New baby fish not eating (1 out of 5)

[OldJoan]

Hi, We are 15 months into having an aquarium and 7 weeks into being discus owners. I posted my question yesterday and was told to post it here with the questionnaire and that I have many issues with our setup. :(

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE

Problem

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

8/25 got 5 babies (bout half dollar size) from a local breeder. Is there anything that can be done for the one that doesn't seem to want to join the party? Or is it a case of it is what it is and wait til it dies? (very depressing option)

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).

1 baby out of 5, dark color, cannot see it eating, hides 99% of the time. I do not know if it poops or not because he hides under a plant. Another baby looks dark, is very shy and last night finally came out to eat from the bottom with the other fish. The other 3 babies are up and about and begging with the rest.

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


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
75 gal tank
We have 12 discus. 1 is 4", 2 are 3", 4 are 2.5" all from LFS. Plus 5 dollar sized babies from a local breeder. I don't know the ages.
3 corys, 6 otocinclus, and about 12 tetras. Have had most of them for over a year.
We have a 29 gal tank that we can start up when needed as the fish grow larger.

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
We do a weekly 40% water change. I remove all plants and driftwood and thoroughly vacuum.

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
Started with 29 gallon tank over a year ago. Wanted discus so we upgraded to 75 gal tank beginning of July. Gradually increased temperature from 78 to 82 to prep for getting first 2 discus on 7/13. Plants, driftwood, rocks, 1" or less fine gravel substrate.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
Do not age water.

8. Parameters and water source;

We just got the kit with all the bottles and everything tests out ok.

- temp _81.9-83.5____

- ph _7.6 - 7.8____

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading __(have this at home)__

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 __0__

- municipal water __100%__

- RO water __0__


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
5 babies were added 8/25. Added a Java fern a week before.

10. 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. I will try to get a pic of the little guy tonight. I have a picture of the tank which shows one of the peach colored babies in the background but I have no idea how to “Add an Image from Url”.
We feed twice a day - start with some tetra flakes for the tetras, then some Hikari discus pellets (very small pellets, not sure if they should be called pellets). For dinner they get flakes, pellets, and each night a different frozen cube of blood worms, cube for discus, beef heart, cyclops, or brine shrimp. I would like your opinion on this as well. I rarely feed the beef heart because it is so messy and I'm not sure if I should be feeding them cyclops (this was at the recommendation of someone at the LFS).

[timmy82]

Mate just to start off I'd start up that 29g and just keep the new young ones in their. Bare bottom at lots of water changes and feeding good quality food at least 3 - 4 times a day the more smaller amounts the better. The small ones will be stressed and with many other various size discus they may get pushed away. They will go better in their own little group in their own tank. Search some of the threads for growing young and there will be alot of your answers their.

[450rdawg]

^+1. Totally agree. They need to be in an aquarium by themselves. I just got my first batch of half dollar sized babies a couple of weeks ago. There are 3 of them and I have them in a 10 gallon tank. I feed them 4 times a day and do 100% water changes every day. The smaller tank makes the water changes much easier. One of mine was a bit shy for almost a week but he has came around and is now eating like a champ.

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Joan,

I totally agree with Timmy and Dawg. The littlest guys need their own tank. So here's how to set it up in order to get the best results:

1) Paint the bottom and back of the tank with white paint.

2) Add a sponge filter, a heater (set to 84) and an air stone - nothing else!

3) Fill the tank and let it run with the filter and air stone for several hours, then gently scoop your babies out of the 75 using a small plastic bowl or bucket (kids sand bucket type thing). Moving them this way won't add stress like using a net would.

4) If it was me, I'd also move 2 of the 2.5" discus into the tank. It will give them a sense of a larger group and the 2.5" aren't so large that they'll steal all the food.

5) Leave a light on near the tank during the day, no need for an actual tank light for now.

6) Feed them at least 4 times a day, more if you can do it up to 6 times a day. They can have the tetra flakes, discus flakes when you can get them, beefheart, freeze dried blackworms or bloodworms and the pellet food. No need for the other items (especially the frozen bloodworms) but feel free to offer those foods once a week after they all start eating really well. You'll know they're eating well when their stomachs start bulging.

