Discuss Not Eating!?!?!?

[drobbyb]

I doubt anyone would have bothered reading it.

I always enjoy your responses Rabbut. You just put things so well.

 

[paul123]

i have removed the sev from my tank...
his fins are up he is not breathing fast or heavily.. his breathing normally.

he is not getting bullied by anyone..
tomorrow i am doing a water change im thinking maybe to not add any chemicals to the water i add back in from the tap.
usually i add the blue crystals... and also 10ml of stress coat, i will be doing about a 15% water change from a 200 litre tank(52.9gallons)


thanks

 

[paul123]

do you think if i put him inside a chamber and give him mela fix ?

 

[tenohfive]

Given your stocking list I'd be very surprised if it wasn't ammonia in the water. To put this into simple terms, fish eat. Then they poop. That breaks down into ammonia, which is bad for fish. If you've got more ammonia in the tank than the bacteria in the filter can break down, you have a problem. You've got an overstocked tank so thats very likely.
Discus are very sensitive fish and any ammonia or nitrites will bother them more than most fish and can leave you with dead fish.

Do a large water change - 40-50% and get a testing kit. Read the instructions very carefully and post on here the results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
The API freshwater master test kit is the best one, just avoid the old version that uses chemical strips and make sure you get the new one which is liquid drop based.

Do that soon (today or tomorrow) or I'd put money on the discus being dead within the next 3 days.

And cut back on feeding - feed half as much as you normally do. Less food = less poop = less ammonia.

 

[paul123]

OK i have just done a 40% water change and have added water conditioner crystals and also stress coat...

see how the discuss pulls up now :0...
he hasn't eaten for about 2 weeks now ?!?!?!? and he has gone a light brown color and he looks as if he is really really old! ???

 

[tenohfive]

Have you bought a testing kit yet?

 

[paul123]

tryed feeding him again today...
still he doesnt want to ???

 

[Corleone]

Have you bought a testing kit yet?

I can't stress enough how important it is to get water stats in this situation - if there's anything at all amiss with the water quality, it'll have to be fixed post haste. Discus are sensitive to water quality, and as long as they aren't satisfied with it, they won't eat, and might starve themselves to death.

 

[angelmouse]

Discus like to be kings of their castle, Any aggressive, fast moving or large fish can distress them as they are peaceful slow moving fish.
1. Tiger barbs with Discus are a deffinate no, as they are active fast fin nippers and would intimidate the discus, shouldn't be together
2. severums though peaceful are not recommended tankmates and their size will eventually intimidate Discus in your size tank
3. Angels can be bullys especially at feeding time, i have one that is fine with my Discus but had to move other angels out for being bullys so could be a problem if any are aggressive, and too many in there for your size tank.
Also all these fish except Angels require lower temps than Discus
in a 52 gal it is only just big enough for the discus a shoal of small tetras and the BN.
Your water needs to be checked and stocking needs to be sorted otherwise you could lose your Discus, sounds like he's stressed and meds won't help stress.
hope this helps
regards Angel

 

[blue acara]

Some pictures of the fish might help if you have a camera? Have you tested the water for Ammonia/nitrite? Are the other discus in the tank feeding well? If the other discus are ok then your water is probably ok. You say the fish is now pale brown and looks old... again this sounds to me like an external pathogens, which can be treated with formalin+malachite green(quick cure if you can get it)

Buy some live foods, these can help make a picky discus eat. They love live large bloodworm, glassworm, brineshrimp, blackworm... as long as it wriggling the discus may well eat it, give that a try. If it doesn't eat lifefood I would med with formalin+malachite green asap.

 

[tenohfive]

Testing kit testing kit testing kit testing kit testing kit.

TESTING KIT!

 

[Bungy]

I had two Discus that refused to eat, one died after a week, the other, well I found by chance after hand feeding (tweezers) freeze dried bloodworm to my Black Ghost Knifefish that the Discuss came up to the tweezers and started pecking....that was it, and a year on im still flaming well hand feeding it....still I kept it alive and thats all that matters.

Anyhow....totally agree with testing water quality. If this guy is not prepared to buy the appropriate test kit to ensure he maintains his fish in good health then they will DIE...!! Get lazy...LOSE FISH.....

 

[minxfishy]

If you cant afford a testing kit, understandable they can be expensive, then take a sample of the tank water to your LFS, they can do the tests for you, WRITE down the results and post them up here.

 

[paul123]

Yeah, all the other discuss are perfectly fine. i have removed the sev, and the fish are all fine, there are no bully's in the tank.

every fish in the tank eats a lot when its feeding time..

ill take a sample of my water to my lfs and see what they say... and ill post the results back up here.
tomorrow i am going to my lfs and buying live blood worms, and ill also get a test of my water ...

im thinking now.. the discuss has not eaten for about two weeks and a half... for a fish not to eat for that long wouldn't he be dead yet?
maybe its picking the plants during the night.... or pecking at the rocks on the bottom for left over food
and is there such thing as vegetarian discuss...


THANKS.

 

[blue acara]

Discus can go quite a while without food, sometimes months. It may be picking on plants and the substrate at night, id worry until I saw it eating tho.

'and is there such thing as vegetarian discuss... '

Discus in the wild eat a lot of plant matter, depending on the season up to and over 50% of their diet is fruits... seeds.. algea etc. They eat whatever is available. In aquaria a much higher protein diet is better and is what they prefer, but they are definite omnivores.