Discus fry! (pictures included)

[snyderguy]

In August, I moved into my apartment and about a month later, I separated the breeding pair and they have laid eggs about every 8-10 days. I've tried everything; taking the filter out so there is less water movement, and switched them to 100% RO water.... Finally, added methylene blue and what do ya know. It worked. I've got about 20+ fry right now. Pretty stoked. Here's some pictures. The one parent shown is the male, a yellow lemon. The female parent is a blue diamond.

[iheartfish:)]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[snyderguy]

Thanks! What I find really weird is that my male has been showing signs of fungus growth but he's still acting normally and taking care of the fry. Do you think the fungus growth is coming on because of stress or what do you think?

[emc7]

I would think it odd for fungus to grow on a fish with methylene blue in the water. Can you get a good pic and really zoom in. It could be an injury or bacteria.

Are you still @ 100% RO? That could bet the problem. If you are going to go with RO, you may need to add "Equilibrium" or some other mineral supplement. You will need some calcium in the water for the fry to grow their bones.

[snyderguy]

I'm still at 100% RO at the moment but I plan on doing a 5 gallon water change fairly soon and just putting my tap water in. It's full of all of that kind of stuff they need. I'll work on that picture right now. But I agree about how it's weird that he has a fungus when there's meth blue in the tank.

[Mystery snail]

Congratz Snyder... That is a a great feeling, breeding any fish, but Discus, cool stuff.... keep us posted

[snyderguy]

Thanks! Here's those pictures. Had to use the LED light function to get to see the fungus/spots...

Edit: Man, my camera is terrible at taking pictures...

[emc7]

That does look like a fungus. Usual treatments are salt and/or methylene blue. Looks like its attacking the lateral line. I'd guess the lack of minerals has destroyed the protective slime coat. Check the pH also. Water with no dissolved solids can have the pH fall off precipitously. While discus can take 4.0 better than most fish, you need to be careful with pH in super-soft water.

I don't have discus, but I would recommend you hurry up the water change, darken the blue color to triple or quadruple intensity and post that pic on specialty sites like simplydiscus.com and http://forum.discusnada.org/

[snyderguy]

Well what's weird to me is that he has so much slime coat that at his fins, you can see the fungus coming off of him. Do you think salt would hurt the fry?? I've been on simplydiscus before and you know, I've never really cared for the people on there so I try to stay away from there.

Edit: And the thing that scares me is that my pH in my tap water is about 8.5, and so I don't want to add new water and hurt the fry. Hmm... stuck here. Help?

[emc7]

What is the pH of the tank now? You are right that you need to be careful about shocks. But IME, fish take moving up in pH and hardness a lot better than the inverse. Ken Davis told a story about one year at ACA when the table under the discus tanks collapsed and dumped fish, glass, and water everywhere. Some grabbed a discus and tossed in into a nearby empty tank that was buffered for a Tanginikan cichlid. And the discus not only lived, but won its class.

You could start with a 1/8 tsp of baking soda to nudge it a just a bit. The other remedies I read about were things like salt, formalin, or potassium permanganate dips. Those would only risk the fry in that he might eat them when returned. But baths are pretty aggressive treatment, I'd see if he gets better without them in a day or two before trying something like that. Obviously, you want him in with the fry so they can eat the slime coat. But if he gets worse, I'd sacrifice the fry and save the parent. They will spawn again. All cichlids adults tolerate salt very well and it should work against fungus. Just ramp it up gradually and be much slower about taking it back out.

100% RO water is well-know no-no. Discus are one of a few fish that live in straight rainwater some of the time and can take it. But I wouldn't do it them for very long. Do you have a conductivity meter? One site says add enough tap water to get a reading 100-120 microsiemens for breeding pairs of discus. Older fry and non-breeding fish can take higher pH and much higher hardness. You could also use SeaChem replenish if you don't want to use any tap water. There has got to be a DIY mineral blend, but I haven't found it yet.

[snyderguy]

The pH now is about 7. I talked to some other people and they said doing like a 25% change should be ok without hurting the fry. Some others talked about taking him out and putting him into an extra tank. Unfortunately, I don't have one of these extra tanks so I'll have to do without but what I think I'm doing to try to do is like a 2.5 gallon change of just normal tap. I don't have any special chemicals or anything at the moment so we'll just hope this works. Otherwise, I'm not too worried about taking the male out. The female looks great and is doing a good job so far so I'm not worried about the fry not having food.

[Betta man]

congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!

[emc7]

Sounds like a plan. If he gets worse by morning, you should try to get a 'hospital'. A 10 gallon or a rubbermaid bin or whatever. Cichlids usually bounce back with just clean water and sometimes salt, but you should be prepared. That is too nice a fish to lose.

[snyderguy]

So here's what I did... Took out about 2.5 gallons and slowly refilled it as to not trouble the parents. Gonna check on em again in a few hours and see how they are. Might do another 2.5 then as well. The fry on the other hand are starting to venture out. Mom and dad quickly pick em up and put em back where they belong. It's really amazing to see this kind of thing. Completely different than breeding guppies and platies :P

Edit: The new water I put in was just tap water btw.

[lohachata]

DO NOT TREAT YOUR TANK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there is a reason he looks like that.....that is called "milk"....discus parents produce a secretion for the fry to feed off of...after they are free swimming you will see them picking at the parents sides....after about 3 weeks you can start weaning thrm from mom and dad..try baby brine shrimp...
snyder...send me your address and i will send you a couple of food samples...