Weird Behavior - Not eating (sort of?)

[Heartbreaker]

The next post I'll complete the form, but I wanted to start with what I am noticing. I have a discus with a previously ravenous appetite who about last week started shying away from the food. I drop in a cube of freeze dried blackworms and they would tear away at it like it was going out of style.
Well, last week I noticed one in particular started shying away from the food and sorta started to "hide" whenever it was feeding time. Funny thing is that he's out and about when it's not feeding time.. he doesn't shy away when I'm near the tank really. He's also pretty high up there in the pecking order so I can't figure it out.
Here's the weird part... today as I am typing this message he's near the top pecking at the surface of the water like he's looking for food. He's doing it very slowly like the others are sorta like after the initial rush is over and they are looking for remnants.
I have been doing large (over 50%) water changes every 2-3 days. Today I raised the temp to 86 Fahrenheit (was 82 previously)

Any ideas?

[Heartbreaker]

Sent from my iPad

Default Disease Questionnaire - please complete


Please complete this questionnaire if your fish are sick (copy and paste). The more details you can provide, the better we are able to diagnose and help you treat your sick fish.

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
I noticed about 2 weeks ago one of my discus wasn't eating. He sort of says away from the food during feeding time when he used to be like the others and go after the food immediately.


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
Everything seems fine. Just not eating is the only thing I have noticed. Maybe more 'shy' and reclusive. Definitely more prosaic when compared to previous behavior


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Nothing at the moment


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
116gal tank
10 Discus
Sizes 5-6 inches
(Discus in question is about 6")


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
50% every few days lately... previously 1xWeek 25% or more


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Sand Substrate. Tanks been running since 2014

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
I treat the water with SeaChem Prime. pH regulator is attached with CO2 (formally a planted tank). pH has been 7.4 since inception.


8. Parameters and water source;

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp 82 Fahrenheit

- ph 7.4


What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water X (100% Treated with SeaChem)

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
None

10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.

Freeze dried blackworms with spinach mix
Started to feed them discus flakes periodically in between


11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

[brewmaster15]

Hi, Its not uncommon for a discus to go off their food for a bit, it can happen for a bunch of reasons. Since the others are eating, you can probably rule out the food being bad or old. He may just be bored with the diet. I'd suggest you try fasting the tank for a few days. don't feed anything at all. Then try feeding again. If it doesn't eat then, I would separate it and observe in a hospital tank.

hth,
al

[Heartbreaker]

OK. I was just worried because it's going on 3 weeks now. I'll stop feeding tomorrow until Tues and see what happens. Thanks for the information

[Heartbreaker]

Hi, Its not uncommon for a discus to go off their food for a bit, it can happen for a bunch of reasons. Since the others are eating, you can probably rule out the food being bad or old. He may just be bored with the diet. I'd suggest you try fasting the tank for a few days. don't feed anything at all. Then try feeding again. If it doesn't eat then, I would separate it and observe in a hospital tank.

hth,
al

Ok well I didn't feed the discus for 3 days and then restarted feeding them on Tuesday. Unfortunately the discus in question still isn't eating. The guy is really social but just won't eat. I am going to put it in a hospital tank later on today
On a side note I noticed his breathing is a bit weird. The others breathe as normal discus do (very smooth) but he breathes with a sort of "jerk" or a "pop" ... it's difficult to explain. I tried to catch it in a video but the quality may not show it well.
Here's a link to it -- https://www.dropbox.com/s/0rxfzexnd5...%20AM.mov?dl=0

[Akili]

Raise the temperature a few degrees. This will stimulate appetite and maybe it will end it's hunger strike.

[Heartbreaker]

Raise the temperature a few degrees. This will stimulate appetite and maybe it will end it's hunger strike.

raised the temperature and so far not eating the FDBW (Freeze Died Black Worms) anymore.. but it's only been one day AND I just noticed something...

I believe you're right about it becoming picky. I put in some discus flake food and I saw him eating once it hit the sand. I hadn't seen him eat in weeks, but then again I wanted to use up some of they other fish food I had so I have been mixing up their diet a little more by re-introducing flake food As minor snacks between meals. That explains why he hasn't gotten skinny I guess.

I am thinking I really got mixed up because I have 2 Golden Lollipop Discus that looks exact alike. In observing today, it looks like one apparently doesn't like flake food while the other doesn't like the FDBW anymore. LoL... what am I going to do?

[Heartbreaker]

Update: Ok so... the fish (Fish A) still isn't eating and exhibiting the same behavior. S/he ate the flakes a few times but no longer does. The fish is social, but whenever I put food in the tank, Fish A slowly goes under a piece of driftwood and just hangs out there until the feeding is done and a bit after, then comes out and is social. There's also no weight loss, which is weird...

I wanted to update because now I have another fish (Fish B) doing the same thing but in a different location. The only difference with this one is that it now spends Most of the day alone away from the others. I'd say he becomes social maybe 15% of the day. No bullying, he just swims like he normally does... then Fish B is hiding the rest of the time and I never see Fish B eat.

I have no clue what's going on... has anyone heard anything about this type of behavior?? What should I do?