Discus from lfs?

[peewee1]

Discus can live for weeks without food. I would not put medication, keep water around 85 to 87 degrees for two or three weeks, change water at 25% every other day. Put variety of food. Do you have Al's freeze dry black worms? All fish seem to like them.

[Second Hand Pat]

Kevin, whats happening with your ammonia and nitrites?
Pat

[Vinni Smith]

I do, but it still doesn't seem to want to eat it. I observe the fish for at least half an hour every day. The red Marlboro that doesnt eat seems perge tly fine, schools with the others, and doesnt breathe fast. I have not seen the red Marlboro that dorsnt eat poop, but the other I have and have normal waste. Maybe it can have an internal parasite. When the albino yellow Marlboro died last week (Wednesday), it barely school with the others, it breathed fast, and was always at the corner of the tank. It didnt have clamped fins or darken, it just was like that most of the time. I have done what you said by leaving some to flat and sink, and putting the food on opposite sides, but still refuses it. I shot a video during feeding time and when the red Marlboro went near the food to eat, the other red Marlboro always pushes him away. Do you think this can be due to aggresion since I sometimes see both the discus pick at him or an internal parasite (I havent seen ang white string poop )? All discus ars fat and healthy.

I have noticed BIGTIME that not all discus are created equally. Some are very fast aggressive eaters. Some just stay back and wait for the frenzy to be over.
I do not follow the instructions to only feed enough food that they will eat in 5 minutes. If I did that, some would not eat at all.
We do feed a big variety of FD foods and flakes, but I really like to feed frozen foods the best.
Hikari FBW, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Chiclid Delight and a special Hikari frozen Discus blend.
I find that the frozen foods cause less of a threat if left in the tank for a while.
So, I throw in enough to last for about 15 minutes, twice daily.
Everyone gets plenty and everyone seems happy with this arrangement.
I do also have 2 black Moores in the tank, so really, nothing sits for any amount of time.

[TacoLoco7]

Discus can live for weeks without food. I would not put medication, keep water around 85 to 87 degrees for two or three weeks, change water at 25% every other day. Put variety of food. Do you have Al's freeze dry black worms? All fish seem to like them.

I feed them frozen beefheart and hikari frozen mysis, sometimes I throw in garlic pellets from nls, but they don't show interest in it.

[TacoLoco7]

Kevin, whats happening with your ammonia and nitrites?
Pat

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm

[fljones3]

How are your water changes? Daily, every other day, weekly?

I was given 4 beautiful 4 inch discus from miranda last week on Thursday, 2 red Marlboro and 2 albino yellow Marlboro (4 inches). 1 died 2 days for unknown reason. It was one of the yellow Marlboro, it didnt eat at all and was always breathing fast at the front corner of the tank. Sometimes it schooled with the others, and sometime isolated itself. No clamped fins or anything. No external problems were seen. So I assumed it could have been an internal parasite and something was wrong with it. It didn last a week in the tank. Two of them eat like crazy on the beef heart. They also started eating mysis shrimp yesterday! The only thing I'm concerned is one of the marlboro isnt eating much. Whenever its feeding time, I put the beefheart in, sit back (7 feet away), and observe. The two eaters seem to push away the other discus that dorsnt eat much. When he goes near the food, he doesnt show interest in the food like the others. I haven seen anywhere stringy poop, so I'm assuming theres no internal parasites. Since the other discus died, I have put the beefheart in a metro solution just for precautions incase there was an internal parasite going on. Does anyone know they think why the discus isn't earing much like the others? I feel like it could be aggression and they are not letting the single discus eat.

[TacoLoco7]

How are your water changes? Daily, every other day, weekly?

