1 of 5 discus not eating for a week

[Paulsdiscus]

I will grab the questionair tommorrow I just can't atm and posting from my phone.

In a nut shell I have 5 discus that have been healthy and in the tank for at least a year. About a week ago I noticed one red discus staying in the same spot and not eating. Its not hiding just staying in the open near the bottom. He looks healthy with full color but something is wrong. He is now getting skinny which one would expect after a week of not eating. I change 20% water every two days and have done that for a year now with half RO half tap to keep it at 6.5ph. I have not had any problems since I first started with discus and was not caring for them correctly.I don't have exact water perameters at the second but last I checked they were great and will check after work again. I have some pics of him even tho some other discus keept getting in the way since they all run to me when they see me and investigate but I got some good ones I will post or link to very soon. Please take a look at him and tell me if there is something I am not seeing till I post all the rest of the info. I have to trim down my pic sizes so ill get right back.

[Paulsdiscus]

IMAG1146.jpgIMAG1138.jpgIMAG0003.jpgIMAG1143.jpg

[Paulsdiscus]

Picture one its the red of course on the bottom sorry for the nosey BT getting in the way. The second he is the one on the very bottom left which is where he is residing for a week now. The third and fourth are close ups to see if anyone notices anything wrong just from the pictures. I will get the rest of everything tomorrow after work when I have time but for now I have to be up in a few hours for work. Thank you for any replies over night.

[PP_GBR]

Is he breathing with both gills?

[Paulsdiscus]

Is he breathing with both gills?

Yes the discus is breathing thru both but I may have found the problem. Two months ago I moved from Orlando fl to Clermont and when I did I switched to bb and removed the gravel. Test today showed 20ppm nitrates 0 nitrites but .5 ppm amonia. I think the tank is in a mini cycle. I have a eheim pro 3e canister filter and figured the bio filter was enough. It seems to be affecting this fish tho. I am going to retest in a few hours to make sure its not a false reading and will increase pwc but I can't by much do to using ro water and having work. It takes time to make the water and heat it up. I may just add some sand tomorrow to see if it helps with the bio load. Any suggestions in the short term to help? Remember I can't really up the pwc due to time restraints. Ill start doing 20-30% daily tonight tho.

[PP_GBR]

Add 2 tbsp salt/10 gal to the tank. Is he always breathing with flared gills?

[Paulsdiscus]

Add 2 tbsp salt/10 gal to the tank. Is he always breathing with flared gills?

Aquarium, Epsom? And why do you recommend this? No his gills are not always flared just the pics. I have both salts available but why and ur thoughts? After further test the same results with some ammonia readings. I'm going to stop feeding for a day and up pwc to try and lower ammonia.

[PP_GBR]

Aquarium salt. Sounds like a good plan. Up the WC. It will help the fish because you have ammonia in the tank. Good luck.

[PP_GBR]

You could add 2 tbsp/10 epsom salt to the tank.

[strawberryblonde]

Aquarium salt will stop the ammonia uptake in your discus but won't stop the filters from creating beneficial bacteria. You can redose the salt with each water change until you see the ammonia and then nitrites go to zero. Once you have nitrates in the tank it'll be safe to remove the salt with WC's and not replace it.

[PP_GBR]

Toni:

Please keep your eyes on this thread. Thanks.

[FORDMAN]

I would keep up on water changes until all your parameters are normal again.

[Paulsdiscus]

I do notice today his gills are flaring and there seems to be mucus on the gills as well. All the others are suprisingly doing just fine being very active and friendly. I am starting the salt at 1 table spoon per 5 gallons. Should I continue to stop feeding to slow the ammonia or do something like feed once a day. Normally I feed 3 times a day. I feel bad not feeding the others as everytime I approach the tank they just go crazy looking for food. They even nibble at my fingers looking for food when filling up the test tube.

On another question like I stated before I have an eheim canister 3e its the 2074 model. I have a 50g bowfront as well with 5 discus and 1 pleco and no the pleco does not bother or try to latch onto the discus hes pretty peacefull. My question is about the bio load. Is the one basket of bio media plus I have an extra 12 bio balls in the basket enough to keep up with the load? or will this continue to be a problem with a BB tank? I love the ease of cleaning the entire tank but not if keeps ammonia in the tank. I was thinking of going to a sandy bottom anyways which is why I took out the gravel in the first place. Then I decided to keep the BB for awhile and see how I like it. So far I was just going to keep BB but now am leaning back towards sand maybe something seeded with bacteria already.

[PP_GBR]

Keep ur eyes on the gill thing. Ask Toni/someone for help.

You got to give your fish tough love, do not overfeed them until you sort out your problems.

Good luck.

[Paulsdiscus]

Keep ur eyes on the gill thing. Ask Toni/someone for help.

You got to give your fish tough love, do not overfeed them until you sort out your problems.

Good luck.

Yeah I have not feed them yet. I bought another 50 buck heater so I could heat another container of water and bought amquel plus ammonia detoxifier. I have little faith in any chems but thought I'd give it a shot for a short time since the dose amount is so small. I doubt it helps but maybe it will. Ill keep up the post for future updates.