# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Why does my discus change its color a lot?

## VictorTQT

Hi every one.

I have just bought few discus. They are called Albino Leopard Snakeskin Intermediate (which father is ALSS and mother is Albino melon). When I saw it, the color is very nice of red. After I brought them home, in first 3 days their color is quite dark brown. Then they appear to recover the red color for 1 day, then now its color is a bit orange-brown. I am not sure why is it and how to keep its red color. And here is the pictures:

Here is the one that I bought and their color at the first sight (at retailer). You can see their color are very nice.



And when I brought them home, they looked really dark brown (not sure because of stressed or not):



After 3-4 days, the red color seem recovered a bit:



But now, it is some how like orange-brown color, so I don't know why. Is their any way to recover their red color?







And just want to share, here is the picture of the father of my discus, according to retailer, it is ALSS.



And one more pics (father is in the center):



Not sure it is because that I am keeping them in planted tank, and used daylight T5 lighting set, while the retailer used bare tank with pink LED light. Not sure those factors made so much effect or not? The discus are eating well with beef heart, blood worms... but they are still very shy (now is 1.5 weeks after they came)

Thank you in advanced for all of your suggestion/opinions.

Victor

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## David

Hello VictorTQT

Discus turn dark is usually due to stress. There can be a few factors at the beginning. Transport stress, change in water perimeter, new environment.

Discus do not settle in so fast and the fact that they are eating is a good sign. The plants provide some cover and comfort as they can be skittish and don't take too kindly to high movement areas.

Whatever you do, don't wear black T-Shirt and walk in front of the tank.

Yes, the color of the lights at the LFS do play a part.

I don't know how big is your tank but discus are more sensitive to water condition and from what I have read, you have another 150 tetras?

Check your water parameter for NH or NO3.

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## VictorTQT

Hi David,

Thank you very much. My tank is 3 feet, with 1 canister, 1 OHF, two internal filter and 1 air stone. The quality of water is fine. 
I heard someone is saying that if I feed my discus with Astaxanthin beef heart (selling in some LHS) or spotted BH, then the color will be improved. Is that right?

And do I need to change the light to pink one, but I am not sure my plants are fine with it or not, since the power of pink LED light might not be as strong as the T5HO.

Waiting for your recommendation. Thanks a lot.

Victor.

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## coolgear101

As yours is a planted tank, the fishes tend to change its colour to blend to its environment. The lights do play a part in their colour changes.

In bare tank, usually their colour will not change unless they are stress.

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## garylim

Hi David, where did you bought your discus?

Does your discus chase your tetra or guppy?

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## David

Hi garylim....the last time I had discus was years ago. They were Taffy Greens. It was a species tank and there were no tetras around. They however left my Amano Shrimps alone...most of the time.

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## David

Hi Victor,

I can sense that there is a conflict within yourself, I am not too sure. On one hand, you like a planted tank and on the other, you like to have discus. The two can co-exist but the way I see it is that you may be mixing up the two.

I don't know what kind of plants you have or the amount of light intensity, you will need some kind of CO2 injection for plants to do well (if you have rooted plants then you will require some kind of base fertilizer). Your air stone is good for your fish but not for your plants. Your bio-load may be too high. the 150 tetras are going to get bigger and your NO3 is going to get high sooner or later. Unless you are around to do more frequent water change, reduce your bio-load.

Feeding beefheart and/or bloodworms does not change or improve the coloration of the fish (at least in my opinion). Basically if your fishes are juvenile, this is the fastest why to bulk them up in terms of size. Large water change is also important especially with juvenile discus, as it is said that they secrete hormones into the water to stunt the other discus.

If you change to the red kind of lights, I don't think your plants will do well.

At the end, you have to decide what you want. A bare tank with discus or a planted tank with discus. Once you have decided, it will be easier for you to plan moving forward

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## David

Hi Victor

here are two examples for you of a discus planted tank.



This is a tank done by Amano. there is no plants but what he did was a hardscape tank that is more or less a biotope tank.



Think about it and decide for yourself....once you have reached a direction, its easier to move from that point.

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## VictorTQT

Thank you David a lot.

Yes, you are right, I am a bit confusing in the middle of planted tank or discus tank. Actually in the beginning I want to start a planted tank only, but when I visit my friend's discus planted tank I was so admired and would like to combine those. His tank looks like this tank that I copied from youtube:




There is also another setup that I loved a lot, is this setting:




Therefore I am think of rearranging my tank to be more suitable for the discus, but the problem now is that my discus are too shy and always hiding under the tree/plants/rock. They are still eating well when I moved the food near them, but they don't want to swim out. Is there any problem with them and how to solve it?