2 50% waterchanges a week. I used to do them saturday and Wednesday, but my school has a new schedule now. So I do 50% on saturday and sunday so I dont fluctuate co2 levels ( I do them in the morning when pH of the aged water matches the tank pH)

[Vinni Smith]

I do, but it still doesn't seem to want to eat it. I observe the fish for at least half an hour every day. The red Marlboro that doesnt eat seems perge tly fine, schools with the others, and doesnt breathe fast. I have not seen the red Marlboro that dorsnt eat poop, but the other I have and have normal waste. Maybe it can have an internal parasite. When the albino yellow Marlboro died last week (Wednesday), it barely school with the others, it breathed fast, and was always at the corner of the tank. It didnt have clamped fins or darken, it just was like that most of the time. I have done what you said by leaving some to flat and sink, and putting the food on opposite sides, but still refuses it. I shot a video during feeding time and when the red Marlboro went near the food to eat, the other red Marlboro always pushes him away. Do you think this can be due to aggresion since I sometimes see both the discus pick at him or an internal parasite (I havent seen ang white string poop )? All discus ars fat and healthy.

I have noticed BIGTIME that not all discus are created equally. Some are very fast aggressive eaters. Some just stay back and wait for the frenzy to be over.
I do not follow the instructions to only feed enough food that they will eat in 5 minutes. If I did that, some would not eat at all.
We do feed a big variety of FD foods and flakes, but I really like to feed frozen foods the best.
Hikari FBW, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Chiclid Delight and a special Hikari frozen Discus blend.
I find that the frozen foods cause less of a threat if left in the tank for a while.
So, I throw in enough to last for about 15 minutes, twice daily.
Everyone gets plenty and everyone seems happy with this arrangement.
I do also have 2 black Moores in the tank, so really, nothing sits for any amount of time.

[TacoLoco7]

I have noticed BIGTIME that not all discus are created equally. Some are very fast aggressive eaters. Some just stay back and wait for the frenzy to be over.
I do not follow the instructions to only feed enough food that they will eat in 5 minutes. If I did that, some would not eat at all.
We do feed a big variety of FD foods and flakes, but I really like to feed frozen foods the best.
Hikari FBW, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Chiclid Delight and a special Hikari frozen Discus blend.
I find that the frozen foods cause less of a threat if left in the tank for a while.
So, I throw in enough to last for about 15 minutes, twice daily.
Everyone gets plenty and everyone seems happy with this arrangement.
I do also have 2 black Moores in the tank, so really, nothing sits for any amount of time.

So should I just give the discus that doesnt eat more time? I do waht you said, but I leave the beefheart in for an hour so they can eat calmly and I then I take it. Even in those 2 hours, it still doesnt eat. Even if there is food on the other side of the tank, if he goes by it, and it doesnt show interest towards the food. It look fat and healthy, schools with the others, and breathes normally.

[Vinni Smith]

So should I just give the discus that doesnt eat more time? I do waht you said, but I leave the beefheart in for an hour so they can eat calmly and I then I take it. Even in those 2 hours, it still doesnt eat. Even if there is food on the other side of the tank, if he goes by it, and it doesnt show interest towards the food. It look fat and healthy, schools with the others, and breathes normally.

I don't feed Beefheart. That stuff is just too messy for my tank. I would also be afraid to leave it in the tank for much time.
I have tried feeding that stuff and I just don't think it is worth it to me.

Some of the more advanced discus keepers here on the forum may answer the beef heart thing better than I.

[RickyB]

Taco, I'm on week six of a yellow melon that I don't see eat. Yet, he looks ok, does not show signs of emaciation, and does not have clamped fins. To look at him, you'd think he eats like a horse. So, with the help of people on this forum, they told me not to worry about it, and that he's getting nourishment from somewhere. Perhaps he eats from the bottom when the lights are out. Keep an eye on him but it doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about yet.

[Willie]

I have noticed BIGTIME that not all discus are created equally. Some are very fast aggressive eaters. Some just stay back and wait for the frenzy to be over....

Exactly. I have some fish that seem to rarely eat, but of course they do. They just don't want to jump in the fray and prefer to wait. If you move that fish into its own tank and drop in some food, that same fish will eat it right away. I feed both beefheart and dry food and I've observed the same behavior with both types of food.