Should I Be Worried...(4) Adult discus not eating for 2 weeks!

[wjones]

A little background info:

I have 4 adult discus - the first one is a dark red that is about 4 to 5 yrs. old, the second is a large blue diamond (the dominant one) that is about 3 to 4 yrs. old and the last 2 are checkerboard about a year old. I raised them all from about 2.5 to 3 in.

I recently (5/08/17) moved them from a 40 gallon breeder tank (bare bottom) with a crypt in a clay pot and a nice piece of driftwood that they could hide under with an AC110, an AC70 and a large sponge filter to their new permanent home which is a lightly planted 75 gallon aquarium with some eco-complete substrate in the back half and Tahitian Moon sand in the front half of the tank with some Seiryu Stones as a divider. Plants include some amazon swords, an ozelot sword, Anubias coffeefolia and Undulata Cryptocoryne. For filtration I have an API Filstar XPL with the spray bar. I seeded the filter with bio media from the AC70 from the 40 gal. Temp. was set at 82.

First problem after moving them, the blue diamond had a cloudy eye the next day which I assumed was from a scratch caused by the net. Tried adding aquarium salt at 1 Tbsp. per 10 gallons but it seemed to stress them out so much that I did a 50% wc a few hours later. Did 50% wc every day for the first few days besides siphoning any uneaten food.

Second problem - PH - The PH in the 40 gallon tank would fluctuate from 6.6 to 6.0 in about 3 days. This was probably because the tank was over stocked due to the large number and size of the mystery snails.
Started out with only 2 and then gave away about 2/3 of them to the pet shop. Getting ready to bring them some more. The PH in the 75 gal. tank stays at a stable 7.2. Not sure if this would be much of a problem if they weren't already stressed from the move.

Third problem - had a mini cycle - ammonia never got over .25 and nitrites never got over .5 - lasted about 3 days. Always use about 5x recommended dose of Prime in aged water with heater for water changes with no problems. Not sure if this stressed them because they were already dark. During this time I did 50% wc each day.

After about a week I raised the temp to 86 to see if that would help to get them to start eating. Didn't want to go any higher because of the blue diamond with the cloudy eye. Was using an air stone because of the higher temp. but that even seemed to stress them. The blue diamond started darting into the lid and the side of the tank pretty hard. Noticed a couple of cysts on one side so decided to treat with Clout (which is also good for Hex and gill flukes just in case) for 24 hrs. Did not repeat and after 48 hrs. did a 50% water change. This seemed to have helped because he didn't dart any more and wasn't hiding as much. After another 2 or 3 days they all started getting their colors back while doing 50% wc every other day.

The 2 checkerboards swim all around the tank like normal unless someone gets too close to the tank. The dark red one has just started swimming around the tank within the last couple days. The blue diamond still stays along the side and back of the tank and still has a cloudy eye. Their colors are much better but still not eating. They used to be little piggies and be waiting at the front of the tank for me but now when I start getting close to the tank they hide. I do see them picking at the substrate and water sprite which is floating and my bacopa caroliniana is gone but they just ignore any type of food I try to feed them: frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp and beefheart (which I soak in Garlic X-treme and Vita-Chem), flakes and Tetra granules (soaked). Just ordered some FD black worms.

Should I be worried that they are still not eating? I have read online that some have gone up to a month without eating but I don't want to wait that long if I can help it. If the dominant discus stops eating is it normal for the rest to not eat?

I know they have been through a tough time but this is really stressing me out. Trying to be patient and worried if I have done or doing enough for them. Even though the checkerboards are probably close to being full size, I don't want them to be stunted.

Sorry about the long story but thought it would be helpful in getting the right kind of help for them and maybe help someone else out.

Thank you!

Wendy

[Clawhammer]

It sounds like the root cause is the non-cycled tank, is it cycled now? The cloudy eyes are likely a result from ammonia/nitrite burn, it would also cause a decrease in pH. The stress from the move and the poor water could have stressed them out, leaving them susceptible to other pathogens that they normally would fight off.

What is your current water parameters and water change regiment? Do they have white poop? Can you post pictures?

Two weeks without eating is a sign of problems, but you have come to the right place, and likely have plenty of time to fix the issue before it gets to a point on no return.

[wjones]

The blue diamond only has one cloudy eye.

PH: 7.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: <5
Temp: 86

Change 50% water every other day and siphon uneaten food every day which equals about 10 gals.

Did see some white, thick, gel like poop - not stringy (possibly stomach lining?) but haven't seen any more in the last couple days.

Will take some pics later today after lights come on.

Thanks for your help!

[Filip]

Agree with Eric that Ammonia and Nitrite presence in your uncycled tank may have caused them the troubles.
Did you have any other inhabitants in your display tank before puting your discus ? Maybe they got cross contaminated while in stressed condition .

I would up those changes to a 90% Daily with aged water , at least until they start eating and recover again .Try 2-3 weeks with this WC regime for a start and see if it helps .

[wjones]

There are no other fish in the tank.

Yesterday I noticed they weren't coming out as much so I did my water tests and yes there was some ammonia .5 ppm, nitrites were O so I immediately did a water change of about 40 gallons. My aging container only holds 44 gals. max. I have done water changes straight from the tap before without any problems but would like to know if a difference in PH of about .6 would cause any problems. PH directly from tap is about 6.6 and PH in tank is about 7.2.

I plan to continue daily water changes of at least 40 gals. but can do larger ones if I can use straight tap water.

Thank you so much!

[Filip]

There are no other fish in the tank.

Yesterday I noticed they weren't coming out as much so I did my water tests and yes there was some ammonia .5 ppm, nitrites were O so I immediately did a water change of about 40 gallons. My aging container only holds 44 gals. max. I have done water changes straight from the tap before without any problems but would like to know if a difference in PH of about .6 would cause any problems. PH directly from tap is about 6.6 and PH in tank is about 7.2.

I plan to continue daily water changes of at least 40 gals. but can do larger ones if I can use straight tap water.

Thank you so much!

Until you have any measurable level of ammonia or nitrite in your tank it is highly recomendable to max out your WCs until the filter bacteria catch up with your current bioload .Feeding very small amounts of food 2 times a day would be useful too in this period.

0.6 PH drop during WCs would be stresfull for discus , that's for sure , but since you already have a 44 G aging container, adding only additional 20 -25 G straight tap would be bearable and safe for your discus .
So I do recomend you to do big WCs with a mix of aged and tap water . The small pH drop stress during WCs is nothing to compare with your current discus stress caused by the ammonia levels .

[wjones]

It looks like they have finally started eating some beefheart today. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since they were moved. I was even thinking about tearing down the tank and going back bare bottom but will wait and see if they continue eating.

Don't know if the checkerboards are a pair, but there seems to be a bit of aggression towards each other. One minute they are swimming around together and the next, one of them is trying to beat the other with its tail.

They are a little on the thin side now but looking normal again, even the big blue diamond that still has one cloudy eye. Should I try to treat it or is it already too late?

Thank you

[Ryan925]

It looks like they have finally started eating some beefheart today. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since they were moved. I was even thinking about tearing down the tank and going back bare bottom but will wait and see if they continue eating.

Don't know if the checkerboards are a pair, but there seems to be a bit of aggression towards each other. One minute they are swimming around together and the next, one of them is trying to beat the other with its tail.

They are a little on the thin side now but looking normal again, even the big blue diamond that still has one cloudy eye. Should I try to treat it or is it already too late?

Thank you

Good to hear they are eating. Keep up with big water changes and hopefully that cloudy eye will clear up