Introduced my first discus in my tank - refusing to eat- need advise please.

[Sidlas]

Hi All,
First of all i would like to thank everyone for making such a big society for keeping Discus - i just started to keep discus and im sure i will be able to find all right answers in here and share my own experience.

i bought 4 Discus on Monday ( 6 days ago) they are about 3-3 1/2 inch, and so far they haven't eaten anything - i tried Tetra Prime granules, bloodworm, a little bit of beef heart mixture
but looks like they are not interested in anything at all. at start i thought that's normal until i spotted that they have white long poo which many other places refer as hex/worms/disease so now im not really sure should i treat them with some sort of medicine or should i wait a bit longer and let them settle in more?
They are not sitting in corner all the time, most of the time they will move around the tank but still a bit shy

Im doing WC every day about 25% my PH is sitting around 7-7.5 and i keep temperature around 27c

See pictures bellow - maybe someone can spot something?

Many thanks.
http://i62.tinypic.com/4r8e1g.jpghttp://i61.tinypic.com/2qn2xzp.jpghttp://i61.tinypic.com/9pwdia.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/30stz5f.jpghttp://i57.tinypic.com/2csb68h.jpg

[dirtyplants]

What are your water parameters? All of your fish look dark, eyes a little bit dull, are you aging your water and are you using tap water? If so what are you treating with? How long has your tank been up? white spots on glass or on fish? I can not tell by picture if it looks segmented, but have you treated for tape? I would be either treating for tape or for flags. It does not seem segmented but honestly I can't tell from my lap top.

[Susie]

One thought, temp sounds a little low. I keep mine at 30 degrees centigrade. That sure looks like white poo to me.

[Sidlas]

Thanks for replays!

My water is quite hard - using API test kit it shows GH 120, KH 120, PH 7,5 Nitrate 0
Im filling 25L barrels with tap water then adding API stress coat and then leave them for about 2-3 days before adding to my tank.

My tank been running about 1- 1 , 1/2 month

and i haven't treated them for tape or any other worms.

White spots is on glass, i was trying to spot any on my fish but there is none.

Water temperature just adjusted to 28 and will gradually it increase to 30 in next 2 days

im planning to buy 75L of RO water tomorrow and mix it with my tap water on 60%RO vs 40% Tap and do a 50% water change? would that could help?

Many Thanks

[pcsb23]

The fish are stressed. Check ammonia and nitrite levels before anything else. No need for RO water at this time.

[dirtyplants]

Yes Paul's comment on RO is correct, RO is not necessary and consistency is more an issue. My water pH is 7.8. first step is to get you water quality correct and consistent, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates should be monitored, age your water for pH differences. Do frequent WC.

[discuspaul]

6 days in: - they are not yet comfortable in their new surroundings and likely stressed. Give them more time.
Increasing the temp as you're doing may be helpful in improving their appetite.
What was the source of your discus - are you satisfied you got them from a known quality discus supplier ?

[rickztahone]

All the clean water advice is great but there is definite white feces here which points to internal parasites. Shouldn't meds be in order?

[GeauxDiscus]

I would suggest deworming all new fish with metro, prazi, and levamisole - especially if their poo looks like that. (You can combine the metro and prazi, but I'd give some space between those and the levamisole treatment.

[musicmarn1]

Dont treat in planted tank if you treat, use hospital tank right guys? And im just checking my husbandry here, but the darkest looking one has white poop, isnt that often intestinal lining from severe stress? Not always parasites? If so knowing the ammonia etc for sure step one and I dont know enough about parasite id so I started taking poop to my vet they charge almost nithing to check it for me :)

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk

[pcsb23]

All the clean water advice is great but there is definite white feces here which points to internal parasites. Shouldn't meds be in order?The fish are stressed. Treating will stress them more and whilst it may result in a short term improvement it may just as well not. The issue(s) causing the stress have to be resolved before medicating otherwise once the treatment finishes the fish will just get stressed again.

The basic husbandry is at fault here and needs to be addressed first.

[discuspaul]

The fish are stressed. Treating will stress them more and whilst it may result in a short term improvement it may just as well not. The issue(s) causing the stress have to be resolved before medicating otherwise once the treatment finishes the fish will just get stressed again.

The basic husbandry is at fault here and needs to be addressed first.

Fully agree.

[Sidlas]

Thanks for your ideas/suggestions, Temp is up to 29C and I covered tank with a black blanket so they can't see any movement/light in my living room - i think that should help them a bit more as there is TV and computer.

I will give them another week as i was reading that few other people discus started to eat only after 2-3 weeks.

Which food i should try to give them first? I got Tetra Prime ( granules) , frozen beef heart mix, frozen discus mix (turkey heart based), frozen discus mix (brine shrimp base) and frozen blood worms.

So far i tried all of them and there was no interest in any of them - which of them might be the most attractive for them to start eat or should i get some live food?

