useful information

Salt bath treatment recommendation: eg treatment for external parasites

The salt bath consists of 500 grams of iodine-free table salt in fifteen liters of aquarium water. It is best if you take a bucket with 15 liters of water from the affected aquarium (this means that the temperature and the water parameters are identical to the original water of the affected fish). Dissolve the 500 grams of table salt in this water (wait 2-3 minutes until the water is clear again). Then let the affected fish swim in this salt water for 30-60 seconds and then back into the original
Reset Aquarium. Never leave the discus fish in the salt water for more than a minute, otherwise the dose will be deadly after 5 minutes at the latest! This treatment removes the external parasites that are on the fish. The remaining external parasites in the aquarium are fought by the fish's immune system. If the fish is already very weak, it is more promising if the animal is placed in another aquarium after the treatment. A single treatment is sufficient in most cases.

Ointment treatment, eg for hole disease Treatment recommendation: Nystatin ointment

After more than 30 years of debate, the experts still do not agree on what causes hole disease. Most say that a mineral deficiency is the trigger. Through years of testing, we have found that in about 90 % cases, an over-the-counter ointment against skin fungi brings very quick and reliable results. This ointment is called Nystatin ointment, but it should be noted that it does not contain zinc. It can easily be bought in any pharmacy without a prescription.
Symptoms:
In the beginning, the fish have acne-like pimples in the head area, which later burst open. After bursting and leaking, sometimes very deep craters form in the skin.
Treatment:
Catch the affected fish from the aquarium, lay it on a damp cloth, dab the holes dry with kitchen roll and rub the ointment into the holes with your fingers. Then put the fish back in the aquarium.
With a little practice, such a treatment takes 30-60 seconds. However, a fish can easily spend 3-5 minutes out of the water. For small holes, a single treatment is usually sufficient. For holes larger than 5 millimeters, you should repeat the treatment after a week.

Activated carbon filtration: suitable for removing (filtering) harmful and undefinable toxins from the aquarium water

If fish become shy, jumpy or stand in the dark in the corner after the water change, this can be due to toxins in the tap water, eg pesticides from agriculture, which tend to appear in spring and autumn. If the eating behavior of all fish deteriorates, often helps
also a one or two week filtering over activated carbon, or at least a 30 percent water change. To remove these toxins, we recommend filtering over activated charcoal for a week or two. This is done as follows:
Put about 500 grams of activated charcoal in a bag or nylon stocking and wash it under tap water until no more black water comes out. Then place the sachet in the filter or, if that is not possible, at the outlet of the filter so that the water flows through the carbon
becomes.
Important: Please be sure to remove the activated charcoal bag after three weeks at the latest, as activated charcoal has the property of storing toxins. If the storage is completely full, it releases the toxins again in a short time. This would result in the death of all fish.

Test bacterial tolerance in fish and plants

To test whether you can add plants or fish to your aquarium, it is advisable to stock a quarantine aquarium with these plants or fish. Then please bring a “trial discus” together with the newcomers in the quarantine aquarium for a week.
It is strongly recommended to test this test procedure before each new stocking of fish or plants, so that you can rule out the risk of diseases being introduced into your aquarium through this test.
To do this, you need a quarantine tank with the following equipment:
60 liter complete set with heater and filter, thermometer and air stone. See “Quarantine” above. A discus that can turn dark (no pigeon blood) is recommended as a test fish. If bacterial intolerance occurs, the discus usually turns dark on the third or fourth day, clamps its fins and looks for a corner of the aquarium. In such a case, the safest thing to do is to get rid of the entire contents of the quarantine tank and not put any fish or plants in your aquarium. If everything is still fine after a week, you can usually put the newly acquired plants or companion fish together with the sample discus fish in your aquarium without any risk. During the test phase, please ensure that no drops of water (wet hand, hoses, buckets, etc.) from the quarantine aquarium get into your discus aquarium.

Bacterial Compatibility:
We strongly advise against mixing our STENDKER discus fish with Asian offspring or wild catches!
Animals from different breeds / sources can have different strains of bacteria and should therefore not be kept together because of the risk of disease introduction! If you already have our STENDKER discus fish, you can add animals from our breeding farm at any time, also in different colors and sizes, without hesitation.
We guarantee that our discus fish are free of tapeworms and the so-called discus disease!

Additional notes on scalars
Angels are also often mixed with a discus group. We do not recommend this because angelfish are usually infected with tapeworms, which the angelfish do well with, but which can cause great problems for discus fish. In addition, the angelfish often eat more greedily than the discus fish and make it difficult for the discus fish to eat.
If you still don't want to do without scalars in your discus aquarium,
please do a tapeworm treatment with the scalars beforehand, as we describe in the last section of this chapter.
Treating angelfish against tapeworms:
Tapeworms significantly affect the health and growth of discus fish. Our STENKDER discus fish are tapeworm-free, but they probably wouldn't stay that way with these companion fish. In our opinion, the only way, if you don't want to do without this composition with angelfish, is to treat the angelfish against tapeworms beforehand and only put them with the discus after this treatment.
Angelfish Tapeworm Treatment Use Tremazol or other parziquantel-based medication as directed.

