# Discus & CO2



## mike_low3 (26 Jun 2009)

Just wanted to check, but has anyone ever had any issues with running CO2 and Discus ? 
I have two discus that when the CO2 is switched on huddle in one corner and turn slightly dark, they don't hang at the surface or appear to be gasping for air, if I turn it off and run an airstone for 30 mins they appear normal, is just that these two will not tolerate CO2 ?
To add, the drop checker is green and I have 2 x Eheim's with spraybars providing surface movement, I have tetra's in the tank and they appear fine with the CO2 on.
Thanks
Mike


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## james3200 (26 Jun 2009)

How long have you had the discus?


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## mike_low3 (26 Jun 2009)

Around 9 months


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## james3200 (26 Jun 2009)

Are these your only discus?

Guessing you have been using CO2 for a while also?

Are they only going to the corner and going dark when the co2 is on?

Mine do not like high co2 at all +20/30ppm


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## mike_low3 (26 Jun 2009)

To answer your questions;

Yes these are my only discus, had a lot more in this tank previously but I sold them a couple of months ago, these are my last two and are also for sale !

Only had the CO2 running for 2-3 weeks but shut it off with the discus reaction, actually thinking of removing them to another tank as I want to get the CO2 running in this tank due to poor tank growth and algae issues, the discus have complicated things somewhat !

From what I can tell it's only when the CO2 is on, once it's shut off and I run the airstone, they come back out and appear normal. Could be other factors but CO2 seems to be most obvious, it's difficult to tell from the bubble counter but the rate isn't that high, approx 1 bps, the drop checker stays green, not lime green or anything.


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## james3200 (26 Jun 2009)

Its more than likely that they are just not use to the co2 then. All is not lost, try and increase the co2 slowly over a week or so and see how they then react, unless you have good healthy plants then high co2 can be an issue. Mine took a while to get use to high co2, but ultimately I have found they do like lower levels.

Have you got a PH / KH test kit to calculate co2 levels better?

Cheers,
James


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## nickmcmechan (26 Jun 2009)

and be careful as sometimes they will lie flat raher than gasp at surface when co2 is too high


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## Sye Davies (27 Jun 2009)

james is quite right imo.

discus do not like high levels of co2.


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## mike_low3 (27 Jun 2009)

Thanks for the advice, didn't think the levels were high (based on the drop checker) but I'll adjust slowly and see how they react......


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