7) If possible, do a 50% water change in the morning after they eat their first meal, and then a 75%-90% water change at night after their frozen beefheart feeding. They can have freeze dried worms as a late night snack without too much danger of fouling the water.... mine LOVE that snack after their water change.

Your sponge filter will gradually seed itself and cycle, but there's no need to worry too much about it since you'll be doing the large water changes every day. With such a small tank it's very quick and easy to do them...just make sure you don't skip a day!

On a side note, you'll want to increase your water changes on the 75g and also add the other foods to the feedings if you want good growth from the remaining discus. Shoot for 50% WC every other day and you should be good.

[OldJoan]

Wow, thank you everybody. I can't wait to see bulging bellies. When I start up the 29 gal, will I use any of the water from the 75 gal? My husband and I both work, so all these feedings will be hard unless we do 2 feedings in the evening. I might be able to get the neighbor lady to give the baby tank a feeding.

[strawberryblonde]

Nope, no need to use water from the 75 tank. You want to start out with totally clean water! Many people have heard here and there that using the tank water helps with adding beneficial bacteria, but it's not true at all. By using 100% fresh water you'll be starting them off with zero icky stuff. =)

For the feedings, you can purchase a small auto feeder and give them flakes and pellets for 2 feedings during the day. So it would look like this:

A.M. - First feeding is flakes or pellets, then just before leaving for work, stick a cube of freeze dried blackworms to the glass and head out the door.

11am - 12pm - auto feed flakes or pellets

2pm - 3pm - another flake or pellet meal

5pm - 6pm - Beefheart Cube (before water change)

8pm - Stick another worm cube to the side of the tank (after water change)

That should keep them fat and happy and won't foul the water too much during the day since the beefheart is the big offender and that will be just before the nightly water change. =)

[OldJoan]

I'm making my list. I'm excited. Are you allowed to recommend brand of airstone & auto feeder? Best source for each? I'm kind of anxious & might go to LFS on way home.

[strawberryblonde]

I don't have any recommendations, but your LFS should be able to advise you on which auto feeder will work best for you. Just don't let him sell you the most expensive one, ok? LOL

For air stones, all you really need is a small one and a small air pump to operate both the sponge filter and the air stone. My air stone is about 1 inch long and 1/2 inch wide. I connected to the airline tubing, then tucked it underneath the heater (place it under the heater and run the tubing near the suction cup to help hold it in place) so that it wouldn't float. It doesn't just provide air, it also helps to circulate the heat from the heater...whee!

Here's a picture of how the air stone set up looks in my tanks. I do the same thing on all my tanks and it works like a charm:

79995

[OldJoan]

Thanks again for being so helpful. I will give it all a go.

[Tazalanche]

Good evening Joan. Sorry for not providing all of that information last night, but I didn't want to take the other thread off topic to get all of your tank details. I'm glad to see they got you pointed in the right direction. You're in very good hands with the people in this forum.

On a side note, be sure to look over the sponsor section when you have free time. Aside from the great quality discus you can get from the sponsors, some also sell supplies & fish food. We regularly order supplies from kensfish.com because they are a sponsor, provide great service, free shipping for orders over $75 & are regularly cheaper than amazon for the items we need.

Good luck with raising your new fishy family!

[timmy82]

Toni has it covered, I run a similar feeding / water change as Toni but have a fair bit of auto systems working for me as I work 7 days away 7 days home. So water is an over flow system auto water for 10min 3 times a day averaging 30% + each time on my growing tanks. Auto feeder 4 times a day and the missus does a feeding or 2 with FDBW or BH as well as tank cleans. When I'm home everything is multiplied they will get many more feeds a day and larger water changes. ect. I see aprox 1" a month growth from fry for almost 2 months then it seems to slow a fraction. Juts moved some that hatched mid march and they 9 cm and almost as thick as your little finger (close aprox 1cm - 1.5)