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Thread: Pandemic Starved Discus

  1. #1
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    Default Pandemic Starved Discus

    I wanted to ask the forum for opinions about what to do with my tank.

    I was out of town for a few days with my family and during that time I had to decide to either go home to my apartment and quarantine for at least 2 weeks, or stay somewhere else. We chose to stay somewhere else in a house rather than be stuck in an apartment with 2 kids without being able to go out. I had the virus so 2 weeks turned into almost 7 until I could go back home without being stuck there. During that time I was able to go home 4 or 5 times and do water changes, and they were probably fed about 6-7 times. I knew that they needed to be fed more, but also that feeding them more without doing more water changes might be even worse.
    I have a 55 gallon bare bottom with 5 discus, some tetras, cories, snails, and a pleco. I got them in mid December when they were 2.5-3 inches and they grew decently until I left, which was mid March. 2 of them died, and the other 3 still look like they are the same size they were when I left. From what I've heard I would assume that they are permanently stunted, but I want to hear what other people think. So far I've been home for a week and they seem pretty good. Is there any hope that they will grow? Is there any chance that it would work out of I add 2 more new ones? Should I maybe just keep it the way it is? Are they suffering?

    Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you!

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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    Hi, sorry to hear you had the virus and hope you and your family are doing well. Could you please post a picture/video of the fish? I think that is the best way to answer your question.
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    Sorry to hear what you've been through. There is always hope. As Pat suggested please share some more information in order to receive the best advice. I hope everything else works out well for you.
    We're here for a good time...not a long time

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    Inadequate nutrition and recurrent infections which cause poor nutrient intake, absorption or utilization could case stunting. But fish can have another growth spurt and grow to size. Possible to feed as much as they will eat of high protein foods along with frequent water change to reduce the chance of infections or disease which might slow the growth process would be my thoughts.

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    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    They never recover there full growth back once stunted. It's been mentioned on here numerous times. That's one reason why some LPS discus never grow good. They have been without food in transit for weeks and never make good discus being without food for that long. They have approximately 2 years to grow full size and pet store discus go without food for long periods and most never reach a 6.5"-7" fish. IOM, they never fully get back what was lost growth wise.

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    Quote Originally Posted by bluelagoon View Post
    They never recover there full growth back once stunted. It's been mentioned on here numerous times. That's one reason why some LPS discus never grow good. They have been without food in transit for weeks and never make good discus being without food for that long. They have approximately 2 years to grow full size and pet store discus go without food for long periods and most never reach a 6.5"-7" fish. IOM, they never fully get back what was lost growth wise.
    I did read, Mervin, that those fish usually do not have a chance to reach their full size even if the do continue to grow.

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    im sure your fish will be fine and grow to their potential with good water parameters and food.

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    I really appreciate all of the replies. It's encouraging to hear that since people think they can possibly grow at least some more.
    I'll do my best to share some pics/videos, but first, a bit more background.
    When I first got them I had an aquascape background with a lot of black in it. I didn't think it was too much black but it probably was. The edges of their fins turned black pretty soon, since of them got a good amount of peppering, and my leopard (which died) was almost always very dark. About a month or 2 after I got them, I took off the background and painted on a moderately light shade of blue. That helped some, especially for the leopard, but the edges are still black and they still have peppering.
    At some point I noticed that some of them were getting splits in their fins and then healing up very quickly and at first I got worried that it was fin rot. But I showed it to someone who knows discus and he said it's just from fighting, and he even showed me a bite out of the fin on my leopard.
    A few weeks before I was away for 7 weeks, I noticed that my yellow discus, which had been the most aggressive and among the biggest, was having white waste and not eating. After getting advice I treated the whole tank with metronidazole. The yellow one still seemed to not be interested in food until I went away. Someone suggested that maybe it was knocked off from it's position of being the boss. Once they weren't being fed regularly, it started eating whenever they were fed. Now that I am feeding them again regularly, it seems to be eating normally. But it appears to me to be extremely skinny. And I see it getting harassed a lot by my red map panda. Now, the edges of its fins look pretty bad. Besides for the black, they seem to have a couple of bite-shaped pieces missing, and often a few splits, which I assume is from being bothered by the other fish.
    My fine line red panda was always small (I think I got it a bit smaller than the others). I'm pretty sure it grew some but I was always a bit concerned in the back of my mind that maybe it's not growing properly. It is definitely the opposite of bossy. Maybe that causes it to get less food than the others. Someone suggested that maybe it's growing slower because it's a female.
    Sorry for the long message. Thank you for taking the time to read and offer advice. I will try to post some pictures. I just wanted to give some background before posting pictures of the horrible looking edges of my yellow one especially.

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus


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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus


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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    If people think there's a chance that these might be okay and possibly grow some more, is it possible that it might work to add 2 new ones (from the same source)? Besides the fact that I would rather have 5 in my tank, I was wondering if it would also help them to not fight as much

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    Quote Originally Posted by ygdiscus View Post
    If people think there's a chance that these might be okay and possibly grow some more, is it possible that it might work to add 2 new ones (from the same source)? Besides the fact that I would rather have 5 in my tank, I was wondering if it would also help them to not fight as much
    You now have 3 Discus living in the 55G. You know that Discus are schooling or community types. Adding 3 more would help to diffuse the bickering.

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    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    3 is not a good number with young discus. One or two usually wind up being chased to sickness/death.

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    That makes sense to me.
    I know that normally it's preferable to add all discus at once to help with aggression, which I already know is somewhat of an issue in my tank. Is there anything I can do to try to avoid having issues with that? Is it necessary to get bigger ones than what I already have?

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    Default Re: Pandemic Starved Discus

    Quote Originally Posted by ygdiscus View Post
    That makes sense to me.
    I know that normally it's preferable to add all discus at once to help with aggression, which I already know is somewhat of an issue in my tank. Is there anything I can do to try to avoid having issues with that? Is it necessary to get bigger ones than what I already have?
    Why not get 3 more of roughly the same size? I recently added 3 to a group of 3. It's two of the new ones that do not get along with each other. The others are okay with one another. You would not know for sure. Each fish seems to have its own personality and temperament anyway.

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