Discus food and supplies

Thanks for the vote of confidence Neresh, but it really is undeserved praise. I still learn with Discus everyday, and was it not for Prof. Dirk I'd have suffered many losses in the past. His knowledge on these fish is a library of info! Great to have access to it. One thing I want to add is, and please take it up seriously. Discus can be perfectly healthy today, eat the food you give them, look great and healthy, and yet tomorrow morning you can wake up and find all sorts of problems in that tank. That is when keeping them becomes difficult, since then its the time when your decision decide their fate. Prof. Dirk has a list of good books to invest in, and if you really want to be serious about Discus, get hold of that. I got mine from Dolphin so he can probably help you get it too. Believe it when I say, the worst thing that can happen to you is to find that the fish you have invested time and effort into are starting to die one by one, and you helplessly just stare at them. O, and forget Google for remedies, rather 'google' Prof. Dirk, he's more reliable. . . Cheers

 

Hi Guys,

I have been very busy of late and not had the chance to reply.

What Marco has written here is perfectly correct with regard to flagellate organisms being responsible for your problems. Treatment with metranidazole is what you should do, but Tankmaster, under no circumstances must one underdose, this just results in medication resistant bugs, and does not solve the problem. What I also want to say though is that treatment alone is not going to solve the problem, you have to feed enough vitamin C in the diet. The beefheart mix that I supply, SV2000, has good levels of Vitamin C and this is what you need to feed and you need to feed it regularly. Also, after treatment with metranidazole, you will need to get the feeding improved and you will only see improvements after a few weeks. You should also treat with this medication every two weeks until things improve.

Flagellates cause ongoing problems in discus to the point where in Germany breeders have managed to get their fishes completely flagellate free, but taking the eggs away from parents and then raising them artificially after which they then again allow them to naturally raise their young. They also use foster parents that are flagellate free to raise other fishes spawns. However, you have to keep flagellate fishes separate from infected ones, if you mix the them they get infected within hours. It has been found that in some discus strains, once you have them flagellate free they grow to almost one and a half times the size of their infected parents, this is what the effect is of the flagellates.

I will be getting a shipment of food in about three weeks time with plenty of SV2000 and I will be sending this to a friend in Durban who stocks my food, so it should be available soon. The previous batch is completely sold out due to demand. Whilst I am on the topic of beafheart, I want to warn against using South African beefheart and preparing your own mixes, as I know that the use of steroids and beta blockers in beef feeding is going on all the time. In Europe all of these substances are banned for beef feeding, I do not know why we permit the use of these substances in this country.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Dear Prof.
As I said previously, had I known about you guys previously, I could have saved a lot of heartache.
Please keep in touch as soon as your stock arrives. In far as the Metro treatment goes, I am doing exactly as suggested and hope to see results soon.
I read an interesting Theory on one of the Singapore based Discus forums, that when administering Metro in the water, the effective lifespan of the drug is only 8 hours. They go on to say that for the first three days of treatment you need to administer metro every eight hours, with a 50% water change at each dosage.

Is this true or can I stick to what Marco says ie a one off 10mg per litre, dosage and a 50% water change after three days, and then monitor ?

Thank you,

---------- Post added at 12:10 ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 ----------

Dear Prof.

Do you have any Discus for sale currently ?

I am specifically looking for "Exotic' Strains.

I well marked Pieon Bloods, with the "checkered pattern' all through the body.
I am also looking for bright red discuses.

Thanking you,

 

Hi Neresh,

I will send you my updated price list of foods as soon as I have stock on its way.

As for the Metro, this may be the case, but that is why I recommend a higher dose and the require dose does stay high enough for long enough. I would repeat the treatment in any case, but remember that in Singapore you can change water from the tap and it will be of the right temp and be soft enough, in SA that is more of a problem, so be careful no to temp shock your fishes which will weaken them even more.

I can tell you categorically that the very last strain of discus that you will see in my tanks are pidgeon bloods. They are a mutant strain with skin secretion problems which means that raising fry from them is difficult. I also do not find their colors at all attractive, but this is a personal choice so I am not criticizing you, all I am saying is that I do not breed these fishes, I prefer natural wild types of early crosses such a red turquoises. Bright red discus are either hybrids of pidgeon bloods, the sunrises and other strains for example, or wild type strains such as the Curipera Alencer Reds. I have some of these but they have refused to breed for the past two years and I paid a high price for them.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hello Prof,can we dose with metro if we just received discus as a preventative measure?

 

Hi Fishcrazy,

Yes you can, and I would recommend it for wild-caught fishes. I would however not view it to be necessary with most hybrid discus, unless they are weakened for whatever reason.

Of all the medications that you can use on discus, metronidazole is by far the safest, which is also good to know IMO.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Dear Prof Dirk,

I am a new member and would also like to request your price list for foods and other products. I will send a message, with my email address in this regard.

Kind regards,
Gavin