’s a mainstay with all breeders. It’s always funny when someone who really has no clue about something and hasn’t researched it makes statement’s. I’ve never seen any of my discus eat any of my plants. Also never heard on any of the discus sites anyone stating their discus are eating plants. Main reason is these aren’t wild discus! So don’t believe everything you here. So much that was learned from wild fish can just be thrown out. The fish we keep are so far from wild that wild results are just useless.
. So what my fish had was a bacterial disease that rid-ich cured. It’s not just for ich but many bacterial diseases. Discus rarely get ich.Salt also does help them as it helps many other fish. But to much salt also isn’t good. I usually add 1tb of salt per 5g. In one of the tanks from advice given I gave about 7tbs per 10g. In the long term I think that much salt gave them long term problems on there internal organs.
Thing with beef heart is it fattens discus up when young. Also breeders have been feeding beef heart to discus since the 80s. So is it good for them have they adapted to it? I don’t know and I don’t feed it a lot. But it’s a mainstay with all breeders. It’s always funny when someone who really has no clue about something and hasn’t researched it makes statement’s. I’ve never seen any of my discus eat any of my plants. Also never heard on any of the discus sites anyone stating their discus are eating plants. Main reason is these aren’t wild discus! So don’t believe everything you here
. So much that was learned from wild fish can just be thrown out. The fish we keep are so far from wild that wild results are just useless.I had a similar problem where some new cherry barbs carried some sort of bacteria disease. It did not effect them so qt didn't help and they are still alive but they killed off my angels and several of my clown loaches. I was able to save two of the clown loaches via bacteria treatment and salt dips (can't know for sure what helped but they managed to recover); I lost 6 angel fishes; 3 large clown loaches; all my cardinal tetras and a couple of smaller odd and ends. However the cherry barbs are still doing fine.It wasn’t ich. It was what we call a cross contamination in discus. Discus like all fish carry diseases. Some breeders breed out some of these diseases but none can remove them all. So sometimes when mixing discus from different breeders disease spread and can wipe out your tanks. Just another discus problem
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Yes that’s the way it goes. The 2 new discus never showed a problem we’re in there own tank in another room. But whatever they had moved on my hands into both my main tanks. Those 2 never were ill and are doing great. What you can do is when qting add a fish from main tank to the new guys a see if anything happens.
The rid-ich plus med I mentioned is for bacterial problems. It’s from kordon. Will work for these types of problems. Being I had 2 tanks with the problem. One tank I started with just the heavy salt. This brought the discus out of the worst part of the infection but never cured them. The second tank got it a week later and I’d been given other advice so I tried the rid-ich. Results were almost instant.
Foods can be a problem for discus. Since there’s no regulations on foods some are worse than others. I dont feed beef heart much so I don’t make my own. For the last month I’ve stopped feeding it. Was having short term problems with some fish. Which seems to have stopped. Im now wondering if it was the brand of food I was using. I just bought another brand and I’m going to try it for this coming month and see what happens.
Foods like live black worms were used back in the 80s. It was expensive but it bulked up the discus. Thing is there was so much bad stuff in the worms that it was the main reason for losing fish. Trying to get discus to go from worms to flake foods or beefheart was next to impossible.
The rid-ich plus med I mentioned is for bacterial problems. It’s from kordon. Will work for these types of problems. Being I had 2 tanks with the problem. One tank I started with just the heavy salt. This brought the discus out of the worst part of the infection but never cured them. The second tank got it a week later and I’d been given other advice so I tried the rid-ich. Results were almost instant.
Yeah this was German and American breeders in the 80s. They were feeding a shrimp/fish meal to them but the price of both got to expensive and somehow they came up with beefheart. I think there’s a lot of protein in beefheart. Seems discus have adapted to digesting beefheart. But not all and if you don’t feed it and start it can be a problem. I lost one to beefheart. It just couldn’t digest it. Many other dither fish also have problems with it. Especially corys. I feed it once maybe twice a week after water changes. But I thaw it out in water first and feed it slowly so what hits the bottom is just tiny left overs.
