???

[frisco008]

How long before discus start to eat, and how long is too long??? I have tried flake's, mysis shrimp, shrimp pellets, frozen brine shrimp, don't know what to do. I have a 44 gal corner tank with 2 plants....oh yeah 2 blood pigeons about 2.5 inches. Temp is 84 to 86 and filter is a 350 magnum...no other fish are in here. Had them for 5 days now.

Thanks:(

[Carol_Roberts]

What were they eating before? If purchased from pet store did they ever eat at store? If purchased from breeder or private seller ask what they are used to eating. Try frozen blood worms. Feed sparingly so as not to foul your tank with uneaten food.

[frisco008]

Hello,

I had them special ordered LFS never took them out of their shipping bag she doesn't have a tank in her store set up for discus.....I will call her....soonest I can get to frozen bloodworms is Wednesday.

Thanks

[frisco008]

I just called my LFS and they told me that the supplier they got them from honesly probably didn't feed them just sent them out.....So I have to wait until Wednesday to try frozen bloodworms....but I figure if they aren't eating now they probably won't and I just lost some nice fish and money that could have gone else where.

:(

[marilyn1998]

Dont worry. THem eating depends on alot of things. IF they were in the shipping bag long enough for her to get them, and then for you to get them to your tank, they are stressed.
I had to wait 10 days for a stressed new fish to eat. THey can go longer than that. Just keep trying to make them comfortable. Not alot of change sto their tank as they settle. Watch your water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates if you just set it up.
Keep trying! They will eat. You can also add 1 tbs non idodized salt per 10 gallons of water. This will help them detress some. Unless they are hiding, hanging head down, or turning black, or gasping at the surface.. I would just chill and keep trying.

Good Luck!!!

Just noticied you have plants. If they are real, I Would remove them until you get the fish under way. THe salt can hurt the plants.

[pcsb23]

I wouldn't give up hope just yet. Discus can go quite some time without eating. Make sure your water is as clean as it can be, do daily w/c of 33 to 50% and make sure you use aged preheated water. Keep the lights off for a full day and gently let the temp rise to around 90F. Switch the lights on, and half an hour later just put a small amount of froxen blood worms (fbw) in. If you have to wait till Wed, try a little flake tonight, if they don't take it, clean it out and turn the lights out. Try again tomorrow, if they don't feed then wait til you've got the fbw.

I'd also check your water params, particularly ammonia and nitrite, if these are above 0 then it will be stressing them so they won't want to eat.

Provided they are not skinny now they should be ok. I've had discus go 3 weeks without eating and they turned out fine.

hth,

[frisco008]

Thank You all....very encouraging words....It is difficult to believe everything that is out there....I hope to have good news soon.

Thanks again:D

[kaceyo]

Are there any other symptoms besides not eating? Like white stringy poop, swimming funny or scratching against things in the tank? Do you have an ammonia test kit?
You may be tempted to leave the food in the tank if they don't eat it, so it will be there if they want it later, but don't. If they show no interest, remove the food within 5 min. They're more likely to develope an appitite in clean water. Raising the temp will stimulate their appitite too.

Kacey

[frisco008]

How often should I attempt to feed in a day? I haven't noticed any other symptoms and I haven't seen any poop.

[frisco008]

I have recently seen them graze on the bottom, not sure on what but is the a good sign?

Also could I put an chocolate albino pleco in the tank?

Thanks:D

[Alan]

Grazing at the bottom is a good sign. Try feeding with sinking food like colorbits or tetrabits.

I wouldn't put just any pleco in the tank. Some plecos chase discus for their skin mucus and the fish get hurt. A "compatible" pleco for discus would be the bristlenose. I also believe your quarantine period for your discus should be longer, especially since they're not eating yet. This means no other fish should be in the tank.

At 2.5", you can feed at least 4 times a day, if they're eating already. Give them 30 mins. to eat then vacuum the excess food. With their lack of appetite, I would still do the 4 times a day at regular intervals to "train" them when the food will come. The amount of food would be not as much as your regular feeding (maybe half or less), until you see them eating the food as you drop it in the tank.

[frisco008]

Just letting you all know that everything is fine, they are eating and I put my gold severums back in as well as a small choco albino pleco...no problems at all actually the severums help in keeping the discus more aggressive in eating.....I am thrillled:)

[pcsb23]

Glad to hear it, thanks for letting us know.

[kaceyo]

:)