Discus in quarantine losing appetite

[Johanna]

Definitely learning a lot, I have never before gone to all this trouble treating a sick fish. ONce again I have to say this forum is just GOLDEN, you can find answers here to almost any question. It's just sad that the use of antibiotics will no longer be an option for me after this one time, if I ever needed to do a similar treatment again. From what I've seen so far I think I should have isolated and started treating the fish earlier and not let him get in such bad shape.

I will have to google gavaging, never heard of that procedure before. I wonder if a feeding tube for small puppies could be used instead as I have quite a lot of experience using those with newborns. It would be a huge stress for the fish though, so I think it really must be left as the last ditch effort. I hope the interest in food today was a good sign.

[brewmaster15]

https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...ghlight=Gavage

https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...without-eating

[Johanna]

Of course, the relevant information is here, no need for google

I started the new Camacell treatment for the sick fish yesterday and today he ate a little! He immediately came up as I put some artemia/seafood mix in there and carefully picked some artemia shrimps and I saw him actually eating them. No adverse effects from the medication so far.

The feces are still a weird orange-red colour. Any possible explanation for this?

[jwcarlson]

Could be orange/red due to the brine shrimp.

[Johanna]

Could be orange/red due to the brine shrimp.

Could be. Other discus in the qt tank have normal coloured feces even when they eat brine shrimp, which I think is strange if the weird colour just because of that but the others eat much more and also dry foods.

Tomorrow I will move the other discus to the main tank. I'm excited! But also a bit scared and hoping it all goes well. If so, then I will move the problem fish back to qt from the hospital tank on friday/saturday (continuing Camacell until then). He's looking quite good! I have seen him eat twice today. Only small amounts, but he comes up to the feeding every time, takes a few bites and doesn't spit them back out. Otherwise, he looks and acts quite normal now. He's still very thin in the stomach area... probably can't even eat much yet. I'll post a video on the progress when I have the time.

[brewmaster15]

Good luck Johanna!

[Johanna]

So the new fish from qt have been moved to the main tank, all is well so far! Here are a couple of videos of the problem fish. One is a closeup of the general appearance. Looks quite normal to me now, but I'd like the opinion of someone more experienced... do you see anything of concern? And the second one is the strange coughing fit when I feed him. Any ideas why he's doing that? The breathing seems to be back to normal otherwise. He's eating just a little bit every day, but it's often interrupted or delayed by 'coughing'.

[brewmaster15]

He definitely looks a lot better. I hope he continues to recover for you! Still pinched in the belly but if he is eating that should fill out. Fingers crossed.

[Johanna]

Today he ate quite a lot, perhaps more than I have ever seen him eat since I got him! I introduced frozen bloodworms and he really liked them. I've tried to avoid feeding them but I think at this point whatever goes as long as he eats!

Thank you so much, Al, for all the support and advice!

[Johanna]

Moved the fish back to the 125 l quarantine tank a couple of days ago. It went well, he settled in almost immediately, started eating and doing normal discus things. For now, I'm keeping the light off because he's still quite skittish when eating. He now eats bloodworms, artemia and also Prodac FD beef heart which was a new discovery for me and all my discus love it! Looks like he's going to be ok I think, instead of being labelled the problem fish, I should start calling this one The Miracle Fish because I was 99,8% sure he was a goner when I first put him into the hospital tank.

[Johanna]

Unfortunately I have to return here and let you know that things took a turn for the worse with this fish. He lived his best life for a week or so in the bigger tank, eating really well and looking healthy. Then I started noticing the tail drooping again, and quite fast - over a couple of days - he just lost the normal swimming functions again. Listing to the left side, tail dragging etc. Despite all that, he kept eating with a good appetite so at a friend's advice, I decided to try one last idea and treat with eSHa hexamita. I started the treatment yesterday, but the fish is not improving, just looks darker and more sick than before so I have decided to let it go. Very disappointing, discus are such great personalities and this one proved to be a fighter.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Johanna, a very hard decision but most likely best for the fish. You tried really hard and so sorry it didn't work out in the end.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Unfortunately I have to return here and let you know that things took a turn for the worse with this fish. He lived his best life for a week or so in the bigger tank, eating really well and looking healthy. Then I started noticing the tail drooping again, and quite fast - over a couple of days - he just lost the normal swimming functions again. Listing to the left side, tail dragging etc. Despite all that, he kept eating with a good appetite so at a friend's advice, I decided to try one last idea and treat with eSHa hexamita. I started the treatment yesterday, but the fish is not improving, just looks darker and more sick than before so I have decided to let it go. Very disappointing, discus are such great personalities and this one proved to be a fighter.

Johanna, I was really hoping for a better outcome for you. You truly did your best for him.

[Johanna]

Ok now I'm panicking just a little. Look at the white pigeon blood. Suddenly having swimming difficulties and tilting to the side. A bit similar to the problem fish that died but not sinking, rather the opposite. Doesn't look bloated. But he is very greedy and often eats so much that his stomach bulges. I just saw him poop and it looked normal.

Also one of the angel boys is very bloated since yesterday evening and not eating. I think he ate almost the whole tubifex cube and maybe it's causing a blockage. I'm trying epsom salt bath in a bucket for a couple of hours for now to see if it helps.

I wonder if it's something about the food with the discus as well. Either tubifex or the freeze dried beefheart that I'm suspecting, have left them out of the menu for now.

What to do with the discus???

[brewmaster15]

I would do nothing yet Johanna. It looks like theres some breeding action going on in the tank. In that video the very peppered pigeon has the look and behavior of spawning.. it and the white pigeon maybe an item or others .. give it a few days and just watch.