# Jumping Discus??



## Turtlemaxxx (Jul 13, 2007)

This morning at 5:40 I heard a weird crashing noise and went to see what the cat (s) nocked over. I saw nothing. 15 minutes later i heard a weird noise, turned out to be one of my discus flopping on the floor behind the tank with the cat trying to figure out what it was.

I scouped it up and back in the tank it went. The g/f says its doing... fine... aparently keeps spooking and running into the tank wall or cover.

1. Are discus aggresive breeders? This is supposed to be a breeding pair but I have only had them for about a month and a half.

2. Are Discus just jumpers and I missed this in my searching because I was concentrating on other things during my searches.

It is an old Oceanic 60gal. btw. 36x18x21 <--- the 21 is an ish

-matt


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Discus can get jumpy and have been known to go crashing violently into walls, lids, etc. when shadows hit the tank (other causes).

I've also found that it can be an early sign of illness... I am not sure if the stressed fish gets sick, or if the sick fish gets jumpy, but one has followed another in a few threads over the years so I pass it along.

You might want to consider a huge water change followed by a 24 hour blackout period. I've often found that this trick was enough to break a cichlid of bad behavior.


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## Turtlemaxxx (Jul 13, 2007)

Thank you for the advice. (This is the FIANCEE Anna not g/f lol) By a huge water change do you mean 50% or 90% or somewhere in between? Also, blackout period meaning no light and no food? Matt is out right now and I'm not sure he would clarify everything lol. I'm also a bit of a control freak (artist), so I like to understand everything.

Update as well: I (Anna) have been watching the tank all day having minor heart attacks every time this discus spooks. Both discus love hiding around the wood piece in the tank, but currently they're practically attached to it and absolutely refuse to move... which makes it very difficult to get a good look at my baby. I am nervous to put my hand in the tank to herd it into the light because I can tell there are minor abrasions from the fall and I believe the eyes are clouded? From watching the discus's behavior, I'm truly concerned something is wrong with its eyes because it is resting almost against the wood piece as reassurance. The stress bars on both fish are practically black as well. As the day has gone by, I have noticed that the jumper seems to lean more and more? Basically, I'm freaking out that my baby will die and the other along with it from loneliness.


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## ryansmith (Apr 10, 2003)

Skittish discus can also mean a stray current in the tank (faulty heater, submersible pump, etc.) or water quality issues. Sometimes if the pH crashes they will get jumpy. How's your hardness and pH? What's your temperature?

Constantly skittish discus are a bad thing. Before this incident, were they eating and acting normally? Have you seen bullying or aggression? If they're not a true mated pair, one could be trying to establish dominance over the other and may be harassing it until its stressed and skittish. If discus aren't truly paired, it's best to keep them in groups of 6 - 8, or a bare minimum of 4.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Something isn't right in this tank as ryansmith mentions...

Can you post ALL the details of this pair? how long have you had them, any new additions to the tank? nitrate level?

As much data as you can provide please!


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Off topic I know, and I do apologise, but I couldn't resist.



> This is the FIANCEE Anna not g/f lol


ROTFLMAO...maybe Matt needs a little more reminding of this.

*I'm also a bit of a control freak (artist)*
What!?! In my experiences with artists, they are anything but control freaks, usually very much the opposite. However if you mean your an artist at exerting control, well that's just about every woman I know.

And as for the Discus, sincerly good luck with them.

DFF


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## Turtlemaxxx (Jul 13, 2007)

OK, this is matt, i said g/f because i can't spell that "f" word.

The PH is still holding steady at 7.6 out of the tap.

the water is hard, but softer than they were in b4 we got them, <-- my test is old and doesn't seem to work right. The bubble wand makes me have white deposits on the outside of the tank though.

Do titanium heaters have problems with stray voltage?

tomorrow will be one month exactly since we got them. Apparently some guy didn't want his breeding pair anymore and just dropped them off. After they were at the LFS for about 3 months, i took them home to give them better care, their HITH is gone on one and almost gone on the other. I did not medicate the tank, i raised the temp to 86* added a bubble wand for oxygenation, and have been doing at least 30% water changes at least every other day. Anna says she has seen them displaying some breeding behavior, shimmy-ing their fins and the like.

They have pretty much always been a little skittish for us, unless we stand outside of the tank for a minute or so then they come out. They never eat in front of us but i can see though the door that they are eating it. I feed Tetra Crisps, frozen blood worms, and Tetra color tropical granules.

The tank is covered, the back where the fish jumped out is only wide enough to get the XP3's tubes though, about 3/4" along the back.

The filtration is an XP3 that was running on my 180 for over a year.

the black back fell off a 2 weeks ago and it is going back on tonight.

There is a large piece of driftwood in there with florite and some plants. here is a pic from when i first got them.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

*FiancÃ©* ... I'd learn it, mine would kick my lil rump out if I called her my girlfriend. :lol:


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Hmm,....if I read through the postings I can't find info that point to a change in the tank or water qualety, parameters (PH, GH and so on) or other reason. HITH is a serious illnes and is coused by flaggelates. Flagellates become a problem on stressed fish with a poor health. The previous owner of the fish probably didn't took proper care of them what would explain the HITH and the reason why he sold the fish. The both of you do take proper care becouse at least one fish start to cure from the HITH witch is a good sign.

The jump accident clearly damaged the fish and stressed both of them out. I read you have cats. Cats are active during the night and like the heat of a tank. Mine often walk over the tanks or sleep on it. A jump from the ground on the lid makes some noise and more then once they spooked the sh*t out of my discus. Over time they get used to it. One of the cats liked to play with the discus and taped with his paw on the glass. This also scared the discus but after a while they don't even pay atention to the cats any more so the cats lost their interest in chasing and playing with the discus. It might very well be that the cats were the reason for freaking out your discus and make one jump. If the discus can jump out of the tank, the cats paw will fit into the tank! So first concern should be to properly close the tank.

For now I would keep the light levels low so the fish become calmer. Right now every unexpected movement can stress them out and make them skittish and dart around the tank. So I suggest to keep an eye on them but take more distance. If the jumper only have some scratches he will probably cure from it. I'm more woried abouth his eyes. Bad sight might also increase stress and make it more skittish. I suggest to leave them alone right now and perform a large wc tomorrow. I also suggest to keep a small light on in the room during the night and if possible keep the cats out for a couple of days.

If everything turns out to be OK I suggest to let them use to your presence. That will take quit some time dough. But,...if people manage to hand feed wilds you probably manage to had feed yours as well.


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## Turtlemaxxx (Jul 13, 2007)

DD: Our cats are weird, they don't jump more than like a foot in the air. The female has climbed a chair to a bookshelf to the top of the 180 and promptly fell asleep once or twice but the male is too dumb to do that. So I dont think that the cats are a problem, that and the discus are in the extra room. I have not caught them in there bothering them but i do sleep when they prowl.

They are under pretty much just moonlight and they are at least out and about. 
I do have 3 corys in there already along with a handfull of ghost shrimp.

The eyes on the one that fell are the only ones that are clouded, more like it scratched the lenses from the wall, 2x4, carpet, and prolly the net a little too, than a disease. I hope.

more to come,

matt


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