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Thread: One of my fish stopped eating...

  1. #1
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default One of my fish stopped eating...

    Mainly posting this to see if anyone would take a different course of action?

    1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
    8 discus grown from 2.5" from Hans in mid-February (so roughly a year old now, probably?). All of them with the exception of one blue diamond are 5". This isn't exactly a new issue because he's starting to act very similarly to my two initial non-eaters which there's some info about in my other threads. A 12-day Metro/93*F treatment shook one of them out of it, the other finally died. The survivor became a massive pig and more or less caught up in the meantime.

    This blue diamond has kind of obviously fallen behind a bit and I think he's looking pretty skinny compared to the others. Trying to think proactively before it becomes worse. I have seen absolutely no bullying or harassment other than some minor pushing each other around rarely. For the most part they all seem very chill. I know that doesn't mean there's not something going on, but I would be very surprised if it were an issue. I noticed awhile back (2-3 weeks?) that I'm not seeing what seems to be the signature blue diamond poops that usually were around. Never have seen anything white or concerning though I don't typically see my fish poop much.


    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).

    Not eating - described above. He's also starting to seem a little more withdrawn and hide-y. He also has one tiny spot on his fin that's been there for... weeks, maybe months... probably unrelated, pic below?

    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

    Nothing since metro (June, I believe), but this fish wasn't symptomatic during that time.

    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    75 gallon, 8x ~5" discus, Stendkers purchased Feb 15, 2022. Some lemon tetras and rummynose tetras as tank mates, added mid-August.

    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    90% aged/pre-heated, every evening


    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    Since January, bare bottom.

    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    Aged 24 hours, tap 7.0 swings to 8.2-8.3 with aeration.

    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 added into tank just before filling, 10 mL

    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 - 85F
    - ph - 8.2 pH

    - ammonia reading - 0

    - nitrite reading - 0

    - nitrate reading - <10 - usually barely barely pink on Aquarium Co-Op test strips, I typically consider it 5 ppm.


    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.
    Nothing since mid-August


    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.
    Homemade beef heart primarily (just 100% beef heart, I freeze it in a sheet and then when I cut that sheet into cubes when I go to use it, I kind of "toss" it in some Garlic Guard), also Al's freeze dried black worms, VibraBites, Cobalt Flakes (the ones with Han's name on them), Hikari Discus BioGold, and very recently (after these symptoms) I started giving some Hikari frozen blood worms and he is the only fish in the tank that doesn't go absolutely crazy for them. I would say the split is 75% beefheart, 20% Al's FDBW, and 5% other which is mostly fed for the dither fish.


    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.
    July:
    20220719_191251.jpg

    July - just showing the non-eater (solid turq/flachen) for later pic
    20220719_191148.jpg

    The rest of these are about two weeks ago:
    20221008_185826.jpg

    20221008_185454.jpg

    20221008_185858.jpg

    Just adding so you can see how much the flachen has grown as compared to the blue diamond, he is now bigger than the BD. The real concern was last night when he wouldn't even eat the blood worms, every other fish in the tank including the dithers are all over the moon about the blood worms. The arrow points at the spot on his fin.

    So what I am planning on doing is moving him to quarantine and raising temp to 93. And probably will do a round of metro on him. I'll probably buy a walmart 10 gallon tank to do this and just put him in the basement by my water change setup. I can pretty easily do 100% changes for him down there. Does that sound like the right thing to do or should I take a different course of action? If he was eating I might try metro in food, but he isn't even really interested at this point. I guess I could try giving him a bit at 93* in his own tank and see if he starts getting interested. Then medicate his feed if he does.
    Last edited by jwcarlson; 10-27-2022 at 04:23 PM.

  2. #2
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Since Metro didn't to the job, I'd try Rid Ick plus. It's what Tammy and Cary both use with great success.
    Mama Bear

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    Administrator jeep's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Have you ever examined their feces under a microscope?

  4. #4
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Liz, to be clear, this fish was just fine before/after metro until recently. Metro was... June-ish. I think I cluttered up my explanation a bit.

    Brian, I have not, but I do have a real microscope and if I find my slides, I could do so. It might be an issue getting his feces, however. Or any feces before it hits the bottom. I fairly rarely see them poop, but I could dedicate some time sitting there and waiting.

    I'll dig out the microscope tonight and hope that I also put slides with it. Or that my wife put them with it wherever she relocated it to!

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    Administrator jeep's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Nice. Let us know what you find. It's just a hunch...

  6. #6
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    What if that particular fish isn't really pooping on account of not having eaten much?

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    Administrator jeep's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Preferably a sample from that fish, but a fresh sample from any of them will do.

