I just bought discus fish that were shipped to me from a top breeder. I need tips...?

Question

My one red turq is laying on his side. ?

He has only been in there for about 40 minutes the others are fine is this ok. And when should i begin to feed them.

Answer 1

In reality, I doubt it's anything more than stress.  One of my first Discus did this immediately after being placed in the bag at the store (he was chased for quite some time), and after a few hours in my tank, he looked better than ever.  Stressed fish have trouble maintaining balance, and in laterally compressed fish like Discus, this means lying on their sides (it's very difficult to balance on their thin bodies).  As soon as it adjusts to the new tank and some stress is alleviated (keep the tank dark), it will be better able to regulate its osmotic pressure, which will aid in balance.

The only affect methylene blue will have on a fish is making oxygen more available in the blood stream (for haemoglobin).  If this occured once in the tank, and it's the only fish, the chances of it being related to oxygen levels are slim.

Answer 2

Honestly?  A couple things here.  Why would you buy these fish then ask advice?  Discus are very finicky fish to care for and if you have no experience with dealing with high profile fish or cichlids, you might have picked a different fish.

My guess, just based on what you said, and with no pictures posted, no tank size, no water chemistry, nor hold long you acclimated the fish, I'm guessing your fish is going into shock from shipping and then put into new tank water too fast.  I would need more to go on here.

Let me link you to a post in our forum I help manage that actually talks about fish arriving from shipping.  You might find this related.

"As to shipping, temperature is a consideration, but as bikeguy stated oxygen AND CO2 are even bigger concerns IMO.

This is why when I move fish I try not to seal the container, however this does not work for actual shipments.

A major problem I have dealt with )in International shipping especially) is CO2 buildup as this will lower pH considerably, then when one opens the bags it is VERY important to trickle water very slowly (over a few hours) so as to not cause pH shock. Keep in mind that a shipping bag that has dropped to 6.0 and then has fish added to 7.5 water is a FIFTEEN times jump in pH!!

I will use Methylene Blue in the water to counter the effects of both lack of oxygen and ammonia poisoning (does not help for pH) and then a bWonder Shell fragment for KH, GH, and pH stability. This has worked very well for me as has slow acclimation of fish that are now in low pH water.

I deal with acclimation of new fish in this article:

Aquarium Disease Prevention; Acclimation Section 7

As to the AC/DC air pump, here is one I sell:

Azoo Non Stop Air Pump

This is good for moving fish or blackouts, not so for shipping via mail, Fedex, UPS.

Carl"