Foods can be a problem for discus. Since there’s no regulations on foods some are worse than others. I dont feed beef heart much so I don’t make my own. For the last month I’ve stopped feeding it. Was having short term problems with some fish. Which seems to have stopped. Im now wondering if it was the brand of food I was using. I just bought another brand and I’m going to try it for this coming month and see what happens.
Foods like live black worms were used back in the 80s. It was expensive but it bulked up the discus. Thing is there was so much bad stuff in the worms that it was the main reason for losing fish. Trying to get discus to go from worms to flake foods or beefheart was next to impossible.
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According to one study of discus in the wild they feed predominantly on algal periphyton, fine organic detritus, plant matter, and small aquatic invertebrates.
So why do tank bred discus need to be fed such a high protein diet I wonder? Worms, shrimps and some plant material would seem to be more appropriate than beef heart, but it seems that there are problems with costs and logistics, or that breeders are trying to grow them artificially fast?
Have you ever tried giving them anything plant based as an addition to their diet? My Mesonauta don't eat aquarium plants, but when I give them a lettuce leaf they go straight for it! As do the Uarus and severum. When my big tank was first set up I was getting some filamentous algae in the roots of the water lettuce, these three species used to pull it off and eat it, there isn't any now, but I give them (among other things) some foods containing Spirulina and Chlorella. The Bug Bites Spirulina flakes (which also contain insect larvae) are the favorite dried food of the Mesonauta and Uaru, the severum prefers more chunky food but will eat the flakes as well. Even the blue acara, which is presumably more carnivorous, perhaps more like discus, but also eats some algae and detritus in the wild, likes the Spirulina flakes.
So why do tank bred discus need to be fed such a high protein diet I wonder? Worms, shrimps and some plant material would seem to be more appropriate than beef heart, but it seems that there are problems with costs and logistics, or that breeders are trying to grow them artificially fast?
Have you ever tried giving them anything plant based as an addition to their diet? My Mesonauta don't eat aquarium plants, but when I give them a lettuce leaf they go straight for it! As do the Uarus and severum. When my big tank was first set up I was getting some filamentous algae in the roots of the water lettuce, these three species used to pull it off and eat it, there isn't any now, but I give them (among other things) some foods containing Spirulina and Chlorella. The Bug Bites Spirulina flakes (which also contain insect larvae) are the favorite dried food of the Mesonauta and Uaru, the severum prefers more chunky food but will eat the flakes as well. Even the blue acara, which is presumably more carnivorous, perhaps more like discus, but also eats some algae and detritus in the wild, likes the Spirulina flakes.
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I do feed flake food daily to my discus. I mix 3 different brands and most eat it regularly. I feed 5 different foods to my discus with beef heart being the least used. Freeze dried black worms are the most used and one of the flakes is a black worm mix.
Some have eaten algae even pick at bba but not many.
Yes breeders fatten and grow out their fish with beef heart. Some are moving away from it and I’d predict in 10-20yrs they’ll all be using pellets or flake. Thing is the results are there for beef heart. 7” huge discus within a year. These fish sell for hundreds. So hard to stop breeders. It’s just an industry!
Some have eaten algae even pick at bba but not many.
Yes breeders fatten and grow out their fish with beef heart. Some are moving away from it and I’d predict in 10-20yrs they’ll all be using pellets or flake. Thing is the results are there for beef heart. 7” huge discus within a year. These fish sell for hundreds. So hard to stop breeders. It’s just an industry!
I don't have the link and I wish i did but there is a video by another well known discus breeder where he also talks about misconception of feeding discus. His focus is actually on raising young discus as he is a breeder and he makes his own food (this might help you find it if you are curious). I know he uses egg or egg yolk as well as some other funky stuff. He makes two comments one was the misconception around meat and the other was that the food he prepares he can stick to the side of the tank and since it won't go 'bad' the young discus can pick on it all day long. I should probably have bookmarked the video but at the time i wasn't that interest in discus.
