# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cichlids >  How to select healthy discus?

## steed

Anyone know how to chose a healthy discus?

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## trident

Discus must be actively swimming about. They must not be hiding in a corner and
come to the front when you approach them. Color must be bright and vibrant, a dark colored discus could be stressed or sick. Eye must be proportion to the body size, a 
overly big eye is a sign of a stunted discus.

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## fabby

look at the shape of the discus . the discus must be round in shape , look for red eye discus they are the best because discus with red eye shows u how healthy they are.
good luck..=)

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## StanChung

Hi Steed,

Just to add to Richard and Fabby's comments- 
1-Healthy discus is one that is always looking for food. Wild ones may be a little skinny when they arrive but if you put up your hand, they should respond and move closer to inspect. They should not be clamped finned or black/dark. Some variants like albino and pigeon[white butterfly] can't turn dark or black though.
2. Should not have white faeces in the tank or anything trailing on it's anus.
3. Should have nice rounded foreheads and no obvious indent on the body[unless it's some albino variant]
4. Should not have large 'hole in the head'. Some small ones are normal but anything above 1 mm should be cause for alarm.
5. Should not have anything slimy or cloudy eyes or tail. [bacterial/protozoan infection]
6. Some variants like Snow white or it's 'cousins' would not have red eye.
7. Avoid overly brightly coloured discus as they may have been overdosed with colouring/harmful agents.[unless you know the breeder who is reputable who only use colouring responsibly-an art in it self IMO]
8. Gill cover movement should be moving normally and not one open and one closed or extra piece of gill 'skin' exposed out. The cause could gill flukes, bacteria or other parasites. Avoid them if you don't have the knowledge to treat them no matter how pretty it is!

Some defects or phenotypic-environment but some are genetic. Read more about it if you're interested in breeding in discus forums.

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## steed

Hi Guys, thanks for very useful infro.

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## StanChung

You're welcome. Some visual info from my old files.

This is a stunted discus- proportion of eye to body is very large.  :Grin: 


A 'San Merah', brown base and very colourful but not 'damaged'. A little dark but not sick.


A very sick discus. Can be considered a DLC[dead lost case] :Grin:  but surprisingly recovered well due to quick intervention. Believe it or not this is the same fish as the above San Merah. [at least one of three-hard to tell when it looks like this!  :Knockout: ]


A pigeon. When young is called 'checkerboard pigeon' but older, the white overlaps the red to make it look more like a 'white butterfly'. Tail tip has some very minor cloudy symptom. Some salt 1 ppt[part per thousand, or 100g to 100litre water] should take care of it.


Albino variant-would not turn dark even if sick because of lack of black pigment. Albino Pearl Diamond- flaring fins indicate healthy vigor.


A red fish, 3R, some black on the anal fin is normal for this variant.


Wild red spotted green. _Symphysodon aequifasciata_. Eyes are usually bigger than tank bred ones.

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## barmby

Simple. Look Majestic. Take it!

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## trident

Stan,
Your documentation is first class  :Smile:

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## sfk7

Hi Stan,

Do you have any pictures that protray clamped fins?

Thanks

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## StanChung

Hi Richard,

Thank you and pictures tell a better story.  :Grin: 

SFK7,
A clamped finned discus basically mean the discus' dorsal and anal fins are closed like in the 'black San Merah discus' pic above[post #6, pic #3] and below



However some variants like the one pictured above, a '3R' doesn't turn black even when sick because it doesn't have black pigments on much of it's body. You can see one of the San Merah that's also as sick in the background.

Please note that these are seriously ill discus afflicted with the so called 'discus plague'. A term for what I call discus immune system breakdown. A new introduced pathogen usually. The source is usually introduction of new fish or contaminated live food sources. You just have to treat for whatever symptom that appears.

If you happen to see these at a shop, do avoid them like the plague!  :Grin:

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