As an emergency set for the home, we recommend:
1. Activated charcoal bags (from pet shops)
You can use activated carbon to filter any toxins out of the water. The activated carbon bag should be removed from the pool after three weeks at the latest, as the toxins are returned to the water once the carbon has been saturated! Activated carbon can be stored dry for years without losing its effectiveness. Activated charcoal bags are also recommended if the fish show "disease" although the water parameters appear OK. Some toxins cannot be detected immediately.
2. Quarantine tank
Equipment: 60 liter complete set with heater and filter, thermometer and
Air stone (membrane pump) A bucket, bathtub or a fish box made of Styrofoam, which you fill with tap water (at the right temperature), is also suitable as an emergency aquarium. Equip your emergency pool/quarantine with an outflow (diaphragm pump), a heating element and a thermometer. Our discus fish can survive for weeks in this emergency tank with normal tap water. However, since there is no filter, you should definitely not feed them! The animals can do without food for a good few weeks (holidays).

Tips for your vacation

Most fish die on vacation because the neighbor means too well and feeds them too much. Therefore, it makes more sense to simply take a feeding break for your fish during your vacation. Because discus fish from 10 cm in size and other half-grown fish can easily survive 2-3 weeks without food. Older and larger animals even survive longer lean times of 1 to 2 months. Such fasting periods also occur in nature every year and can even be very beneficial to health. There is no need to change the water during this time, as there is hardly any contamination due to the lack of feeding.
Please note:
– Control the light in your aquarium using a timer
– To have an additional (second) pump/filter running permanently as a failsafe (do not accidentally connect it to the timer for the light!)
– Decreasing the water temperature to 27°C (mitigates the hunger of the fish, makes them calmer and lowers their metabolism)

After the holiday, you should initially feed your fish little and gradually increase the number of meals. The animals and the filters first have to get used to the normal amount of food (increase the number of bacteria and the filter performance).

Our STENDKER discus fish are NOT parasite-free, but free from tapeworms and the so-called discus epidemic. Due to their strong immune system, our discus fish have strong defenses against the usual parasites. We continue to recommend feeding our popular STENDKER-Good Heart food so that the immune system of our discus fish remains strong. Our feed is ideal as a complete feed, contains everything the discu fish needs for a healthy diet and is also eaten by other fish species.

If a discus fish bites a human, we recommend: pressing on this spot until a drop of blood comes out, which cleans the wound to avoid infection.

Substrate cleaning with the Mulmglocke to remove a hydrogen sulphide
To prevent or remedy poisoning:
The fish have been fine for weeks and months and suddenly that changes
behavior of animals. The fish are no longer so trusting, jumpy, breathing becomes faster and the animals no longer feel so well. The cause of this is often hydrogen sulfide poisoning, which is caused by soil contamination. This becomes visible through rising bubbles when moving the substrate. These are putrefactive gases that form in the substrate. This can be avoided or remedied by cleaning the substrate with the mud bell when changing the water. We recommend carrying out this process once a week.

In addition to a heating rod, we recommend a good filter (e.g. Hamburger Matte), an oxidizer, diffuser or air vent for oxygen supply and not to use too bright a light. A daylight tube and also a night light are ideal to avoid frightening the fish and slamming them in front of the pane.
With our high stocking recommendation, which serves the well-being of the animals, it is absolutely necessary to feed oxygen into the aquarium (also in the sales system in the specialist shop). About 30 minutes after feeding, breathing should be calmer again.
Calm breathing is about one breath per second.

To raise a group For example, 12 discus fish in 8 cm (the animals of this size are already very robust and also suitable for aquaristic beginners) a 180 liter aquarium is suitable. However, after about 8 months (about 1 year old, 14 cm in size), the animals should then be transferred to a larger aquarium. For example, 450 liters would be ideal for 12-15 adult discus fish. Approximately 30 liters per adult discus fish is ideal for our animals. More liters per adult fish is rather harmful for our STENDKER discus fish.

For rearing It is NOT better for our SMALL discus fish to be raised in a larger aquarium, as the animals do not feel well, eat less well and therefore do not develop ideally. A SMALLER aquarium is BETTER suitable for rearing and can later be converted into a quarantine aquarium.
However, it is also possible to reduce the size of a 450 liter aquarium, for example, with a partition or a hamburger mat so that the rearing group feels more comfortable. As the animals grow, please increase the swimming space again.

Our GERMAN OFFBREEDS do not need substrate or plants, but can be used for visual reasons. Please pay attention to the weekly MULMUNG on the substrate so that no hydrogen sulphide poisoning can form (bubbles rise when you run your finger through the substrate). Plants can also introduce bacteria, so please also test plants for bacterial intolerance in advance under quarantine.

Please determine the temperature difference between the transport and your aquarium water upon arrival of the animals (determine with the transport bag closed) If the temperature difference is MORE THAN 4 degrees:
Please leave the sealed transport bags in the box and fill the box with aquarium water. Adjust 1-2 degrees every hour (no more) until temperature difference is LESS than 4 degrees. Only then can the transport bags be opened and the water adjustment (fill in the aquarium water) can take place.
DANGER: After opening the bags, the oxygen escapes and the animals should swim in your sales facility after 15 minutes at the LATEST. Otherwise, our animals can suffer from oxygen starvation and the immune system will be significantly weakened, which can lead to illness and even death.
We are not the wholesaler around the corner. Our animals often have many hours of transport behind them and it would be nice and very important to make the use as gentle as possible. Our animals will thank you with beauty and health.

