My fish stopped eating beef heart - advice please.

[Ofer Levy]

Hi all,
I keep Discus and Orinoco Altums in a 200 gallons tank. 6 large Discus and 15 medium size Altums. Water parameters are good, pH 6, soft water, zero Ammonia and generally very happy fish. Last week I made the two weekly 50% water change after feeding my fish with beef heart which they've been eating almost exclusively during the last six months. After 5 hours when I got back from work I could see the Altums aren't happy. Thinking what have I done differently I've realised I forgot to add Discus Buffer to the new water. That meant there was a rise in pH from 6 to 7. Gradually lowered the pH over a few hours and saw the fish are happy again. The following day tried to feed them with beef heart, the Discus ate as usual but the Altums refused to eat. It's been three days and my Altums refuse to touch the beef heart although they happily take chopped earthworms and freeze dried blood worms.
My question is - what can I do in order to get my Altums eat beef heart again.
Thanks in advance,
Levy

[jeep]

Sorry, I can't offer assistance with Altums, but it seems logical that they should return to normal after the water parameters stabilize. The only advice I can offer is to maybe add additional foods to their regular diet. They are hard to find these days, but freeze dried black worms from Australia are a very good food for all fish.

[Alpha40]

Sorry, I can't offer assistance with Altums, but it seems logical that they should return to normal after the water parameters stabilize. The only advice I can offer is to maybe add additional foods to their regular diet. They are hard to find these days, but freeze dried black worms from Australia are a very good food for all fish.

I agree with this, try to change it up.

[Willie]

I have a 110 gallon tank with Orinoco altums and a couple of adult discus. The tank gets lots of water changes. My tap water comes in at pH 8.8 and settles at 7.5 after 24 hours of aeration. The altums are 9" high and growing fast. They eat frozen beefheart, frozen mysis and VibraBites.

I recommend you stop using Discus Buffer. If you monitor your water condition daily, you'll find that your pH fluctuates throughout the week. Discus Buffer will bring pH down initially, but the effect is temporary. It's a phosphate based buffer and phosphates are gradually consumed by bacteria in the water. Your tank pH is likely back to the original reading by the end of the week. You'll find that the fish do better at a high, but more constant, pH.