finsup

Hello,

Has anyone used mineralized soil with Discus.
Any comments on what are pros and cons?
I switched from an Eco substrate to mineralized.
I let the tank cycle and took tests. Everything
looks good. I do wc every week, maybe I should
do more. My problem is the fish have stopped
eating. I am working on Discus related illnesses,
but I am wondering if the mineralized soil has
anything to do with it. I rinsed my filter out
yesterday and noticed a lot of sediment in there.
I think that's from disturbing the soil when
planting. Will things improve with water quality
as the tank ages more?

Thanks,

Jeff

dwalstad

I have heard from two people who successfully kept Discus in an NPT.

That said, anything could be causing your Discus problem. Many Discus breeders keep and raise their fish in semi-sterilized surroundings (I'm thinking here of successful Hong Kong breeders). I suspect these Discus have little natural immunity. When you put them with soil, you are suddenly exposing them to a true "natural flora".

Mineralized soil, almost by definition, would have a rich bacterial community that has been processing that soil for many weeks. Many ordinarily harmless soil bacteria (Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Mycobacterium, etc) are potential pathogens to fish that are severely stressed and/or lacking immunity, especially when they are present in large numbers, as they would be in mineralized soil. They are not pathogenic to healthy fish that have normal immunity.

Unless the Discus are wild-caught fish or those from ordinary breeder (doesn't keep them under "Hong Kong conditions"), I would predict potential problems introducing Discus into an NPT.

I would treat your Discus with antibiotics immediately and hope for the best.

If these Discus die and you want to keep trying with Discus, then I would get a UV sterilizer (assuming you don't have one) and purchase Discus from another source.

Good luck! I hope that your Discus pull through.

finsup

Hello Miss Walstead,

Thank You for your reply. Coming from the person who would
know! I have been trying on a couple
other forums to get answers. Tried Simply Discus. There
comments were to say that having Discus is a risk with
MS, just like any other soil. But you have given me some
valuable information pertaining to mineralized soil as
well. I knew Discus were finicky about their water.
I wanted to give Discus a try with MS, and I was
hesitant, but did it anyway. I wish I would have
read some info about keeping fish with MS in
the MS thread. I have tried antibiotics already.
They look O.K. today. If they do die, then I will
switch out substrate. Right now I will do frequent
wc's, even though MS can have less changes.
I can see there is a conflict of agendas here.

Thanks,

jeff