Gravel in discus fieces

[mmdiscus1]

Hi guys!
I have a weird issue with one of my discus, i keep 5 over 5inch fish in a 100 gallon planted tank, for about a year now.

One of my discus, i had him/her for a while now, has stones (substrate gravel) in his poop.. He seems ok, color is good, eats well.. It is me seing it third time over the past two weeks. At first i thought it is something temporary, and will go away. But just now i saw again- it is stones from my substrate top..

I am thinking maybe when i feed them sera dry pellets, some of it sinks to the bottom, and then somehow this one confuses gravel with food - which is similar to color of pellets.


Anyone experienced it? What should i do?
Thanks.


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[mmdiscus1]

I didnt take picture of the stones in fieces, next time will try if i see.

This is btw my tank - 5.2 feet long ,160cm.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/09/02/5da7144aef58e40e5ef6133c2239dbe9.jpg


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[nc0gnet0]

I wouldn't worry about it, if the gravel is small enough it might actually be a good thing. The only risk I see here is that the gravel might be large enough to cause a blockage. Other than that, it's total natural IMO.

-Rick

[mmdiscus1]

Oh really? Thats a relief.


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[DISCUS STU]

Nice Tank!

[mmdiscus1]

Thanks STU.. Could it be because i am not feeding them enough?


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[DISCUS STU]

I don't know about that. Do you think your underfeeding? Mostly it's overfeeding that seems to be a bigger problem than underfeeding.

Can you tell me about your setup? Lighting type, substrate, C02, temp. plant types, etc? The Discus look great. Can you post more pics.

I have a planted Hudson River sand tank, but it's mostly a few Radican Swords and Vallisneria.

[mmdiscus1]

I have eheim autofeeder. I also like to feed myself in the evenings, small pinches of pellets, i feed every other or so after work, small batches, when i see they stop eating enthusiasticly ,mi know its enough..

I have threads here and in plantedtank, when i first started and how i did it, journal even... Its valstads method kinda.. I have earthworm castings and garden soil, with gravel on top as a cap.. Low tech. Two T5 garage shop bulbs in a fixture, all cheap. ehem 2217 for filtration with Purigen. Recently i bought a water pump for faster WC, it sits below tank, and i made pvc tubings myself from tank to drain.

More info and pics in journal here, dont remember link, but i think you can find it on my profile page, sorry i am on ipad now, kidnda hard to find.


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[jds1990]

Beautiful tank. As for them eating gravel you could always get sand but that would be a huge pain to change over. I've never had a discus eat a piece of gravel well at least I don't think I have. If he/she is passing the stones they must have a good intestinal track and be healthy. Just keep and eye on them and feed them by hand if you can and they will eat that way.

[mmdiscus1]

Yea sand isnt an option for now...maybe when i do over, when soil looses its juice. Ok i will keep an eye on them. Intried feeding by hand, but its hard wih pellets they slip away.


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[jds1990]

Try some beef heart and blood worms. My fish love both. My fire eel goes nuts over the blood worms.