new fish

[plunc]

hello,
I made my first discus purchase on saturday. in the 3" size i bought 2 red leopards(great color, good shape, but cant seem to get them to eat anything other than blood worms), 2 snakeskins (red im guessing, although they really just look like brown discus to me at this point. Was told they will change colors some time), 1 red rio (this guy is really neatly colored, unfortunately this guy is a runt, pinched head, bigger eyes, although he eats the best of them all). At least i learned some things to avoid next time, i guess. 1 red marlboro(i probably wouldnt have picked one of these, but they seemed to think i should have one) I also got (2) 1.5" "Brown discus". They were throw ins, and they eat like mad.
So far, all has been ok, have been doing a 50% water change daily (55 gallon tank) with heated ,aerated, and overnight stored tap water. Temp is at 86.
Filtration is aquaclear 500 w/sponges, and 1 large sponge filter run w/ rena 400 air pump.
Tank is bare bottom, with a black acrylic sheet bottom and back.(say that fast 3 times).
Problems so far:
The leopards, are very picky eaters, wont eat color bits, or beefheart. Bloodworms only. I have seen one of the leopards scratching himself off the driftwood. No visible spots of any kind, though. Seem to be very active and normal otherwise,
I have also seen one of the snakeskins scratching himself on various objects, again, no visible irritations or other irregular behavior. Eats anything i give him.
All of the fish are fairly bold, and look very good (except the red rio)
Any thoughts on what to do about scratching, and getting them to accept a more varied diet?
Thanks for any input,
plunc

[Haywire]

simplistic response but it's practicle

Feed regularly with the blood worms for a few days, make sure that they are all healthy over the next say week.

Stop feeding them bloodworms for a day, next day feed colour bits, or whatever you want them to try.

When they are good and hungry they'll eat. You may need to clean the tank and starve them for another day.

If that fails, you may need to get a trainer discus, one that you know will eat flake/pellet and let that one teach the others to feed. This is commonly done with wilds, I've even heard of people using small angels to teach discus to eat flakes.

[Carol_Roberts]

Scratching once or twice during the day is nothing to worry about. Ammonia is zero? It's been less than a week. You've made all the right moves. Throw a couple of tablespon salt per 10 galllons in the tank and replace with water changes. Give them a chance to settle in.

[discus-fan]

I have read someone's post that if you try feeding them the new food or say the color bits on their morning feed. They are normally pretty hungry then.

The scratching and stuff: (gill flukes maybe ???) read around on this site. I have learned a whole lot from these posts.

[plunc]

Well today for some reason, they all kind of picked at the beefheart. Didnt exactly down it as i would like them to, but i also did figure out something. Tiny, tiny pieces. All of my fishkeeping experience has been with larger central and SA cichlids. A large block of beefheart would get shredded or inhaled rather quickly. my discus wont touch anything larger than a pellet, but they all frenzy around small particles. So, i took about 6 beefheart cubes in a ziplock, and took them outside to keep from melting (its like 2degrees F outside) and busted them up with a hammer. Nice tiny little pieces, they all seemed to eat least eat some of it.
And yes, i have been checking the ammonia. I was concerned that taking the aquaclear from a heavier fishload to my little discus, might cause a large bacteria die-off. So far ive tested once or more a day. Always tests between 0-.25 as indicated on the test color card.
I also did add about 4 teaspoons of epsom salt, once. They did seem to eat a little better after that. Should i do it again?
In addition to the occasional scratching, A couple of them also seem to occasionally go into fits of fin shaking. is this normal also?
I can definitely see growth in the snakeskins, in 1 week so far. Soon i will take digital pics, and post.
Would it be worth treating the tank for parasites, even though generally speaking, the fish look ok? (save for the runted red rio)
thanks for all your suggestions,
Plunc

[Martinphillip03]

also did add about 4 teaspoons of epsom salt, once. They did seem to eat a little better after that. Should i do it again?


Not epson salt, not table salt, regular salt where the only ingrediant is salt. An example is Diamond Crystal kosher salt. I will let Carole explain why, I am not qualified to do so.

Marty

[Carol_Roberts]

Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is for contipation, but didn't hurt anything so don't worry. I was talking about Sodium Chloride - like the salt we eat. You can buy boxes of kosher salt or pickling salt or aquarium salt.

Your 8? discus don't need 6 cubes of beefheart. Break up one or two and put in the tank. Beefheart leftovers foul the tank quickly :o

IF they are still scratching you can dose with formalin (1cc or ml per 10 gallons. Normal temp. Extra air. 50% water change 8 hours later) IF you see an improvement dose every other day for a week. IF no improvement don't add again.

Rinse out the filter sponges (in dechlorinated water) if you fear a bacteria die off due to reduce fish load.

[plunc]

Thank you guys for your suggestions.
Carol, as far as feeding, fear not. I crushed up 6 cubes of beefheart, but, ive only been putting in about 1/2 of a cubes worth of bits at a time, and syphoning off the uneaten pieces after feeding. It actually seems that in the last 24 hours, they are starting to take to the tiny beefheart pieces.
8 discus is correct. As they get larger (hopefuly), some will be moved to other tanks. The largest of them is maybe 3.25" currently.
Again thank you for all your terrific input and advice.

Plunc