1 x weekly water change of 30 percent and 2-3 x daily feeding with our Good Heart, just like in our breeding farm. A high stocking density contributes to better feed intake and well-being of our discus fish.
Our Good Heart is available in 3 varieties (classic, spirulina algae and colour) in 100 g blisters and 500 g flat tablets. Our STENDKER discus fish do not need any variety and NO OTHER FOOD!
Feeding: Our STENDKER discus fish should continue to receive our Good Heart and no live food that can make our animals sick (please do not feed Tubifex, mussels or red mosquito larvae!!!)
What goes with live food as a SNACK, but would not replace a full meal with our Good Heart, for example: black and white mosquito larvae, water fleas (please pay attention to premium quality, as cheap goods often
contamination or drug residues can be found.)

ATTENTION: Please no other cattle heart compound feed, no granules and no
Feed dry food to our STENDKER discus fish. Our ROFI Good Heart discus feed mix contains everything our animals need!

We recommend a 1 x weekly water change of 30 percent with cold water for our animals. With more water changes, warm water should be refilled, but there is a risk of copper poisoning from the boiler.
Our water values: GH 15, carbonate hardness KH 8, ph value 7, conductance 800 μs, at a water temperature of 28°-30°C.

Stocking density in specialist shops and at the customer
In your specialist shop, please select according to the TVT stocking. Ie:

Fish up to 10 cm in size, 2 cm fish to 1 liter of water, 8 cm fish, 4 liters of water and for 10 cm fish 5 liters of water. Minimum 10 fish per aquarium. The fish stock in your sales facility should be between the maximum and minimum value so that the animals are doing well. For the end customer, about 30 liters usually count per liter for adult discus fish.
A 450 liter aquarium is ideal for 12-15 adult discus fish. Our animals are used to large groups and feel comfortable as a group,
eat better and present themselves better. An aquarium from 350 liters is already suitable for 10 adult STENDKER discus fish with little equipment and decoration.

Please point out to your customers that these are STENDKER German offspring, which no longer have much in common with wild-caught discus fish. It is important to point out our Good Heart food, which should continue to be fed 3 times a day, as in our breeding farm. Our feed consists of over 100 valuable ingredients and is made from beef heart. Our feed is a guarantee for good growth and for keeping our STENDKER discus fish healthy. Please also inform point 2 equipment and stocking density and lining. It is advisable to refer to our homepage with important information on keeping and caring for them.

Important information can be found on our Diskus manual website:
Please inform yourself and your customers on our homepage. Here too
helpful tips for treating e.g. loss of appetite, hole disease, external parasites, detoxification, testing, holiday tips and much more published. We also provide helpful tips for testing the bacterial tolerance of companion fish and plants:

Keeping discus fish healthy

Satisfied customers recommend us and you and also send feedback, which we are happy to publish for you on our internet platforms with reference to your specialist shop. Pictures say more than 1000 words.

We can also publish up to 12 pictures of you on our dealer list. There is also great feedback and exchange in numerous Facebook Stendker groups in several languages.

Take a look and become a part of our Facebook groups:
Germany:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/633632623319346
International:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/542066006653602
Italy:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1489621331333312
Belgium (multilingual):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/32756754924772
and much more

We pack our valuable discus fish in extra thick bags with rounded corners, several inside each other. These bags are filled with oxygen and closed with two metal clips. These fish bags are then placed in our original STENDKER transport boxes, which are heated during transport in winter using a heat pack. Here, too, we attach great importance to quality. We offer you the opportunity to obtain our bags, boxes and packaging material from us for your own use at cost price. Just ask our team. We recommend that you pack our discus fish in multiple bags with pure oxygen and give the customer in a transport box with one of our flyers when they buy it (please also refer to Good Heart food and give our recommendations for use, which you can also download from our website (Packaged with pure oxygen or oxygen tablets.) When using transport buckets with a lid, we recommend adding an oxygen tablet so that our animals do not suffer from a lack of oxygen when the transport stops.
Tip: Our original STENDKER boxes are also very popular for leisure and camping, can be used as a cool box or emergency quarantine aquarium 🙂
Tips about your order
Please do NOT let the discus groups in your sales facility shrink below 10 pieces per aquarium. Order in advance and make sure to fill the boxes when you place your order (how many animals of which size can be found in the order form, first line of the table). Our team will be happy to help you further to optimize your order and to keep the shipping costs as low as possible. We also offer you an ideal block stock for your system. Simply send us a sketch with liters and intended fish stock.
Tip: If you know that our animals will be delivered the next day, lower the temperature of your sales area in advance so that the
temperature difference between the transport water and your aquarium water is not more than 4 degrees. So you can start with the water adjustment right after delivery.
We look forward to continuing our good cooperation.

Location, aquarium preparation, retract filter
The ideal location
The ideal location for your discus aquarium is a busy place (living room or eat-in kitchen) so that the discus show natural behavior in the presence of people. Our animals are used to people walking past the tanks and taking care of them. You like the company of people.
Directly behind a door would be an unfavorable location, as the fish then become very skittish. Also in a garage or in the basement, where people are rarely present, the jumpiness increases. To avoid increased algae formation, you should also not place the aquarium directly in front of a window or expose it to direct sunlight.
The aquarium surface should be clean and level. Even a single grain of sand can be enough to crack a pane of a filled pool. The substrate for the aquarium should also be very stable, since a full tank of 180 liters can weigh more than 250 kilos. Aquarium base cabinets are designed to meet these needs and also offer enough storage space for food and accessories.