I think my situation with the cherry barbs was very similar to your situation with the discus. I've been curious if a high power uv light would help in this situation. While you don't want to put such a thing in your aquarium; placing it in the sump is feasible since it is under the cabinet (just remember to turn it off before opening the cabinet). My though was that i might try this in my qt tank. Unfortunately my biology is a bit weak and I don't quite understand the mechanics of how these fishes act as carrier and if the uv would be effective or if the carrier would continue to carry the disease. I was extremely unhappy with the death of my clown loaches as they were a decent size but it did seem curable as one that was near death did recover (one seemed immune as was one of my angels); the other one that recovered was not as severely ill. The problem is that I didn't really realize what was happening initially until secondary disease kicked in (rot/ick). The fishes that died showed no external symptons which was quite frustrating.
I think my situation with the cherry barbs was very similar to your situation with the discus. I've been curious if a high power uv light would help in this situation. While you don't want to put such a thing in your aquarium; placing it in the sump is feasible since it is under the cabinet (just remember to turn it off before opening the cabinet). My though was that i might try this in my qt tank. Unfortunately my biology is a bit weak and I don't quite understand the mechanics of how these fishes act as carrier and if the uv would be effective or if the carrier would continue to carry the disease. I was extremely unhappy with the death of my clown loaches as they were a decent size but it did seem curable as one that was near death did recover (one seemed immune as was one of my angels); the other one that recovered was not as severely ill. The problem is that I didn't really realize what was happening initially until secondary disease kicked in (rot/ick). The fishes that died showed no external symptons which was quite frustrating.
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Yes and salt isn’t good for clowns. So many things that can be spread easily amongst fish. Even fish that look great could just be immune to what they have and spread it to your old fish. This is happening more and more. Over the last 10yrs we’ve seen many of what we call plague’s wipe out certain types of fish while not bothering others. Now it seems one fish can wipe out a tank and never be effected. Again for me that rid-ich worked and is recomended on many discus sites. Even a popular breeder was sending it with his fish for awhile.
Next I use uv in all my tanks. They sell them in there own filter where the light doesn’t leave the container. Those open uv lights are dangerous. Most come out of China with no warnings in English. These lights should be avoided!!
As to a food that doesn’t rot and is good for discus. Sounds good but I havnt seen or heard of it. What I feed is pretty much good in the tank. And I never over feed. I feed my discus many times a day but always small portions that get eaten up quickly.
Next I use uv in all my tanks. They sell them in there own filter where the light doesn’t leave the container. Those open uv lights are dangerous. Most come out of China with no warnings in English. These lights should be avoided!!
As to a food that doesn’t rot and is good for discus. Sounds good but I havnt seen or heard of it. What I feed is pretty much good in the tank. And I never over feed. I feed my discus many times a day but always small portions that get eaten up quickly.
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Scary. I have UV sterilizers in my canister filters but hardly ever use them. I have turned them on for a couple of weeks whenever I introduced new fish, and so far have not had a problem, but you never know, I tend to think that they might kill off beneficial microrganisms in the tank, which is why I don't use them all the time, but I don't know really.
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They kill whatever is in the water. If it goes through the uv it will be killed. I know the canisters your talking about. Sunsun canisters. That uv did work but it’s very low wattage. They had some problems like drying up gaskets. But if your filters are over a year old the uv lamp has been used up. So I wouldn’t turn it on anymore. They can be replaced but if I remember they weren’t to easy to change.
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Well it’s been awhile since I’ve hittnis thread. The cc pretty much did in most of my discus. Even after surviving it the treatment did lasting damage. From the main group there are 3 left. None look as good as they did but they do seem healthy. Of the second tank there is one left and it’s on its way out. Stopped eating about a week ago. Just a shame. The tank has moved on. I’ve removed all the gravel and went to planters.
still have the 3 originals in it. They’re doing good and the plants are too. Tanks much easier to clean now with the bare bottom.
Added some new discus over the last 2 yrs with good results. Tanks very settled and all is well. Have 9 discus in the tank now.
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still have the 3 originals in it. They’re doing good and the plants are too. Tanks much easier to clean now with the bare bottom.Added some new discus over the last 2 yrs with good results. Tanks very settled and all is well. Have 9 discus in the tank now.
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