  8. #8
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    To me the discus looks fine. Don’t BD grow slower than PB. For that don’t all blues grow slower than PB? What I had with my Hans was similar to this but it happened when they were smaller. One would just stop eating. I’d put in qt and 3 out of 4 came right back to eating. I took it for stress from the other discus or possibly hormones from the other discus just stop them from eating. Once removed they came right back to eating and continued growing.

  9. #9
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    I don't think he doesn't look OK, I think he does. Though in person he is absolutely skinnier than the others. Once I get a filter seeded, I'm going to pop him into a QT and see what happens with him. Will also see what happens in the tank (if another one just ends up as low man on the totem pole).

  10. #10
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Ok, plopped him into QT last night after giving it about two weeks for me to really make sure he wasn't eating and it wasn't just me not noticing. It will be 93 overnight if it isn't already. I've got one tablespoon of salt in the 10 gallon and am replacing it at water change (50%/night).

    He hasn't eaten that I've seen. But last night and sometime during the day he pooped.
    Unfortunately I couldn't find my microscope last night, but I located it tonight. Since I didn't know the age of the poop I just vacuumed it out at water change and will see if I can find some more fresh.
    Here's pictures.

    They look different from each other. One fluffy and one more formed. Not the greatest pictures. Any ideas what this kind of feces could indicate?

    20221115_165751.jpg

    20221115_165748.jpg

    How many days should I give him at 93 to see if he'll eat. I know that it can be stressful being alone too, but am hoping he'll eventually eat? My plan after maybe a week if he doesn't start eating would be to do a round of metro for him?

  11. #11
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Got to say these are the hardest things to figure out for me. About a month ago in my main tank 3 weren’t eating and I finally moved them into my qt. Raised the temp to 90 and treated with metro. First day the biggest was pooing just like that. It stoped about a week in and did start eating some. The other 2 we’re eating great at this time but I never saw their poo. 2 weeks later I’m done treating with metro and believe they are better so lower the temp to 86. Now all 3 are skittish and ones poo looks like thisB6DB11FB-EFA2-4B80-A71C-C9F44E70785A.jpg. So now I’m just waiting to see if this continues. I’m guess if not hex it must be worms?

  12. #12
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    I don't know if fish are among the animals that shed intestinal lining? I know chickens do and if you don't know what you're looking at it sure looks like the poop of something that is going to die.

  13. #13
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    This is a sample of unknown age, but thought I'd look anyway just to knock the rust off of my microscope.

    Pretty sure the big one with red spots is a detritus worm, I don't know what the smaller ones are. In general, I have zero idea what I am looking for if I'm honest. Is there a "fish parasite" chart or something I should be looking for?

    http://www.youtube.com/shorts/MZVywjYanz0
    Not sure if it will embed correctly so here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MZVywjYanz0

    20221116_172202.jpg

    20221116_172014.jpg

    20221116_171846.jpg

    Will try to get some fresher stuff.

    Fish is looking and behaving "fine". But not seeming to be interested in food. It does come up to the front when I go down there to check on it.

  14. #14
    Registered Member Tkuilderd's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Quote Originally Posted by jwcarlson View Post
    This is a sample of unknown age, but thought I'd look anyway just to knock the rust off of my microscope.

    Pretty sure the big one with red spots is a detritus worm, I don't know what the smaller ones are. In general, I have zero idea what I am looking for if I'm honest. Is there a "fish parasite" chart or something I should be looking for?

    http://www.youtube.com/shorts/MZVywjYanz0
    Not sure if it will embed correctly so here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MZVywjYanz0

    20221116_172202.jpg

    20221116_172014.jpg

    20221116_171846.jpg

    Will try to get some fresher stuff.

    Fish is looking and behaving "fine". But not seeming to be interested in food. It does come up to the front when I go down there to check on it.
    Hi there!

    These samples cannot be used. The worms seen in the photos appear to be planaria.
    After having raised Stendkers myself, i would recommend running a full course of levamisole.
    This is a 24 hour treatment on day 1, day 5, and day 13.
    I also recommend keeping aquarium salt in and during treatment add also epsom salt at 1tbs per 10G.
    Our BD grew far slower than the other strains so that doesnt concern me. The fact that he isnt eating is, however, a concern.

    Tammy

  15. #15
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One of my fish stopped eating...

    Hi, Tammy! I have done a course of levamisole, though not quite the way you describe. They have had 24 treatments four times, I think. The last three were close to what you are describing, but not quite. No other fish having the same issues.
    Levamisole seems tough on them, but I can certainly do it again. I would almost say they have never quite eaten the same after the last round of levamisole.
    I too, am not worried about the size, but the eating.
    Will keep up salt and dig out my epsom. Epsom replaced at each water change the same as salt?

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