discus seem lethargic.

recently, just hiding in one corner and not eating and looks plale, obvious not as rich in colour as others.

what is a good brand and effective med. to treat HEX?

General cure by API is a good place to start, I treat any new discus with it while they are in QT just for S&giggles.

alright. ill get it when i visit the LFS.

thank you.

It willl fix most of the common discus ailments. Raise their temp up as well. What is your PH at?

Fern wrote:It willl fix most of the common discus ailments. Raise their temp up as well. What is your PH at?

speaking of PH, it crashed yesterday. so, its around 6. i added some crushed coral to buffer.
does that med. need certain PH?

No it doesn't but that PH crash is probably causing the issue you are seeing. Hold off on the meds and see if he gets better as the PH goes back to what it was. If you have stress coat add some of that.
Even in very low PH tanks you should put a little bit of crushed coral just to keep a little buffer in the water to prevent PH crashes like that..... I learned that the hard way......

Fern wrote:No it doesn't but that PH crash is probably causing the issue you are seeing. Hold off on the meds and see if he gets better as the PH goes back to what it was. If you have stress coat add some of that.
Even in very low PH tanks you should put a little bit of crushed coral just to keep a little buffer in the water to prevent PH crashes like that..... I learned that the hard way......

yea, CC is a life saver!
its funny. i tested the water not too long ago, perfect 7. i have my CC in a bag within one of my canisters.

I keep all my hybrid discus around neutral. Then when I want to trigger spawn i drop it a few point with ph down as i do water change...to fast a drop is probably why they are lethargic. I also vehemently reccomend keeping them above 84.5 farenhiet because that is the terminal temp for heximeta. I still once a year hit all my discus profalactily with metronidizole to ensure they do not carry hex. If clearly sick (dark/loosing weight) I have personally heated them to 91 degrees farenheit...as hot as my ebojager could go for a week no problems...fixed fish. Usually the way I fix a f**ked up beyond all repair fish orphaned to me at deaths door. A few more comments on pH...My fry have twice....repeat, twice the growth rate (control for tank size, clutch size, and food input and water out) when I raise them close to neutral. They also do better in shop you sell them to because they are used to more average PH conditions. Only my wild fish need super low PH to trigger spawns...but the fry I raise them closer to neutral. Makes them into "heirloom strains" to steal a term from my garden. Way less sensitive then my wild parents...stronger F1s. The biggest waste of money i ever spent was on Uv lights on all my breeder tanks. They never got sick (breeder pairs or babies) but once I put them in a tank without uv lamps they got the bubonic plague and were just consumed by diseases. They were raised without being exposed to any pathogens. Same idea for PH. Keep them closer to neutral unless wild caught...important to note that PH above 7.4 tends to make em black and lethargic. keep it as close to neutral or just below.

I like to put crushed coral under my gravel bed...like a layered salad. If on surface of gravel it can be too much buffering.... In a small tank or newer tank you may notice crushed coral raising ph instead of maintaining it. if this happens pull back your gravel and put it on bottom. Then burry it. I like to reccomend a quarter cup of crushed coral per square foot of tank floor. Its way easier to put crushed coral under gravel bed if you do it drained/dry. Remember to not stick your gravel vac down as deep if you do this or you will mix it all up. In seasoned tank (6 months old)or planted tank not so much of an issue if a piece or two is on top...
lilydog

I never reccomend droping ph on discus more than one ph point in 24hours...same goes for inverse when raising ph......unless low ph is clearly killing fish then (say accidental ph crash from 7-6 oops) bring it up half way and go slow up the rest of way....good way to kill discus is too fast ph shifts. that is why I advocate substrate tanks for discus and CC to buffer.
even in breeder tanks...substrate all the way...(i know a lot of breeder insist on substate free tanks for breeding,) I found substate makes ph more stable and more fry survive. Nothing worse than coming home to a 55 gallon full of baby discus all dead because ph dropped while you were gone all day.......
lilydog