Thank you very much.

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## David

Don't keep moving stuff in your tank while the discus are still in it. They are not used to you and family members who moves in front of the tank and with you sticking your hands in the tank to re-arrange plants in your tank. Be decisive and plan well to what kind of tank you want for your discus and do it once and for all and let them settle in.

I like the second one better.... :Wink:

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## tikopek

Nice to know there are discus lovers around! Discus popularity seems to die down~ Any bros here know what illness happening to one of my discus?
Its symtom:
1. Heavy breathing
2. Gills seems swollen and cant close completely
3. Swimming well, fins not clamped
4. But loss of appetite

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## VictorTQT

> Don't keep moving stuff in your tank while the discus are still in it. They are not used to you and family members who moves in front of the tank and with you sticking your hands in the tank to re-arrange plants in your tank. Be decisive and plan well to what kind of tank you want for your discus and do it once and for all and let them settle in.
> 
> I like the second one better....


Thank you bro David a lot. Yes, I have decided to re-scape my tank to combine discus and plants. I have an idea of using sand substrate so it is easier to clean the excess food of the discus? But I heard from my friends that sand will make my tank cloudy. Could someone give me the recommendation? Thank you very much.

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## VictorTQT

> Nice to know there are discus lovers around! Discus popularity seems to die down~ Any bros here know what illness happening to one of my discus?
> Its symtom:
> 1. Heavy breathing
> 2. Gills seems swollen and cant close completely
> 3. Swimming well, fins not clamped
> 4. But loss of appetite


Hi bro,

I am sorry since I am also the beginner of discus, but seems you could do the google to find the answer, or upload your pictures of ill-discus for the senior to check?
Good luck.

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## David

Vic...sand? I think you get gravel that is meant for planted tank is better.

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## David

Tikopek...I am assuming the discus is with you for at least 6 months and this just happened?

If this is so, what did you do to your tank or add any new fishes prior to?

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## tikopek

Yes~ I have kept them for a year plus until i notice one of them start breathing very heavy. I'll try to take a picture of it to show, it is only obvious when it is back facing me where i see its gills can't close fully.

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## David

did you do anything new to your tank? maintence? added new fauna?

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## tikopek

Nope! Normal water change of 25% every Tuesday and Saturday.

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## David

Do you use any form of de-chorinator? If nothing new has been done or added into the tank, My take is most likely an environmental issue. Check your tank for NH and NO3. How many discus do you have and what is the tank sizing? Is this a bare tank or a planted tank.


What are you feeding your discus? Live feed, frozen or artificial fish feed?

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## tikopek

I'm using Seachem Prime for anti chlorine, 25% water change 2 times a week, 3Ft ios tank (bare tank) with 1Ft sump tank. 7 Discus are feeding on Tetra Bits and Frozen blood worm. I have already seperate the sick fish in a big pail with MelaFix medication. hope it will survive.

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## VictorTQT

Hi bro,

How could you train your discus to eat Tetra bits, mine are prefer beef heart and seem don't want to taste the Tetra bits. And feeding them with beef heart in planted tank is not a good idea.
Btw, when you separate the sick fish in a big pail, do you use heater/air pump together?

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## coolgear101

I think 25% change twice a week is not enough.

I do 100% WC every 3 days.

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## tikopek

Hi Victor, I trained the discus since young when they are about 2 inch, as my neighbourhood LFS did not sell beef hearts. Sometimes got to be a bit heartless to force them change diet. 1 by 1 started eating except 1 now still suriviving on just FBW. I tried starving it to a week, till it become so thin and i gave in to its persistence. Good luck in changing their diet! =)

Hi coolgear101, i thought i have a sump to reduce ammonia thats why i WC 2 times a week to save me some time and water. Guess i have to change more % each time now. By the way, the sick fish has passed away this morning, its sad to lose a 5 inch fish for a year. Hope the rest stays healthly!

