# Trial by Fire... Need Assistance



## FreakIndeed (Jun 17, 2007)

I had someone getting out of the hobby give me three beautiful Discus along with some plants. All I have at the moment is an established 55 Gallon. It's not too small but does seem a little tight for the Discus and should be considered a temporary home.

I decided that since he was giving me several plants and I had a 110 watt compact fluorescent light sitting at home, I would stop and pick up some more plants (hey, everyone says plant heavily). I picked up several bunches of Egeria densa, Cabomba caroliniana, and Ceratophylum demersum from PetsMart. I wanted ammonia absorbing stem plants to go along with the plants he gave me to avoid any type of mini cycle.

So here I am green (pun intended). I get the tank all setup and planted. I slowllllllllllllllllly acclimate the fish. My tank is about 7.6 PH and 4-5 KH.

This morning I awoke to stressed fish and one dead silver tip tetra. No ammonia, however I tested PH and it's down to 6.6 within 24 hours. I know that's not good. One of the plants the previous owner gave me appears to be rotting and throwing debris all over the tank. I'm assuming the rotting debris is what's causing the PH drop. Obviously, I remove the plant and do an immediate 40% water change and see an almost immediate improvement in the fish. The PH has held steady at 7 for the rest of the day so far.

I'm beginning to wonder if the plants he gave me are even aquatic. I've got some pictures and was hoping you could help me ID them.

First plant:


















These next two plants appear to be the same. The leaves are in pretty bad shape, they have some sort of wood attached to the bottom and they stink. These are plants I believe were causing the problem.


































Finally, He also gave me these:


















Getting these fish and plants was a total surprise and all happened in less than 24 hours. Yes, I'm not completely prepared... but I'm dedicated. My budget does not allow me to purchase the pressurized Co2 system right now. However, I can setup a couple DIY jobs until I'm able to swing it. Do you think it would help?

I did purchase a bottle of both Flourish Excel and Flourish Comprehensive. I was hoping for advice on dosing these. After my next large water change should I put in the initial does amount? Should I dose both at the same time or should I stagger them?

Thanks a whole bunch!

Here are some pictures of the tank and Discus. Please ignore the lousy aquascape. It was setup in a hurry to make a home for the fish. I haven't placed the plants to my liking or added the driftwood and rocks. These pictures were before I removed the two large plants the previous owner gave me.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The plants are all aquatic. The first one is Echinodorus bleheri---the good old 'tank buster' amazon sword that has been in the hobby since at least the '50's . The third is one of those new hybrids involving Echinodorus osiris and possibly E. uruguayensis---the 'red' horemanii variety. It may be Echinodorus 'Rubin'. The second is another Echinodorus hybrid, I think. The fourth looks like Sagittaria. 

You have a fairly large amount of fish in that 55 gallon. I recommend that you add some brand of aquarium fertilizer that contains potassium. The plants can pull the potassium down and then the fish will suffer. The plants will need iron, too since it doesn't look like you have anything under that white sand that will supply iron.


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## FreakIndeed (Jun 17, 2007)

I've started the recommended dosing of both Flourish Comprehensive and Flourish Excel. Does this contain the potassium and iron needed? Or should I further supplement?

You are correct, there is nothing under the sand. However, it is very established. It's from a tank that was fully stocked for about a year. I did not rinse it or clean it. I left of the muck and mulm in it. Hopefully that will help some.

Thanks!


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