Danger:
Before setting up larger pools, the statics of the room should be checked! Once you have found a suitable location, set up your tank and clean it beforehand as follows (without fish and without plants):
1. Cleaning
1.1 of a new aquarium Clean your new aquarium for the first time with a vinegar solution diluted with water. The inner panes and the silicone adhesive seams should be washed thoroughly with the vinegar solution and then wiped dry so that no chemical residues affect your water quality.
1.2 an already used aquarium Disinfect your already used aquarium with hydrogen peroxide (available in pharmacies or drugstores).Dosage of the hydrogen peroxide

Solution:
0.5 liters of the 30 %gen hydrogen peroxide solution to 180 liters of water. Please avoid direct contact with the hydrogen peroxide! There is a risk of chemical burns! Please wear goggles and gloves! Fill the aquarium with water and mix the above dosage of the hydrogen peroxide solution into the water content. This is how you disinfect the pool equipment, the filters, the accessories (net) and also the water. Please allow the solution to take effect for 24 hours. Then do a 99 percent water change and refill the aquarium with new tap water. With this procedure you will remove bacteria and old diseases.
2. Insert substrate
An ideal substrate consists of sand (quartz sand) or fine gravel (both available in pet shops). Clean the gravel under running water, as this is the only way to remove the fine stone dust that causes the water to become cloudy. A "noodle colander" is for washing out the gravel under running water
best for. After cleaning the gravel, please distribute it evenly as a substrate in your aquarium. If you have decided on fine quartz sand, you do not need to clean it beforehand, but can pour the sand directly into your aquarium.
3. Fill the aquarium with tap water
We recommend filling with a bucket or a hose.
Please consider that you use a bucket specially prepared for the water change and that is only to be used for this purpose, since residues of cleaning agents must not get into your aquarium under any circumstances. Please use cold water to fill your aquarium (except for 90 percent water changes), since many boilers and water pipes contain copper and this could lead to heavy metal poisoning in your aquarium water. Let the tap water run for a while so you don't get it in the
Use stagnant water pipes (may contain pollutants). As a rule, it is sufficient to let the cold tap water run for five minutes.
When changing the water with a hose, you should first drain the stagnant water from the water hose, as it could contain softeners and these should not get into the aquarium water.
4. Heating element, thermometer and ideal keeping temperature
To heat up the aquarium water, please attach the heating rod to a side or rear window and set it to 29°C. Caution, please make sure that you only switch on the heating element when it is under water, otherwise it will burn out! The heating element should run without interruption
be connected to the mains and run. After approx. 24 hours you have reached the required temperature of 29°C for a 180 liter pool. Now you can start retracting the filter. Please attach an indoor thermometer to the front pane of your aquarium so that you can read and check the current water temperature at any time. A good water temperature for discus fish is around 29-30°C.
5. Diaphragm pump
To ensure a good oxygen content in the water, a diaphragm pump (with an air stone) is ideal and highly recommended. The diaphragm pump should run continuously. Even when running in the filters, since the new bacteria already need a lot of oxygen.
6. Filter selection and use
Once you have decided on a filter system, you can now attach it. Handling if an internal filter fails:
If an internal filter fails, you should not simply reconnect the failed filter to the power supply, as the bacteria could have died off after twenty minutes and liquid manure formed, which would damage your discus fish. (see below: filter failure-power failure)
7. Retract filter, create starter bacteria culture
Please only bring the necessary starter bacteria culture (available in pet shops) into your aquarium once the required aquarium water temperature of 29°C has been reached. From this moment on, you should feed the empty tank with some food once a day, eg frozen discus food (no dry food, as the bacteria should adjust to breaking down animal protein). "Feeding the empty tank" is necessary because this is how the bacteria get food and multiply. You will receive the bacterial culture (filter performance) required for the fish stock after about two weeks. The filter system should run continuously.
8. Activated Charcoal
To be on the safe side, you should keep a bag of activated charcoal (available as a filter medium in pet shops) in your pet for two to three weeks without fish
keep aquarium. The activated carbon filters any toxins out of the water and should be removed from the pool after three weeks at the latest! Removing the bag of activated charcoal is imperative as the toxins are returned to the water once the charcoal is saturated!
9. Lighting for the aquarium
Please only switch on the aquarium lamps after the fish have been used (one day later, so that the animals slowly get used to their environment). These can be easily regulated using a timer (our recommendation: 12-14 hours a day).
10. Checking the appropriate water values
(PH value, nitrite, nitrate, ammonium, ammonia measuring drops available in pet shops) If you feed the empty tank, nitrite will form in your aquarium water (detectable with measuring drops). After approx. two to three weeks, the nitrite value has reduced and the aquarium water is ready for the plants and fish stock. Before using the fish, please measure the water values. Ammonium, ammonia and nitrite must not be detectable as they are poisonous to the discus fish. These values should have been reduced by now. The PH value should be between 6.5 and 7.8. Around the fins
and to protect the animals' mucous membranes, you can add a water conditioner shortly before putting the fish into your aquarium. After that, nothing stands in the way of a successful use of your fish.
(see below: Use of the fish after transport)