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## dushyant shingte

Use hikari discus bio gold, ocean nutrition discus flakes instead of tetra bits frozen foods though good are really not that good so ocassionaly froze bloodworms but hikari should be ur main diet along with bhm or ghm which can be prepared at home .Water change should be daily or evry alternate day you will see them change their colour like litmus when you do frequent water changes only 20 to 25 percent

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## Tony

> Thank you David a lot.
> 
> Yes, you are right, I am a bit confusing in the middle of planted tank or discus tank. Actually in the beginning I want to start a planted tank only, but when I visit my friend's discus planted tank I was so admired and would like to combine those. His tank looks like this tank that I copied from youtube:
> 
> 
> 
> Therefore I am think of rearranging my tank to be more suitable for the discus, but the problem now is that my discus are too shy and always hiding under the tree/plants/rock. They are still eating well when I moved the food near them, but they don't want to swim out. Is there any problem with them and how to solve it?
> 
> Thank you very much.


Hi Victor,
Welcome to the discus hobby. Having discus in planted tank is very achievable. The key is in the selection of discus, type of plants use, feeding regime, lighting and fert dose. Don't give up, spend some time doing minor adjustment at a time and you will eventually get the equilibrium  :Smile:  As prove, you can see the stages of tweaks that I've gone through for my tank. It is a journey meant for enjoyment and knowing what suits you. At the moment, I change water 25 - 30% twice a week, the key is heavy planting. It improves water quality and keeps the algae in control.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...-revisit/page3

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## tikopek

Im keeping red melons and red maps. Is Hikari discus gold good for red based discus?

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## VictorTQT

> Hi Victor,
> Welcome to the discus hobby. Having discus in planted tank is very achievable. The key is in the selection of discus, type of plants use, feeding regime, lighting and fert dose. Don't give up, spend some time doing minor adjustment at a time and you will eventually get the equilibrium  As prove, you can see the stages of tweaks that I've gone through for my tank. It is a journey meant for enjoyment and knowing what suits you. At the moment, I change water 25 - 30% twice a week, the key is heavy planting. It improves water quality and keeps the algae in control.
> 
> http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...-revisit/page3


Thanks bro Tony a lot for your guide. Actually my fishes are getting better now. Actually after for a while now they seem more familiar with the new environment. I also saw your tank and admire the beauty of your heavily planted discus tank. Could you share some tips on how to feed your discus in such that heavily planted tank? Kindly share how do you create the feeding regime, which kind of food do you feed them and how do you move out the excess food? And also how do you apply to keep your plant grow so fast like yours? Thank you very much. Victor

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## coolgear101

> Im keeping red melons and red maps. Is Hikari discus gold good for red based discus?


best to feed blackworms and beef/pork heart, you will see the differences.

of course, planted tank not advisable to feed beef heart.

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## Tony

> Thanks bro Tony a lot for your guide. Actually my fishes are getting better now. Actually after for a while now they seem more familiar with the new environment. I also saw your tank and admire the beauty of your heavily planted discus tank. Could you share some tips on how to feed your discus in such that heavily planted tank? Kindly share how do you create the feeding regime, which kind of food do you feed them and how do you move out the excess food? And also how do you apply to keep your plant grow so fast like yours? Thank you very much. Victor


Victor, for planted tank feeding regime:
1. Provide varied food such as freeze dried blackworm, pellets and frozen bloodworm
2. Smaller feeds, example twice a day is better than 1 big feast a day as unconsumed food foul water faster in big feast
3. For my case, I have designated food drop off area where the area is kept bare. (If you noticed, my tank on the right side foreground is relatively bare). For ease of clearing if necessary for unfinished food.
4. Keep a good team of cleaning crew such as Amano shrimps, malayan shrimps(server as cleaners and food if caught by discus), bottom dwellers such as apisto/german rams/kribs.
5. Keep nerite snails and oto to clean your glass

So far, following 2,3,4,5 I do not have to manually clear unfinished food as they will be clean within 5min. You need to gauge the adequate amount based on the size and quantity of your fish against how fast the finish to determine the correct feeding amount each feed.

For planted tanks, a few consideration when selecting discus
1. Keep adult discus as they then not to be stunt in growth unlike Juvenile
2. Breed of discus you need to consider. Most discus darken when in planted as a natural blending to environment. So my choice is albinos as they lack black pigment(though they are more sensitive), I've also tried Blue Diamond with good results

Good luck.

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## Tony

> Im keeping red melons and red maps. Is Hikari discus gold good for red based discus?


Not sure what is your setup (planted or bare). I have only tried tetra bits which float and takes too long to sink that I do not like. Now I'm feeding New Life Spectrum pellets. Have not tried Hikari Gold so can't comment. Here is a link that some folks commented.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...tra-colourbits

If you see my reply to Victor, I feed freeze dried blackworms and frozen bloodworm as well.

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