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Home      Reply		Viewed: 817 -- Replies: 21
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Posted	Discus parameters??
09-07-2007 15:33 by Lnrak	Just done a water test on my tapwater - results as follows: GH = 30 KH = Less than 30 (test not too accurate) PH = 7.0 Nitrite = 0 Nitrate = 0 What do I need to change to keep discus?? Please don't say all of it!! What are the ideal parameters?? All info greatly appreciated - ta very much
09-07-2007 17:23 by CichlidRouse	hi i keep my discus in rain water the ph is around 6.6-6.8 all i make sure is there is pleanty of filtration but not to much flow in the tank(amoania is zero (this is the worst one of the 3. ps i cant spell) they have layed eggs several times but no young as yet
09-07-2007 17:46 by robert.pope	how old are your tests? just that i would have thought there would be some reading for the nitrate
09-07-2007 17:47 by Lnrak	Tests were about an hour old - just bought them.
09-07-2007 17:47 by Lnrak	There's certainly been no shortage of rainwater!!!
09-07-2007 20:11 by Woz	tell me about it, just take a bucket into the garden and im sorted
09-07-2007 20:14 by netty d	I personally wouldn't advise keeping any fish in rain water, let alone discus. But if it works, it works. You could do with ,lowering your PH....ideally they like 6.5 ish, RO or HMA water should do that.
09-07-2007 20:46 by Lnrak	I was wondering - is there another alternative to RO water with these parameters, or not really??
09-07-2007 20:52 by robert.pope	was it the dip strip tests?
09-07-2007 21:51 by Lnrak	Yeah it was - are these a load of ***? Never used tests all the years I've kept tropicals - had no probs - but I want to get the discus right....Don't wanna get dis-heartened with it, or have to buy more fish 'cos the first ones croaked it!
09-07-2007 21:52 by Lnrak	It's done thing again with the stars - I only said ***
09-07-2007 22:25 by Elmo	RO water is the best to use but if this is not an option then use peat in your filters, a large piece of bogwood, and mature water is the best, Ask whoever you are getting the discus off and see what ph theres is, you can now get discus that will live in a ph of 7 but you wont breed them and the colours wont be as good. I have my ph around 6 and the fish thrive in it, make sure your temp is above 30 and give them a good diet ( dosent have to be beefheart)
09-07-2007 22:40 by sonia	dont count on bog wood, if it makes a difference its only temporary, you would need to constantly add new bits of bog wood over the course of a year, and even then even the largest amounts of bog wood can sometimes only make a small difference in parameters
11-07-2007 07:26 by adi	I always use the following filosophy for the discus parameters (it will surely remove any confusing stuffs): If the water good enough for me (as drinking water), then it will also hold true for the discus. That filosophy has never fail me (I have been breeding discus since 1989). My discus hatchery got hit by weird and freightening disease in 1994, and took me (and the whole family) 2 horrible years to discover the fact that the primary source of the disease was my bad way to handle newly imported fish from another country (they got the so-called 'New Discus Disease'). For a long time we thought the cause was bad water, and perfomed various test in vain! The water was absolutely OK! After this terrible experience, I promise myself never to take such risk again for the discus. I also switch to artificial method for rearing discus fry with excellent result! I never experience such problem again with my discus, and continue to use the same filosophy for the water. I think food is more important than slightly (I really mean 'slightly') minus water condition. Just do not give them extreme environment (such as pH 9+ or something ).
11-07-2007 07:51 by Lnrak	So you are saying that tap water that I use for my tropicals - is fine to use with discus, given my parameters above? Thanks for your advice all
11-07-2007 10:05 by Lnrak	Would ph down fix my water or does it need softening aswell???
11-07-2007 12:17 by keith t	adi thats got to be the worst bit of advice ive heard for ages about the water being ok to drink then it will be ok for discus.
11-07-2007 12:42 by PaddyD	Adi, Do you really breed discus in water with a KH of 30 and a GH of 30 ????? Surely this meets the requirement of extreme water conditions!!!
11-07-2007 15:38 by Alan	Best thing to do with tap water is contact your water supplier and ask for a copy of the latest water test result from the drinking supply in your area this will give you an accurate nitrate reading as well as ph and you will also be able to judge whether or not there is a heavy metal issue. You sound as though you are lucky like me in that you have a very low nitrate level in your tap water supply the highest legal level in drinking water I believe is 50 ppm for nitrate.
11-07-2007 16:12 by Lnrak	Thanks 4 that Alan
11-07-2007 17:35 by Cichlid Fury	Alan the thing about the nitrate reading from the water company, although its better than nothing (not knowing) its the yearly average and varies quite a bit, when i got the water report for my area the nitrate reading was something like in-between 20-40 mg/l and anyway Nitrate is the least of your worries when keeping discus if you using tap water you ALWAYS gonna have nitrate issues (in that nitrate is present in above ideal levels) if using pure tap water the last time i looked at the UK averages across counties there was not a lot of wild discrepencies, i.e. similar nitrate readings throughout the country (based on yearly averages)
25-08-2007 16:56 by malawibob	Lnrak, Your water is fine for Discus. The most important thing about Discus water is that it stays constant. This water is fine for youngish Discus as the excess calcium is good for growing fishes bones. If you wish to breed them then you may have to reduce the PH to 6.5 but please don't use any of these PH down items as all they do is lower it fo a short time then your PH will rise again causing shock to the fish. The reason the PH has to be lower for breeding is that hard water affects the females eggs and causes them to go hard and the males sperm cannot get through to fertilise them. Good Luck

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