One of my Discus not eating

[RGDiscus]

Hi, I’ve had 4 discus in my 55 gallon for a little over 2 months, but one of them has not been eating for the past couple days. I’m not sure what is going on as she has not lost any color and I have not seen any white poop. She stays towards one side of the tank and does not move much unless the others come near her. She #2 in the pecking order so whenever #1 comes she get picked on. When the other two come near her she pecks at them. The one male that is above her does bully her a lot so maybe that’s the reason? There never has been peace among them but they are cichlids so I’m assuming that’s normal. I also just realized that the female that was the very last in the pecking order has also moved up to #3, but don’t think that has much to do with her eating.
Not sure what to do to get her to eat. So far I’m thinking about separating her and throwing her in a 20 gallon by herself and treating her with metro but I’m not sure if parasites are the reason for not eating so I’m hesitant. All the other fish in the tank are eating normally. I feed them all a varied diet with frozen brine shrimp, blood worms, beef heart, and live blackworms. Feeding them 3-4 times a day.
Ph: 8.0 (always been around here and the fish have all been fine with it) Ammonia: 0 Nitrite:0 Nitrate:0
Any advice would be appreciated.

[LizStreithorst]

The recommended number of Discus needed to avoid fighting is 6.

[RGDiscus]

Do you think the fighting could be the reason for her not eating? I have another pair in another tank at the moment that I'm trying to breed. I can add them to the main tank potentially.

[LizStreithorst]

It sounds like it's either that or hex. Pics would be helpful as would filling out this form http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...lease-complete We can only guess from what you are telling us. With more info we can give a much more educated guess. We're pretty good when we have as much info as you can.

[RGDiscus]

Thanks, I'm new to this forum and did not know about the questionnaire.

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

One of my discus does not seem to want eat. maybe like 2-3 weeks ago, she did not seem interested in food for 2 days, but then she went back to eating totally fine.
Maybe 4 days ago, I've noticed she has not been eating at all. She stays near the corner of the tank and does not move much unless the other 3 discus come near her.
The last time she was not eating much, she would bite the food then spit it out. This time she's not interested at all.

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).
She still looks fine, just does to seem interested in food and is lethargic.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
none so far.


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
55 gallon with 4 adult discus and 5 fry (1.5-2.5inches). Got a couple male guppies that I threw in from my community tank after quartering them for a couple weeks in a separate tank. (trying to reduce their breeding)

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
40-75% water change every 3-5 days depending how dirty the water gets.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Its a bare bottom tank that has been cycled for about 5 weeks, then the discus were added in beginning of May this year. The only thing the tank contains is a breeding cone and 2 sponge filters.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
I have a 33 gallon barrel that I fill up with tap water, add prime to it and let it sit covered until the next water change (3-5 days).
I checked the PH swing a while back but it was about .2 from what I remember.

8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
Prime, that I add to aging barrel. I would add 3ml for about 33 gallons of water.

9. 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 _85__

- ph __8.02___

- ammonia reading _0___

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading _5-10___

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 _100%___

- RO water ____


10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
The couple guppies

11. 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.

I feed them a varied high protein diet with frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, beef heart, and live black worms. Feed them 3-5 time a day as I'm trying to initiate breeding between them.

12. 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.
https://imgur.com/gallery/zHtc0xZ?s=sms

[LizStreithorst]

She looks good other that the hollow belly. I doubt that's contamination from your incorrect QT of the guppy's with just one fish affected. You are doing well with your care. All I can come up with is that it's hex. This isn't necessarily the case here, but it's usually gets the fish lowest on the totem pole. I would up the water temp to 90 to 93 and treat the entire tank with metro (most of us get it from Jehmco) at the rate of 500 mg. per 10 gallons for 12 days. Do very large WC before every treatment.

After that, the only things I can suggest that your not doing is to up your normal WC schedule to every other day and vacuum the bottom each time. And as long as you have your WC water in a barrel, throw in a bubbler. It can't hurt and it's such an easy thing to do.

[RGDiscus]

Thank you! I just sent them an email. I’ll increase my water change regime to every other day. What is the general conscious of using a python to do the changes straight from tap and adding prime at the same time? This would make water changes much easier for me.

[peewee1]

I too ordered on Liz's recommendation. I'm assuming their prices are favorable to the lfs? There were sold out of baby brine eggs, however.

[RGDiscus]

I too ordered on Liz's recommendation. I'm assuming their prices are favorable to the lfs? There were sold out of baby brine eggs, however.

I was looking at jack watley’s website and Liz’s recommendation is much cheaper compared to watley.

[peewee1]

I was looking at jack watley’s website and Liz’s recommendation is much cheaper compared to watley.

True,because of the years of forum posts and the posters experience I have changed several methods over the past year. I had never ordered from Jehmo before, for example, but also I have increased my daily water change from 100% per week to about 150% per week. Freeze dry black worms I now order from Al. I even bought one of those TDS gadgets last week and got the KH test kit. I have come from the dark ages of discus raising all in the past 1 year. There is a wealth of knowledge, as the say, to be had here.

[LizStreithorst]

I too ordered on Liz's recommendation. I'm assuming their prices are favorable to the lfs? There were sold out of baby brine eggs, however.

I buy my BBS eggs from Brine Shrimp Direct.

[peewee1]

I buy my BBS eggs from Brine Shrimp Direct.

Thanks, I visited the web store. Of the many varieties offered which have you found best? Premium, grade A, economy, 65% hatch, shell free, or San Francisco?

[fljones3]

Premium BBS is worth the extra cost in my opinion, Norm. There are several posts of assistance on BBS on my F1’s fry and grow-outs thread.
BTW, Jehmco is a fantastic business. Never had a bad experience with them.

Thanks, I visited the web store. Of the many varieties offered which have you found best? Premium, grade A, economy, 65% hatch, shell free, or San Francisco?

[bluelagoon]

Thank you! I just sent them an email. I’ll increase my water change regime to every other day. What is the general conscious of using a python to do the changes straight from tap and adding prime at the same time? This would make water changes much easier for me.

With discus or any other fish for that matter and large WC's above 30% it's best to use aged aerated water. Not many folks can get away without doing so. From what I've gathered over the years here on SD large frequent WC's are essential to raise large healthy discus "long term". Some folks will get away for a year or two with a lot less new water but you can see it after the discus mature and the issues that are more compounded along the way. Either PH swings or concentrated gases will be in tap water; not good for discus. Larger WC's with aeration and the water comes to an equilibrium and not harmful. Pumps to move water and things get easier and less time consuming.

[peewee1]

Premium BBS is worth the extra cost in my opinion, Norm. There are several posts of assistance on BBS on my F1’s fry and grow-outs thread.
BTW, Jehmco is a fantastic business. Never had a bad experience with them.

Thanks, Frank. I have bbs that I got from the lfs so when I see that running low I will get the Premium BBS as you recommend. The shrimp egg company is located in Utah. I suspect that those shrimp are from the Great Salt Lake, except for the San Francisco shrimp.