Peppering in Discus? Darkening in Discus?

[sushiray]

Since I started past june, all my pidgeon/marlboros have some varying degree of peppering. one has a bad case (like dark freckles all over).

also my other discus variety had some degree of darkness, some from very dark brown to lighter dark shades. my blue diamond tho not brown would either be very dark or very light depending on lighting duration (also if they are frightened/startled they will get darker).

many have said dark backgrounds contribute to both peppering & darkening of other discus variety.

well I am using the ocean reef background which tends to dark blue so I have to think this has cause it.

but I just intro'd some new plants I purchased from a member & with the new greenery, I found all my discus much lighter in coloration (especially when I turn on the lights) & in fact my one very dark brown discus is showing its truer colors! a light tan! also peppering has decreased a lot! tho not all gone.

but my Q? is - can I get rid of their peppering at all, will they can they go away or am are they stuck with them for life?!

 

[hillbilly]

Pepper is like the stress bars in other discus. It's caused by a mutated gene. This is a trait of all pigeon blood based discus. High quality pigeon blood based fish have had most of the peppering bred and culled out. In any batch of fry from pigeons, some will have excessive pepper, these fish should be culled, and not allowed to breed. However, some people simple sell these low quality fish anyway. When a discus is showing any kind of stress at all, the fish will get darker, the bars will darken, or pigeon bloods will show more pepper. Stress can be caused by many things, water quality, overcrowding, chasing, etc. If a fish has pepper, it will never go completely away, but it can be reduced by providing the fish a light colored background and bottom, and a stress free environment by not overcrowding, keeping water quality high, and providing good nutrition to keep them as healthy as possible. I am currently growing out a small group of pigeon blood discus in a 55 gal. So far the fish have not peppered. I don't think they will, as they are getting big enough to color up and "show me what they got"....

 

[golfhacker]

Pigeon bloods will always have some peppering. Higher quality pigeon bloods have very little. Poorer quality(pet shop quality discus) can have lots of peppering. I don't mind a little peppering. I think it looks good on the edges of an orange pigeon blood.

Here are what some heavily peppered pigeon bloods looked like 10 years ago. Now that is some heavy black peppering.

http://web.archive.org/web/19980529070859/www.rainwaterdiscus.com/image.html

 

[MadRussian79]

some will have excessive pepper, these fish should be culled, and not allowed to breed

Matter of preference nothing more. Since most discus are captive bred (all pigeons are) you will get varying coloration based on the line and the breeders personal preference. If you like peppering get peppered if not don't. I see no health concerns associated with it.

Getting dark is an obvious sign of stress. Plants have a positive effect on most tanks as long as they are doing well. They will consume carbonate thus softening the water is one part. They will oxygenate the water so if the tank has less surface agitation then needed plants will compensate for lack of oxygen. Were your fish gasping at all prior to adding the plants? They will also take up nitrates from the water so that may also explain the stress reduction.

 

[hedut]

I paint my tank with dark blue but fish look ok cause I paint white at bottom,here my tank. Pigeon strain always depend at quality too. Like hillbilly he has nice quality pigeon so will be less peppering to

 

[sushiray]

I paint my tank with dark blue but fish look ok cause I paint white at bottom,here my tank. Pigeon strain always depend at quality too. Like hillbilly he has nice quality pigeon so will be less peppering to

both yours & hilly look great! mine that look similar to yours are not peppering. it's the ones similar to hilly's blood pidgeons + my red marlboros. it seems the ones that are orange, red, orange+red in body color are the peppered types that I have.

 

[hedut]

both yours & hilly look great! mine that look similar to yours are not peppering. it's the ones similar to hilly's blood pidgeons + my red marlboros. it seems the ones that are orange, red, orange+red in body color are the peppered types that I have.

blood pigeon most of them look same when they young but the quality is difference, you should see at forum simply discus all sponsor over there they have nice discus and good quality.

what color is your bottom tank?

 

[sushiray]

blood pigeon most of them look same when they young but the quality is difference, you should see at forum simply discus all sponsor over there they have nice discus and good quality.

what color is your bottom tank?

bottom of tank is barebottom so see to thru to the white floor & black frame of the wooden stand.

as hilly pts. out, peppering may be result of lower quality discus & shouldn't be bred & s.b. culled. but that doesn't sit well with then, because I purchased my stendkers from a very reputable seller. makes me feel like I was given the worst of his lot.

but they were not peppered when I 1st got them, tho they were all frightened for a week & didn't eat for 5days then all my issues followed thereafter.

I suspect it was my dark background & barebottom 1 driftwood set up. since I have added plants the colors have been improved on all my discus including my one long time dark brown which turns out to be a lighter tan with some red & blue markings.

but the peppering in my PB (like hilly's) one was reduced upon plant addition but the other is still overly peppered & my 2 red marlboros are peppered showed no change.

 

[hillbilly]

The pictures were above were taken when I first got these fish. Here is an updated picture of one of the same fish after being stuffed with live blackworms and beef heart for 2 months. As you can see, it's grown about 1 1/2" and filled out, but still no pepper. Careful breeding and culling of pigeon fry go a long way in having these fish growing out to have minimum pepper.

 

[hedut]

bottom of tank is barebottom so see to thru to the white floor & black frame of the wooden stand.

as hilly pts. out, peppering may be result of lower quality discus & shouldn't be bred & s.b. culled. but that doesn't sit well with then, because I purchased my stendkers from a very reputable seller. makes me feel like I was given the worst of his lot.

but they were not peppered when I 1st got them, tho they were all frightened for a week & didn't eat for 5days then all my issues followed thereafter.

I suspect it was my dark background & barebottom 1 driftwood set up. since I have added plants the colors have been improved on all my discus including my one long time dark brown which turns out to be a lighter tan with some red & blue markings.

but the peppering in my PB (like hilly's) one was reduced upon plant addition but the other is still overly peppered & my 2 red marlboros are peppered showed no change.

May you can paint bottom with light color will help. this my bulldogs CP with white background and white bottom