Water parameters and water chemistry
The wild-caught discus fish feels most comfortable in a water that resembles the Amazonian water of its area of origin. The water hardness there is very low (total hardness: GH 0-3, carbonate hardness KH 0-3, the PH value very low PH 4-6) and the conductivity is also very low (100-400 µs). Our discus fish, on the other hand, have been used to harder water (tap water) for many generations. Our water parameters in our rearing facility are: total hardness: GH 15,
Carbonate hardness KH 8, PH value 7, conductance 800 µs, at a water temperature of 29°-30°C. The following water parameters, also known as the tolerance range, are only suitable for a short time but are not suitable for permanent maintenance: GH 0-30, KH 0-25, PH value 4.0-8.3, electrical conductance 150-1200 μs. Water temperature briefly at 25-35 °C. This means that our discus fish are suitable for over 95 % of all types of tap water in Europe.
water chemistry
You can easily change water values by taking various measures, for example you can use a reverse osmosis system or a full desalination system to produce almost distilled water from tap water. That means you remove approx. 99 % of the water hardness and also greatly reduce the conductance to approx. 50 µs. You can then mix this water with your tap water until you get the desired water parameters. In this way you can produce suitable water yourself for discus caught in the wild or for pairs of discus that are to reproduce.
How do water parameters change when the aquarium fish are fed?
First and most importantly, we would like to point out that the water values in a small aquarium (nano tank or aquarium under 150 liters) change very quickly and significantly. In a larger aquarium (180-1000 liters) the water values change much more slowly due to the larger volume, which makes such an aquarium suitable for beginners. If you feed your fish with our STENDKER discus food, for example, then you increase the phosphate content in your water, which plants and algae can use for their growth. In addition, ammonium is formed at a PH value of less than 7 and ammonia at a PH value of more than 7. These two substances are converted by the filter bacteria. It is first converted to nitrite and then to nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite are poisons that accumulate in the blood of the fish and can kill the fish at high concentrations. An old and well run-in filter that has built up a well-functioning bacterial culture always ensures that ammonium, ammonia and nitrite are almost non-existent. The phosphate and nitrate levels, on the other hand, slowly increase and the PH value falls due to the activity of the bacteria. This makes regular water changes necessary, the amount and frequency of which is directly dependent on the amount of food and faeces of the fish. For example few fish = little food = few water changes. Eg for a 180 liter aquarium with 12 discus fish (10 cm), 50 neon, 6 catfish and 4 dwarf cichlids, we recommend a water change of 1/3 of the aquarium water once a week. You can obtain suitable measuring drops or test strips from pet shops to determine the water parameters listed here. These values should be measured regularly.

Measuring drops and water values
ammonium
forms at a PH value below 7 when the filter is not yet working properly. An increase in this value can be avoided by minimizing feed.
ammonia
forms at a PH value of over 7 is toxic and occurs when the filter is not yet working properly. An increase in this value can be avoided by minimizing feed.
nitrite
measure daily in a new aquarium until no more nitrite occurs when fully fed. After that, you no longer need to measure nitrite.
You should only measure nitrite daily (for approx. 1 week) once the filter performance has been reduced by cleaning the filter or by shutting down the filter, to ensure that the filter is once again performing at its old level. You can also tell from the behavior of the fish whether the nitrite level is extremely high. The animals then usually refuse the food and breathe
heavy and fast. Then please measure nitrite and, if it increases, stop feeding immediately and do a 90 % gene water change.
nitrate
measure three or four times a year before changing the water. If it is more than 100 mg per liter, it would be better to increase the water change in order to achieve better fish growth.
PH value
1 x per week
If this PH falls from 7.5 to 6.0, for example, before the week is over, the water change would already be due at this time, otherwise the PH and thus the acidity in your water will fall very quickly and at a PH of 3.6 the acid is so strong that your fish will die.
phosphate
only measure when increased algae growth occurs. Then you can lower the phosphate level by doing more frequent or larger water changes.
total hardness
If you mix your tap water with osmosis water to keep wild caught or discus breeding pairs, you should measure the water mixture once to achieve ideal values between 1 and 4 GH.
carbonate hardness
If you mix your tap water with osmosis water to keep wild caught or discus breeding pairs, you should measure the water mixture once to achieve ideal values between 1 and 2 KH.

Water change with the hose
A very simple and uncomplicated way to get the water out of the aquarium is to change the water using a hose. To do this, please attach a plastic pipe U-bend (see picture below) so that the aquarium water cannot drain completely (max. ½ of the capacity would drain away if you forget) at the beginning of the hose. Ideally, change 1/3 of the aquarium water once a week and replace it with cold tap water. Please do not use warm water to change the water, as this usually releases copper from the hot water boiler into the water. With a 1/3 water change, the discus fish can still cope quite well with the temperature difference.
So hang the plastic pipe U-spacer that you got with a hose
Connect, into your aquarium and briefly suck in the water at the end of the hose with your mouth. Attach the hose to the short end (see picture).

The U-bend: consists of GF pipe and two 90° GF angles, which can be purchased in the plumbing trade. This offers the advantage that you can adjust the amount of water change through the pipe length and thus prevent the aquarium from running dry! (Image U Arch) Drain the old aquarium water down your drain or into the garden. In order to prevent smaller fish (e.g. neons) from being accidentally sucked away, we recommend closing the intake port with a net and rubber to be on the safe side. To let in the fresh water, we recommend first letting the water run for 3-5 minutes so that the stagnant water in the pipes is replaced with fresh water. The hose can be easily attached to the tap with a hose clamp. Please make sure that the pump does not run dry and that the heating element is still below the water surface even when the water is low.
If you use a hose to add water to the aquarium, be sure to stick with it! If the postman or the phone rings, be sure to turn off the water tap first. When distracted, a flood ensued very quickly!
Ideally, you should also clean the aquarium pane when you change the water
(a coarse sponge has proven useful) and trim the plants if necessary.
Finally, we recommend using a piece of filter sponge to clean the panes (coarse-pored), especially in an aquarium with a curved pane. So there are no ugly scratches in the windshield, as can happen with the blade scraper. Of course, this sponge should only be used to clean the aquarium (no detergent or detergent residue), just as a bucket should only be used as an aquarium cleaning accessory. This means that a water change can be carried out with little effort.

