Stunted???

[angmat]

Got both these guys approx 4 months ago along with 3 other discus. All 5 discus are in a 50g tank, temp 29 deg and WC 30% every 2 days. fed bloodwoorm, beef heart mix and brine/mysis shrimp. tank mates are two corys, there were about 10 neon tetras that "went missing"

the brown/turq in pic 1 was doing well and he seemed like he was a fast grower. 6 weeks ago he stopped eating all together. treated with prazi when i saw some white poo and although he seemed to have improve and become more active i did not see him eat, finally he has started eating but I am guessing he is now stunted due to the lack of food. please have a look at the pic and let me know what you guys think.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/4295/imag0277iq.jpg

the second discus is a blue diamond, although he eat like a pig and is very active, there has been very little growth. I am also concerned if he has become stunted , please view the pic and let me know.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3148/imag0278m.jpg

[timmy82]

The 1st image isn't much good to look at and make a judgement. The Blue diamond looks healthy and from the regiment written above your doung the right thing. They could be that they are just females? If they are looking normal and interacting with the other discus I wouldn't get too worried. If not I would take the two in concern and do some treatments prozi or flagile to clear any worms or interal parisites. Give them a day or two rest with water changes each day then a run of PP, then on 7th day after the 1st worming give a follow up and then another PP follow up.

[sammy]

Stunted growth seems to be a kiss of death to many discus collectors and i'm not sure why. Would I knowingly buy a stunted growth fish? Probobly not...however I have a tank of all stunted growth discus that is beautiful. AND some have paired off and have healthy fantastic offspring. I think, and i'm sure someone here could explain it better then me, that stunted growth differs from unhealthy famished discus. I have healthy stunted growth fish that have thick bodies and healthy eyes...they just never grow past 3.5- 4 inches. Also I have seen that the stunting isn't often from what you do as far as caretaking after you purchase them. What I mean is that it is crucial that you buy from a reputable breeder who started them out right. I think your fish look healthy. I have found some stunted growth fish ARE VERY unhealthy and have short lives but I don't see those charachteristics in your fish. There is another current thread right now about identifying a strain. I wouldn't touch that fish for anything nor would I let it near my tanks. That fish shows unhealthy charachteristics. Look at it - the belly, the eyes. Compare it to yours. Your fish look awesome.

[TURQ64]

If the overall relationship of the fish's confirmation is good, then the fish's genetics could be the larger reason for not growing larger than 4 inches or so...a zillion cycles of inbreeding can yeild some colorful, albeit small fish..just a thought, Gary

[camuth8]

Doesn't look stunted to me. If they're interacting well with the other discus, they should be fine.

[cjr8420]

the turq looks football shaped i cant tell the eye at the pic angle.BD have a very big eye to body ratio i say they are both stunted.check this out helps understand the eye part http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?49201-Eye-Size-Explained. stunted doesnt mean sick just it will never reach its max potential

[angmat]

thanks to everyone who replied. The Blue diamond has not had any illness issues, its just the growth rate that was concerning. Either way I will keep an eye on both and see how it goes. will post some more pics soon if i can get a better shot of both of them.