Quarantin Procedures for Discus in new homes

[btlee]

Dear All,

Since you are talking of use of garlic, I will busy body a bit lah.
Used fresh garlic recently according to Andrew's advise at 20 gm per kg of Beef heart.
Did not blent the garlic properly and they are in bits the size we see in restaurant.
Anyway, one tank of small and juvenile fish eat the mixture like no tomorrow.
The bigger fish in another thank however appear to dislike it.
A few of them nibble a little and most don't care to eat.
Its been a week now.
Hope the big ones will get used to the smell later.

Cheers!

BT Lee

[standoyo]

wow,

i think the fish can't tell if it's smelly does it? haha...i think i will stick to the real thing. anything processed seems to be a]more expensive b]quality is suspect.

[Andrew Soh]

Hi Lee,

Those that eat chunks of garlic must be starved for days..poor guys.

They don't usually eat garlic in true form. It must be hidden in the food mix.

Standoyo is right...can't compare to the REAL thing.

Take care,
Andrew

[standoyo]

actually you should try to just get the juice. the fibre is not needed. may give the fish indigestion. i got this garlic juicer contraption.

[btlee]

Hahaha, I suppose they don't eat the garlic chips as I see them left over.
Its the fine one and the juice that got embeded in the food that is consumed.

Btw I have read something in the DHP about garlic and it seems that there are 2 type of chemical in the garlic that come together when we crush the garlic and its this coming together of these 2 type of chemical that gives garlic its anti-bacterial effect ( and the smell too ).
It is also mentioned in the article that in its combined formed, the chemical will quickly loose its effect due to oxidation.
As thus it is best to preserve these chemical in its original form seperately until just before consumption.

I wonder the way we crush garlic and mixed it with the beef heart to be preserved for weeks will cause the garlic to loose its effect.

What is your experience and opinion?

Cheers!

BT Lee

[Andrew Soh]

Lee,

Don't worry about oxidation. You are not going to do the mix and keep it for a year before feeding to the discus.

Take care mate,
Andrew

[btlee]

Ya, makes sense.

Cheers!

BT Lee

[ferdinc]

Hi everybody,
I have been busy, and I can read that a lot has been happening I wish I lived close to you guys and meet each one of you ..sigh..

Another question for the gurus here : I found yesterday that the fish was piled up at the corner of the tank. Then I realized that the heater of my discus tank was unplugged since the last water change. So, there was no heater for more than 24 hours and the temp was around 74-76 F !!!. I took some of the water out and put two heathers in the tank and in 4-5 hours the temp recovered to the usual 86 F..Then I filled up the tank with new water added some salt.

They semed really scared for 24 hours, now they seem ok and they rush for the food. Only blue D has 2-3 gray dots on his skin/fins. I am not sure if it is something serious.

DO you think I need to do some other stuff to prevent any future problems??
What would be the cause of those drak spots?

Also do you use iodized salt for the fish at all?

Thank you very much for the help as usual!
Regards,
Fethi

[Andrew Soh]

Nothing needs to be done, Fethi.

When discus is being transported by plane, the temperature can goes down all the way to 18C (64.4F far distance travel) and discus are still o.k.

*Just to add that I don't mean that it is alright to keep discus @ 18C. Short period is O.k. ...thus 76F or 24.4C is very acceptable as it is even warmer than an aircondition room*

Just on the heater to 82.4F or 28C and everthing should be o.k.

Take care,
Andrew

[standoyo]

may be wise to standby another heater in case the one you have fails.