We recommend a 1 x weekly water change of 30 percent with cold water for our animals. With more water changes, warm water should be refilled, but there is a risk of copper poisoning from the boiler.
Our water values: GH 15, carbonate hardness KH 8, ph value 7, conductance 800 μs, at a water temperature of 28°-30°C.

Water Change 90 % Contingency Plan
Exceptions requiring a complete (90 %) water change
If nitrite is measurable, the amount of food should be halved at first and not stopped immediately. You can tell from the behavior of the fish whether the nitrite level is too high, because then the animals refuse the food and breathe heavily and quickly. If this is the case with your discus fish, you should immediately stop feeding and do a 90%en water change. Only when the nitrite level or the ammonium or ammonia level is back to zero should they slowly start feeding again. If you have very soft water (GH 0-5), you may have to change the water more often. If the PH value falls from 7.5 to 6.0, for example, the water should be changed immediately, otherwise the PH value and thus the acidity in your water will fall very quickly, and at a PH value of 3.6 the acid is so strong that your fish are dying
would. If you have fewer fish, you can reduce the amount of water changed or the frequency of water changes accordingly. When is a 90 percent water change necessary and how do you go about it? A 90 percent water change is necessary if poisoning is present! If your discus fish "shoot" through your aquarium, it is most likely poisoning. This can be the case if more is fed than the filter can break down (nitrite poisoning).
When changing the water, please remove the water using a hose and a bucket. Please change the position of the filters in such a way that you can work as long as possible and can also start working again as quickly as possible when filling with water. When topping up the fresh water, please use water of a suitable temperature (approx. 28°C) so that the water in which the fish are swimming does not cool down too much. In this case, there is no way around using the water from the boiler, since the temperature difference would be too great when changing the water. Please pour the first buckets of fresh water slowly against the inside of your aquarium front pane so that your fish, who are no doubt nervous because of the low water level, are not frightened or even injured.

Water changes, aquarium cleaning and water readings
In an aquarium of 180 liters (with approx. 12 adolescent discus fish and companion fish), a 1 x weekly water change of 20-30% of the old aquarium water is usually sufficient. The same also applies to a 450 liter aquarium with adult discus fish and companion fish.
The aim of the water change is to keep the water values in the normal range, which would be the case with a PH value above 5.0 and a nitrate value below 50 mg. If there are any abnormalities in the behavior of the fish (e.g. rapid breathing, etc.), a 90 percent water change may be necessary in an emergency (LINK: 90% water change.) You should measure the water values regularly, as described in detail by us in "Water values and water chemistry" LINK becomes.

Summary of the measured values:
Please measure the PH value once a week. Normally the value is above 7. If the PH value has fallen below PH 6 due to feeding and a good filter, you should change the water. If the value is still at PH 7 after a week, you can postpone the water change. With a well-functioning filter, nitrate should be measured every 2 months before changing the water (unless the fish are behaving abnormally).
Ammonium, ammonia and nitrite should be measured daily in a newly started aquarium. Until the filter has reduced these values to almost zero when fully fed. After that, you only need to check these values if the animals behave abnormally.
Please work extremely carefully and slowly so that you do not injure the fish or frighten them with rapid movements!

Preparing for the water change:
1. Clean your hands under running water, without soap, with a brush. This is how you remove impurities, such as cream residues, which may be on your hands and which must not get into the aquarium water under any circumstances.
2. Provide cleaning aids that you only use for cleaning the aquarium and changing the water. It is important that there are no cleaning agent residues in the bucket or other cleaning utensils, as this contamination can seriously damage your fish! Good tools for cleaning and changing the water are: bucket, coarse sponge for cleaning the windows, toothbrush, rubber gloves and a thin hose for sucking off the water and the dirt residue.
3. Position pumps and heating element correctly. Before you start changing the water, please push the pumps a little towards the ground so that the flow also works with less water. The pumps must never run dry, otherwise they will break. Also make sure that the heating element is always surrounded by water, as it will burn through in the air! If you switch off the heating element for the cleaning procedure, please do not forget to switch it on again after the cleaning process has ended!

The easiest way to change the water is with a hose system:

