Starving Discus

[robryb]

I'm having some issues with a discus I bought a few weeks ago.

He was in my main tank with my other 4 discus, but I noticed his behaviour was strange.
1. He wasnt eating, and was dark coloured and hiding
2. Its almost as if he is blind. Sometimes he came out with the others, but would be facing the wrong way. Ie, Others are facing me, he's facing the wall. He would peck at my thermometer, or the wall. Food would drift past his nose, and he ignores it.

I've now put him in quarantine. I've given him a course of deworming/deparasite med 'Kusuri', 30 degrees. He's perked up a bit, swimming about, bright coloured. He's still not eating and as thin as a rake, I'm not sure he can go on much longer.
I've tried feeding him, he ignores the food. I tried hovering a syringe in front of him with some bloodworms, but he just swims into it.

How do I diagnose blindness in him?
Any other meds I should try?

 

[garyspence84]

I'v had simmaler problems in the past with my discus, and still do with 1 of my current discus. It might just be that its taking a while to settle in and get used to its new home and tank-mates, might just take a while longer than usual. As for being blind... does it swim/thump into the tank wall's? It should still be able to find food through smell.

 

[Tolak]

Have a look at this topic. Metro is difficult to obtain in the UK, it's a common and easy to acquire item in the US. eSHa Hexamita seems to be a medication that is easy enough to find in the UK, and appears to work so far. This is where I would start with your discus.

 

[simonas]

its frustrating with discus and often due to the pecking orderwhere one is the bottom of the pack and often refuses to eat. Try raising the temperature if too low, using food with garlic in and checking your water as it may be stats not agreeing with a new fish whos struggling to adapt

 

[robryb]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I'll check for signs of Hexamita, as he did perk up once I started with the 'Kusuri' med. It says on the packaging that it requires a second dose to deal with hexamita though, so I might try that.

Perhaps it's not blindess that he's got, but rather dopeyness.

 

[Tolak]

What simonas said with maturing discus/pecking order is very true, and common with other ciclids as well. Spironucleus/hexamita are commonly found in the digestive tract of many cichlids, so common that they are considered a normal part of the digestive flora. The natural immunity of a healthy fish keeps them at bay, much the same way as a healthy immune response in a human keeps the bacteria we encounter on a daily basis from causing us no harm.

When there is a pecking order issue with fish often one gets stressed. This causes a drop in the natural immune response of the fish, and allows these protizoans to reproduce at a higher rate then the immune response of the fish can handle. It's very similar to humans who cheats themselves out of sleep, overdo it in various aspects of life, probably not eating properly, to eventually come down with a cold.

 

[robryb]

What simonas said with maturing discus/pecking order is very true, and common with other ciclids as well. Spironucleus/hexamita are commonly found in the digestive tract of many cichlids, so common that they are considered a normal part of the digestive flora. The natural immunity of a healthy fish keeps them at bay, much the same way as a healthy immune response in a human keeps the bacteria we encounter on a daily basis from causing us no harm.

When there is a pecking order issue with fish often one gets stressed. This causes a drop in the natural immune response of the fish, and allows these protizoans to reproduce at a higher rate then the immune response of the fish can handle. It's very similar to humans who cheats themselves out of sleep, overdo it in various aspects of life, probably not eating properly, to eventually come down with a cold.

Hm, very interesting. Their own version of 'survival of the fittest'!

 

[robryb]

hm, found a hole above his eye, looks like hexamita

 

[Seed_Lord]

I had one tht took a week n a half to eat, have heard they can take upto 3 weeks

 

[GShorty1981]

What are you feeding them? when i first kept discus about 10 years ago, i starved some to death without realising, i fed them flake and i didnt realise they were spitting it back out, they become like swimming skeletons and by the time i got the right stuff, some frozen stuff called 'discus delight' they were to far gone and died.

With my next lot of Discus they ate flake fine.