Being an avid angelfish breeder and maintaining about forty or so tanks, I have introduced new fish to some of my tanks at different times. Some of my tanks house angelfish breeding pairs and others might be a community tank or a species tank.

In one fifty five gallon tank I made home to a specie of fish that for a long time had me very inquisitive of. This fish I had heard from various sources was a hard fish to keep or even to raise, let alone breed. These "facts" I later learned were totally false. This information was given to me concerning the awesome Discus.

I found out to purchase the beautiful fish from local fish shops could prove to be very expensive. In a search to find them at a more reasonable price I learned that some local breeders sold them at a more affordable price, but still a costly investment. My first acquisition were six Discus approximately silver dollar in size for fifteen dollars a piece.

These six specimens were placed in a fifty five gallon bare tank. The water had already been adjusted to eighty six degrees. A large seeded Hydro sponge and an outside power filter (Aqua Clear 500) were used for the filtration. Their diet consisted of various foods which included frozen brine shrimp, beef heart, brine flake and frozen blood worms. I try to maintain a faithful regime of changing a fifty percent a week. With having so many tanks to literally keep up with and a fluctuating schedule between multiple jobs, this at times was hard to maintain. Since there was this huge investment counting on an excellent water quality to live in, their tank was always done when others did without.

These "babies" of mine were quite the pampered ones. Always a clean tank and lots and lots of various foods to eat. Their rate of growth I thought was very good and many others agreed also. These Discus were going to be raised to adulthood and I hoped would pair up and spawn so I could sell my own young for fifteen to twenty dollars a piece like everyone else does. These six Discus attained a size of approximately four to five inches in diameter.

You might be wondering why I have been talking about my Discus and I haven’t said anything about my ninety dollar Pleco yet. Something to consider too is that I also have been referring to the Discus in past tense too. Confusing??? Well give me a little more time and things will mesh together like a good peanut and jelly sandwich.

In several of my tanks I use the trusty old pleco as control for unwanted algae and any uneaten food. While going through a local pets store one day which will not be named, it was Petzmart, I saw they had a "special" on plecos for a price of a dollar and forty-nine cents a piece. This was my find of the day. The plecos were almost four inches long. I purchased several plecos to distribute to various tanks of mine. After returning home I floated the new arrivals in different tanks which now would be their new home.

After just two days I was diligently checking my tanks one evening during feeding time to such things as the temperature and general appearances and I noticed a few minute white spots on one of the new Plecos. This particular Pleco now resided with my six Discus. My new Pleco appeared to have an early case of Ick. I immediately removed him from the Discus tank. I did not see any Ick on the Discus so I figured that it was caught early enough. Well the next day I saw a horrible sight, yes the Discus were covered in white spots. I rushed to the closest pet store which will go unnamed also, it was Byerly’s, and purchased the medicine that was needed to eradicate the Ick. Believe it or not but in all the years that I have been keeping fish this was only the second time that I ever had an outbreak of Ick.

The Discus were transfered to another tank and was treated with the medication and was closely watched for the next couple of days. Well good news bad news. The good news, achieved was the was obliteration of the Ick. The bad news, while being treated the Discus suffered a loss of appetite and after being reintroduced the their original tank which I had almost completely drained the day before and fill with fresh water. This was done so I could possibly remove any Ick spores which might still be present. I noticed the next day the Discus’ body slime coat was pealing off. As the days progressed the Discus died one after another until all six were lost.

Now I will tell you about my ninety dollar Pleco. A more appropriate title for this article would be: QUARANTINE QUARANTINE  QUARANTINE !!!

I realize that there were numerous factors that led to this sad situation but back to the beginning of it all, if the new arrival had been quarantined properly before being added to an established tank this scenario would have never had happened at all. This easily overlooked problem in fish keeping turned a dollar forty nine cent fish into a ninety dollar fish.

This was an extremely costly lesson to learn the hard way. If you take into consideration the cost of food which had been purchased and fed to the Discus over the several months that they did live, not to mention your own time in maintenance and care, this Pleco cost me hundreds of dollars. Now since these were to be future breeding stock we now look at an equation of multiple spawns (thousands of fry ) that could have been sold for big bucks……. I have to stop thinking about this I’m getting sick to my stomach……..

I hope you get the point because I personally would not wish this sad story of mine on anyone not even an enemy. So in the future when new fish are acquired for your tank, whether you have one or fifty tanks, these new arrivals HAVE TO BE quarantined in a separate tank. If you do only have one tank then a separate container of some type  should be utilized for this purpose. This period of quarantine should last at least a few weeks. Pay close attention to your new fish for any signs of disease or stress. Another sign to be wary of is a fish that does not seem very active or not eating. When you are sick are you active and eat normally? You more than likely find yourself in bed or on the couch and have an appetite of a mouse, think about it.