Sick or shy?

[Adam_Parker]

Hey guys I have a 4" Dark Angel that I received from Hans back in the last week of December. QT for about 5 weeks. It took the fish about 2 weeks to eat, but it finally started eating Als fdbw and a few pellets. After all was well I moved it to my 125 with the other fish. It ate voraciously for about a week.

Now, all I see the fish is is pick at algae on the driftwood. It doesn't seem remotely interested in fdbw, flakes, or pellets.

It seems strange to me. Fish looks and acts healthy, it just has completely stopped eating regular foods. It's been going on for about a month or so now.

Any ideas?

Temp is 86 as Hans recommended.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 5 and 10
Ph 7.4

Thanks!

[warblad79]

Growing algae is not a good sign.

[Adam_Parker]

Any other opinions?

[brewmaster15]

Adam,
Im guessing that theres something internally wrong with the fish. Loss of appetite is usually a sign of either some external stress factor or internal issues. What may have happened is it starting getting back its strength and appetite and the crashed from the stress of the move and resident fish. I'd pull it and get it into a hospital tank where you can observe it better and treat if needed. Eating algae is not necessarily a bad thing, in the while I am sure they do a bit of that but as a main diet, its not going to end well.

al

[Adam_Parker]

I think I'll move it back to qt and watch it. I moved it bc I thought it may feel alone and it'd be better to have it in a group.

It won't eat either in the qt tank, but I'll do daily wc and try to get it to eating. It killed your worms for about a week or 2 then completely stopped except for the picking here and there.

Still chasing my other discus when they get close.

[Adam_Parker]

Pictures of the fish. Beautiful already, just want to get it eating and growing!

[Adam_Parker]

Got it moved to qt. It's swimming around like nothing is wrong, haven't seen it eat yet. Temp is 90 degrees.

[nc0gnet0]

Now, all I see the fish is is pick at algae on the driftwood.

Fish looks healthy, maybe it just doesn't eat when your watching? My guess is it is not "eating" the algae at all, rather this is pre-breeding behavior.

[Adam_Parker]

Fish looks at food in the qt tank, looks like it's gonna eat, and swims off. This one one frustrating fish lol

[discuspaul]

Might be a good time to try the 'orange peel remedy' as an appetite stimulant while it's in QT....... - can't hurt.

[Adam_Parker]

So I tried putting my smallest Discus in with the dark angel. I sat and watched tonight and now it's eating fdbw pretty normally! So happy to see some progress!

Will it grow any in the 20g if I keep it in there for a weeks? It has a 3.5 or so red Marlboro with it now which is also eating well. Thanks!