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I know sound strange. We have a beautiful Blue Diamond Discus who is scared of the dark? Ok big tank plenty of places to hide swim, community tank. 2 Solid Red Discus, 1 Leopard Spot Discus and this Blue Diamond, plus other fish.

We have come out in the mornings a couple of times and to our dismay our Blue Diamond is floating on his side at the top of the tank or head down doing spiral patterns in the tank.

Fins going a milloion miles a minute and not getting anywhere. Turn the lights on the tank, check Ph, everything is fine but this discus. By the afternoon he's back swimming around normally no problems. Leave a room light on at night near the tank and the next morning no problems.
So has anyone else have fish with PHOBIAS???

Hi there
It could be the sudden change from dark to light that freeks him out, as you said that if you leave a light on he's ok. Try switching the light off and leaving your curtains open (if you can) That way they will get the natural light coming into the room and may be ok

ha! thats pretty funny. my flower horn used to do the same thing. in the morning he would be floating with his face toward the gravel. He was never dead so it didnt bother me much. I just thought he was unique.

Are you adding CO2?

No CO2 I't can't be shock of lights going out because there is always light in adjacent rooms, no matter how dim.

My big discus was doing it before. I thought it was the light, since everytime I turned it on, he did the same thing, he doesnt do it anymore.

Is the discus new?

no he's been in there a couple of months now, he has three other discus buddies but they are all fine...

Do you have any plants in the tank? Or maybe a lot of algae? Oxygen levels could be dropping at night, when the photosynthesis cycle is reversed. I know that a lack of Oxygen would make me nervous...

About the light change, too... Even with the light on in the other room, it would still be a pretty big switch, especially if you look at Watts per Gallon. Think of coming inside on a sunny day, into a room with just a nightlight on. It would take you a while to adjust.