Procedure for cleaning the aquarium, including changing the water
1. Position the pump and heating rod so far below the water surface that the pump does not run dry even when the water is drained (it would then break) and the heating rod is not hanging in the air (would then burst).
2. Drain off the old aquarium water (with a hose or bucket) and suck off dirt from the substrate using a small hose (similar to vacuum cleaning).
3. Clean the panes using a sponge or blade scraper. A sponge with coarse pores is also ideal, as blade scrapers tend to leave scratches, especially on curved panes.
4. Plants, dirt from the substrate and filter outer walls
(In the case of internal filters), use a toothbrush to remove algae and dirt residue and cut back plants if necessary. Vacuum off floor dirt with a hose.
5. Fill with fresh, cold tap water
either fill with buckets or with a hose. Let the water run for a few minutes. Please only use cold tap water, as hot water is usually heated by boilers (which are made of copper). Warm water can therefore be enriched with copper and should not get into your aquarium. Please let the tap water run for about 3 minutes so that you do not use the stale water in the pipes for your aquarium. Fill the bucket with fresh tap water, preferably with a shower head (at a distance of 10-20 cm) (this removes chlorine residue). Please fill the fresh tap water carefully from your bucket (which is only used for this process of changing the water) or with your hose system into your aquarium. Please repeat this process until the old water level is reached again. The easiest way to remove chlorine from tap water is to let the water run through a shower head at a distance of 10 - 20 centimeters into a bucket or the aquarium. This is how the chlorine escapes from the water before it gets into your aquarium. This is so important because chlorine can be harmful to your fish or, depending on the dose, even fatal. When flowing through the shower head, the water jet divides and each drop of water comes into contact with air, which means that the chlorine escapes from the water. As a precaution, we advise you to always choose this route.
6. Bring the pump and heating element back into the old position.

We recommend using cold water for the water change, as warm water is often contaminated with copper residues from the boiler. With only 1/3 water change, the discus fish can still cope quite well with the temperature difference. Create negative pressure in the hose so that the water (through the hose) can flow out of the aquarium into your bucket:
You don't need to suck on the hose with your mouth to start the suction process. Please proceed as follows:
1. Simply push the hose completely under water so that all air escapes.
2. Seal one end of the hose with your thumb and insert into your bucket. As soon as you take your thumb away, the water flows. Please always make sure that the end of the hose is in the bucket and that the water in the bucket does not overflow! So please remove about 1/3 of the old water and suck off the dirt residues with the help of the hose (like with a vacuum cleaner in the bucket).
Fill with water using a water hose Always drain the stagnant water from your before changing the water
drain hose. Harmful plasticizers could accumulate there, which can cause chemical poisoning in your aquarium. Here, too, we recommend using a shower head to remove any chlorine residue and to avoid the formation of bubbles. If you fill your aquarium with water using a hose without a shower head and with too much pressure, small bubbles can form in the aquarium water. With a shower head at the end of the hose, you can avoid this bubble formation. These bubbles are not harmless! Because they not only settle on all objects in the aquarium, but also in the gills of the fish. This can lead to shortness of breath in your discus fish and also to suffocation of the animals! The only way to do something about blisters that have already formed is to wait for them to go away on their own. If this process takes too long and the fish are already showing signs of shortness of breath, please move the animals immediately. We recommend your quarantine tank or, in an emergency, in a bucket (without cleaning agent residues), which you should equip with an air stone. In this way, the animals can spend several hours in the bucket.

Aquarium filters are biological filters and not purely mechanical, such as a sieve. This means that these filters do not hold back any dirt particles that have to be removed when the filters are cleaned. Aquarium filters convert the water impurities through bacteria that accumulate on the filter material. This preliminary information is extremely important to understand that you do not have to clean aquarium filters often! By cleaning the filters, you even destroy the bacterial culture and thus the cleaning and filter performance.
Filter systems:
External or internal filter
We recommend two internal filters as a failsafe and to improve the water quality. External filters are connected with hoses and stand outside of the aquarium. There is a risk that such a hose will come loose or the filter will leak. This can cause the aquarium to leak. This risk can be avoided with internal filters.
Hamburg mat filter
We are often asked about the best and simplest aquarium filters. We only use the Hamburg mat filter. It has an extremely large initial surface through which the contaminated aquarium water flows very slowly, giving the bacteria the time and oxygen they need to optimally break down all pollutants. In addition, the Hamburg mat filter can be used as a room divider in a pure discus aquarium without a substrate. So you can reduce the swimming space of your fish as you like and also increase it again. This has the great advantage that the fish are fed through the small
Swimming space Develop food jealousy, eat better and live more peacefully together. In addition, thanks to the large aquarium volume, you always have good water quality and therefore optimal growth conditions for your animals. This is almost a successful rearing and optimal growth of your discus fish, free from diseases and social stress
secured. In our breeding farm we only use Hamburg mat filters. These filters consist of a foam mat through which the aquarium water slowly flows with the help of a pump or an air lifter. On average, the contents of an aquarium are filtered in this way two to three times an hour. We have been using these filters for more than 25 years and have never cleaned them. Over the years, one of our filter mats has developed
Bacterial culture developed which significantly improves the water quality and thus contributes to keeping our fish healthy. Since the water flow has not yet halved, our filters do not need to be cleaned, even after 25 years.
Three chamber internal or external filters
We advise against using three chamber internal filters or external filters. With these filters, the aquarium water must flow quickly through a small initial area (e.g. filter floss). This is where most of the oxygen and nutrient content is broken down. As a result, the bacteria in the layers further back can only contribute very little to the overall filter performance.

