stunted help1!!

[boydiscus]

im really disappointed and sad , i just started collecting discus fishes and the first 2 that i bought i think are stunted =( !!! it just puts me down... i didnt know until i came onto this site... is there anyway to help my stunted discus get back to normal health and grow again ? is it alright if i buy better discus and put it in with the stunted discus ? will it effect the others ? i dont have the moeny for another tank and filter? please help. I appreciate it very much and i will post my discus pictures soon

[Rick_May]

it all depends on what caused the stunting and how much time your willing to spend to get them back. Stunting can be caused by enviromental conditions, which I belive make up 75% of stunted fish. this type of stunting can be caused by poor tank conditions, not enough water changes or not enough food, or being the whiping boy of the tank. fish can recover but they will never make a 1000% recovery if the conditions causing the stunting lasted to long ( like months). The way I'd approach this is to begin by doing massive water changes daily, feed 6 to eight times and increasing the tempture to the high 80's. watch them, they may also need medications to clean them up. It can be done, take a look as some I saved

[Rick_May]

after 4 months of doing large water changes and feeding heavy

[Rick_May]

another before

[Rick_May]

after

[Rick_May]

these fish could have been realy nice if they didn't go through the hard times they are now ok but still a little pointy

[ping]

Nice Rick. :thumbsup:

[boydiscus]

Hey thanks ricky, thanks for all the help bro. i'll keep that in mind, btw im feeding them "dsicus mix" and they dont seem to eat much and will the left over food turn to amonia thats what i heard ? and I think my fish has been stunted for a very long time so i guess they wont grow no more and stay the same size or just grow slower?

[Keystonediscus]

It is very difficult to reverse the effects of stunted growth in a small discus. what was discribed above may help the fish grow faster but the effects from before will always be noticeable. Mainly the Eyes will show that there was a problem at some point. Discus's Eyes grow continuously as the fish gets older body growth is dependant on water quality and food.

[Haywire]

Now, this is where I can say an amen, room and board certainly plays a huge part.

I've got 8 sibling discus, ranging in size from 1" to one almost 4 inches now. They are all the same age, all have the eye size. The runt is exactly that, he feeds last, after all the others are stuffed.

In my quarantine tank are 3 other discus, a 2" a 4" and a 5" the 2" is fearless, he'll eat and eat, so much so in hte lats month he's grown about a 1/2". In comparision to the runt, pardon while I switch to metric, his eyes are about 3mm in diameter, whereas the runt is closer to 5mm.

I am tempted to now "quarantine the runts and see what happens to them.

[TUBBAZ]

hang on i am so thick seeing you go on about stunts
just one question.
what does stunted mean is it when they dont grow?
???

[Carol_Roberts]

That's right. They do not grow.