SOS! Discus refusing to eat !

[tau]

Its has been three days since I got my first two discus. Both of which have not been eating. The first two days, they just hid behind my sponge filter. Yesterday they finally came out to explored the tank. Today, they are pecking on the food, but both would not swallow it. Per advice from this board I have raised the tank temp to 88 f. The following foods have been fed: Tetra Bits, Ocean nutrition Formula 1, and Sally's frozen beef heart.

What am I doing wrong? ???

[Fisheyes]

Find out what they were eating from the first owner .
Are there any poopers on the bottom ( white or Black)?
Make sure your water perameters are ok .

I would go a little higher on the temp and add aquaium salt
1 tablespoon per 10 gal.

Higher temps --- make sure you have enough air for them
Fisheyes :crazy:

[April]

Being theres only two..they will be shyer.
just keep trying and dont leave food sitting on the bottom. hopefully in a day or so they will come to the top begging.
you can turn your heat up to about 90 to get them eating.
you could also try frozen hikari bloodworms. and you can also find out what they were fed where you got them from.
how old are they? or what size?

[Fisheyes]

Good advice April.LOL

How are you today ?
Going to try and get in on the chat thing today.
Fisheyes :o

[April]

great fisheyes. think there will be a few who come. looking forward to it.
go to general and post your country . we shall overtake. lol.

[tau]

They are two marborol reds 2". I got them from Jeff at discusfarm.us. He told me that they were fed on these foods. I guess they are just shy like you said.

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Tau:
Jeff has blackworms for sale. Go buy some and feed those until you get them eating good again. I also think they will eat better when you get your other two discus. Remember, this is one of the reasons I suggest you buy 6 discus. They feel much more secure and eat better in groups of 6 or more. When do you get the other discus?

[Keith.L]

Hello all,

Here comes a message from yet another newbie... Very informative site, by the way!

Fisheyes, in regards to feces color in white or black, what is the difference? Thanks in advance.

Regards,
-Keith 030623

[Fisheyes]

Well If there is feces on the bottom that would indicate someone is eating something .
If they are dark then I would suspect just a problem with getting use to the new homeand I would crank up the heat and add a little salt
If they were whitish I would suspect an intestinal problem like hex and treat accordingly

Fisheyes :inquisitive:

[April]

the fact they came from jeff at discusfarm.us i would say they are healthy happy fish but just shy.
as carol said.they will be a happier group when you have more. you are getting them from the same source ihope or else quarantine time.

[discus_nw]

Two small discus will be very shy most of the time. Do you have any dither fish in another tank to add to the tank they are in? If you have no tetras, even a couple of cories would help the discus feel more secure. If you feed them cbw's, you may be asking for trouble in that they may only want to eat them from that point on. We won't even get into the other problems they have been known to cause. ;)

[April]

I believe Jeff feeds cbw so they may respond to them well.
encourage them. id talk to jeff also. im sure he can assure you and direct you also.
lets not get into the food choices again..

[tau]

I just came back from Jeff's and got a pound of CBWs. I just put them in, hopefully this works. Thanks everyone.

[tau]

Discus NW, no I don't have any tank mates for them. But thanks for the suggestion.

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, just a few wigling blackworms - that way you can tell it they have eaten them all.

Did Jeff tell you how to rinse them?

[tau]

He briefly explained the process. Can you elaborate a little for me Carol?

[Carol_Roberts]

I put mine in a plastic shoe box ( no lid). It's about 6 inches deep by 8 x 12

I rinse until clear by filling the container with chilled dechlorinated water, gently stirring the worms, letting them settle for a minute and then pouring the "dirty" water off the top.

I rinse twice a day for the first couple of days then once a day is usually enough. I keep plastic milk jugs of chlorine free water in the fridge to rinse with. The worms are also kept in the fridge.

[tau]

How long can the worms be kept like this?

[Carol_Roberts]

A month with good care and daily rinsing

[Keith.L]

Thank you for the reply, Fisheyes.

One of my discus showed signs of intestinal problem (white feces) but all the others are normal with dark colored poo.
Could you tell me more about "hex" and what needs to be done to treat this? Many thanks.

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Keith:

There have been lots of recent discussions on this topic in the disease medication section here. Read through some of the problems on the first page that others are having then decide if metro or hex-a-mit is right for your case. If you have more questions start a topic there and we will be happy to try to help ;D

[Keith.L]

Just checked the other page and there was one on this very same topic about white feces. Oh dear, so many articles and so little spare time to go through them all...

By the way, many thanks for the pointer, Carol!

[tau]

I wished my fish had feces. These fish are trying to starve themselves. They didn't even notice the worms. :'(

[Carol_Roberts]

OK - what is your temp at now?

[daddyg70]

Hey Tri,

Have you talked to Jeff about your problem? He has helped me over the phone in the past. I bought all my fish from Jeff and they are all doing fine. I have two marlboro reds from Jeff and they have been eating since day one. I bought six from Jeff at one time and the smallest one stopped eating after a week. I did the metronidazole protocol from this board for intestinal flagellates/hexamita and the fish was fine afterwards. Have you considered increasing your waterchanges to everyday 50-70%?

Good luck,
Greg 8)

What part of LA are you from?

[tau]

Hey Greg, I'm from Pomona. Where are you? I have great news my discus are definitely eating, there was nothing on the bottom of the tank last night. This morning I saw the big one eating, the small one was following but I didn't see him eat. Hopefully this means everything is ok. :)

[Carol_Roberts]

:thumbsup: Glad to hear it.

[daddyg70]

Glad your fish are eating. They will start eating like pigs soon. I live in Culver City. If you haven't heard of Culver City its home to Sony Pictures Studios. I live right next door to it. It takes me 25 minutes to get to Jeffs place. I go once a month for CBW. Pomona is 40 minutes away. I am currently working on my doctorate at Western University which is in downtown Pomona on third and Garey. I hate the drive. Keep us posted on how your fish are doing.

Greg 8)

[rickk]

Hi Tru, Glad to hear your Discus are eating I'm excited for you

Rick

[tau]

Hi guys, thanks for the helpful info. Hey Greg my sister goes to western University.

[Jeff]

Great Tri. Like I said these are starter discus to get the tank going and to get you into the hob by. As I said 1 or two discus will not do well by themselves. That is why I said you had to get at least 2 but 6 is the magic number. I'm confident they are healthy, but just shy by themselves in a new area. Don't overfeed, keep up on the water changes and they should come around ok for you. ;)

[VicM]

My Breeding pair tried to breed for the 6th time. This time the eggs hatched but the fries are too weak. After Breeding, my pair lost their apetite. Its been almost a week now and i still cant see any improvement in their apetite. I am feeding them frozen bloodworm. Help me out please. :(

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Vic:
First thing I do when I see a problem with my discus is check the water.

Check for ammonia and nitrIte in case filter has been compormised.

Does the tank water smell almost good enought to drink? If not do more water changes and clean the filters (in dechlorinated water) and clean inside the tank.

Has your city changed from chlorine to chloramine?

Have you bought any new fish - are your other tanks healthy? Could this be a bacterial infection?

[VicM]

I think my water condition is pretty good. The other discus seemed to be unaffected by any water condition. But lately i noticed that the un eaten blood worms are easily contaminated by fungus. Are fungus a factor in the loss of apetite of my Breeding Pair?

[Carol_Roberts]

How long does it take for the bloodworms to fungus in the tank?