Power failure / filter membrane pump failure
If the filter pump fails, the diaphragm pumps that ensure the oxygen supply are usually still running. In the event of a power failure, neither filters nor membrane pumps run and you have to
also regulate the oxygen supply manually. An important point in the event of a power failure is the failure of the membrane pumps and the resulting lack of oxygen. This manifests itself in such a way that the fish come to the water surface and gasp for air. In such a case you have to wash in by hand oxygen.
To hand-wash in oxygen:
1. Remove water with a liter measure and let the water flow back into the aquarium from a height of approx. 50 cm like a waterfall. Please repeat this process every five minutes. This should be done over a longer period of time, preferably until the electricity is running again.
2. Use a whisk to agitate the surface of the aquarium water, thereby introducing oxygen into the water. The aquarium filter ensures that the fish get optimal water quality and that toxins and food are broken down well. This is done by bacterial cultures,
which form gradually and carry out this biological degradation, which is vital for the fish. Aquarium filters are biological filters and not purely mechanical, such as a sieve.
This means that these filters do not hold back any dirt particles that have to be removed when the filters are cleaned. Aquarium filters convert the water impurities through bacteria that accumulate on the filter material. This preliminary information is extremely important to understand that you do not have to clean aquarium filters often! By cleaning the filters, you even destroy the bacterial culture and thus the cleaning and filter performance! These all-important bits of water balance the water quality in the aquarium and need oxygen to live, which they get through the filter pump flow. If this oxygen flow is interrupted for a period of more than 15 minutes (switching off the pump, power failure), this would result in the important bacterial cultures in the filter sponge dying off and turning into liquid manure! So if, after a long period of inactivity, you simply reconnect the filter to the
If you connect it to the mains, the liquid manure, which is now in the sponge of the filter, would be pumped/run into the aquarium immediately. This would lead to immediate nitrite poisoning and the death of all fish! Please act after a long standstill/switch off/failure of the filter
as follows: Under no circumstances should you simply connect/switch on the filter again after a longer standstill (more than 15 minutes)! The filter sponge, which is now full of liquid manure, should definitely be cleaned outside of the aquarium. If you simply pull the filter out of the aquarium, the liquid manure that has already formed would run straight into the aquarium. Under no circumstances should the filter be switched on again after the filter has been idle for a longer period of time (more than 15 minutes)!!! The liquid manure would be pumped directly into the aquarium, which would lead to the death of the animals (within minutes)! If a filter fails, the oxygen in the filter is reduced, the bacteria die and ammonium or ammonia is formed. This ammonium or ammonia smells very strongly of rotten eggs. You can use your nose to determine very easily whether your filter has been down for too long or not. Therefore you should, for example, place a plastic bag or bucket around the filter sponge or filter in the aquarium and thus completely remove the filter with its sewage water from the aquarium. Now you can squeeze/wash the liquid manure out of the filter material under running water or in a bucket. After thorough cleaning, you can put the filter back in your aquarium and reconnect it to the mains.
You can easily remove the filter material from built-in internal filters and then suck the contaminated water out of the filter housing. Unfortunately, due to the power failure, there is no longer a living bacterial culture and the filter must first be run in again slowly (approx. 2 weeks). Feed very little for the first two weeks so that the bacterial culture can grow slowly
can rebuild. The fish get by with it quite well, only more food, which the filter could not break down in the initial build-up phase, would lead to renewed nitrite poisoning! With a little patience and minimal feeding, the filter will soon return to its previous performance and create optimal water quality for your fish.

Summarizing tips after a longer standstill of the filter:

• Make sure you leave the filter switched off! You must first remove the liquid manure from the filter sponge!
• Do not simply pull the filter/filter sponge out of the water! The toxins from the filter sponge would automatically run into the aquarium and lead to nitrite poisoning of the entire fish population!
• Remove the filter material/filter from the aquarium using a plastic bag or a bucket. Therefore, when changing the water, it is important to ensure that the pump is positioned in the aquarium (under water) in such a way that it never runs dry and thus breaks or breaks The water flow would be interrupted for a long time. If this is not possible, switch off the pump and make absolutely sure that the pump is not idle for more than 15 minutes!

EMERGENCY PLAN:
If the filter has started up again by itself after a power failure and has pumped the manure into the aquarium and you notice that the fish are "shooting" through the aquarium and gasping for air, you should move the fish immediately:
Fill bucket, bathtub, fish box Styrofoam with tap water (suitable temperature) and move the fish as fast as you can. Every second counts! Equip your emergency pool with a diffuser, heater and thermometer. Our discus fish can survive for weeks in this emergency tank with normal tap water. However, since there is no filter, you should definitely not feed them. The animals can do without food for a good few weeks (holidays).

Nitrite poisoning (NO2)
If the fish are overfed (insufficient filter performance), ammonium or ammonia is formed in the first stage. From this ammonium, the filter converts ammonia to nitrite in a second stage and nitrate in a third stage. If the filter performance is not sufficient to completely convert the amount of feed, more and more nitrite is formed. Nitrite is a blood poison that accumulates in the fish's body until it reaches lethal levels. If the nitrite value is high, it is usually sufficient to stop feeding, or at least to minimize it until the filter has managed to lower the nitrite values to an optimal level again. However, if the nitrite level is alarmingly high (fish gasp for oxygen and measuring drops indicate poisoning), you should move the fish immediately, as in the case of a power failure (LINK power failure), clean the filter and do a 100 percent water change. Then run in the filters again (2-3 weeks) and hardly feed the animals at all during this time. With a little patience and minimal feeding, the filter will soon return to its previous performance and create optimal water quality for your fish. A bucket, bathtub or a fish box is also suitable as an emergency aquarium
Styrofoam, which you fill with tap water (suitable temperature) and move the fish as quickly as you can. Every second counts! Equip your emergency pool with an air vent (diaphragm pump), a heating element and a thermometer. Our discus fish can survive for weeks in this emergency tank with normal tap water. However, since there is no filter,
you should never feed them. The animals can do without food for a good few weeks (holidays). (see filter running-in).