I asked previous owner what food he was giving to them and he said it was something from ebay - Discus Granular food for Tropical Aquarium fish 500g Analytical constituents:
Crude Protein 54%
Crude Fat 13%
Crude fibre 0.4%
Ash 11.1%

Nutritional Additives:
Vit. A: 28,000 I.U./kg
Vit. D3: 2,800 I.U./kg
Vit. E: 250 mg/kg
Vit. C: 375 mg/kg
Phosphorus 1.7%
Calcium 2.7%
Sodium 0.8%

Preservatives: E280
Antioxidants: E324, E321
Colourants: E124

Composition: Fish Meal, Wheat, Fish Oil, Wheat gluten, Premix, Yeast


He said he's discus before i bought them was on this one and they was eating it fine - should i get it and give it a try?

Also i have inspected white discus poop under microscope - it's a cheap one and was a bit dusty but i managed to spot some sort of eggs which looked similar to this under x400:
http://i57.tinypic.com/qn0ayo.jpg

I will try to clean my microscope today and will try to make some pictures of what i saw.


Regards

[pcsb23]

How did you collect the sample?

[Sidlas]

HOT UPDATE!

Just got a fresh discus white poop and got it under microscope x400 and luckily i had my camera prepared! pcsb23 i saw it falling of from my discus and i grabbed it with tweezers.

I discovered a lot of small moving creatures which i suspect is hexamita - im not an expert and need confirmation! I uploaded video and few pictures!

Take a look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKTZZCA5oeE&feature=youtu.be

and here is few pictures - i don't know what is that odd black ring, might be some reflection from microscope?
http://tinypic.com/r/28vpopw/8
http://tinypic.com/r/bbqeo/8
http://tinypic.com/r/30my7mu/8

many thanks

[Sidlas]

I saw discus dropped one and i grabbed it with tweezers! i uploaded video how these little one's move in that poop just need a moderator to review my post.

[Second Hand Pat]

I saw discus dropped one and i grabbed it with tweezers! i uploaded video how these little one's move in that poop just need a moderator to review my post.

Your post is visible now.

[pcsb23]

In the video it does look like a flagellate of some sort, impossible to be specific without staining etc .. but realistically it is likely to be spironucleus vortens. Basically because the fish is stressed it's immune system has failed and spiro has taken it's chance. You absolutely must sort out the reason why they are stressed other wise treatment won't work. Metronidazole is the drug of choice and treatment in a QT tank. Temp normal, i.e. 28C (82f), daily water changes and a simple sponge filter will do. Treat for 10 days and add Epsom salts at 1 tablespoon per 40 litres (10 US gallons), replacing any removed with water changes.

[Sidlas]

This one is the one iv got - is this will do the job? Tetra Medica HexaEx

Tetra Medica HexaEx is a highly effective remedy for endoparasitic flagellates.

Areas of application: Endoparasitic flagellates (Hexamita, Spironucleus, etc.), which are commonly found in the intestines of American cichlids
Active ingredient: 2-Amino-5-nitrothiazole 1 ml of solution contains: 50.1 mg of 2-Amino-5-nitrothiazole
Remedy for freshwater ornamental fish

I cant find anywhere Metronidazole - any suggestions where to get it in UK? found plenty of articles how to use it but none where to get it..

I think stress might be from transportation - had a 1H drive back home.

Today i have set up Juwel Rio 240 bear bottom tank with my canister filter (1200LP/H) from display tank ( had 2 of them) and 300W juwel heater. Temp is sett to 28 - should i add plenty of oxygen? bought powerful pump today as well

I never had hospital or QT tank so im not sure should i add something else to reduce stress and make some hiding space's or this should be ok? I haven't got any fake plants left as i changed everything to live plants but i can get some tomorrow before adding discus.
http://tinypic.com/r/24estwi/8

Sorry for so many newbie questions but im getting really desperate and this time wanna get everything right... :(

Many Thanks,

Regards,

Aldis

[GeauxDiscus]

Paul is right on all counts. Also, AWESOME job with the microscope and video. That was cool to watch. You're taking a good proactive approach.

[pcsb23]

Metronidazole is script only in the UK, believe it or not it is a criminal offence to get it any other way. The Tetra treatment should work, I've no personal experience using it but am aware if the active ingredient so definitely worth a shot.

All discus carry spiro, normally their immune system keeps it in check. All we can do as aquarists is to try and push the balance back when they get sick. No need for extra air, just plenty of clean water. How many fish are you treating btw?

[Sidlas]

4 Discus, they are about 3 to 3 1/2 inch big that's why i choose decent tank so each of them got more then 10 gallons of space

[bbcican]

you can find Metro at Amazon.com, 5g around $ 7.


I think the Metro need to be used alone, and the temp is better to be at 93f least.

[metsfan421]

Hi All,
First of all i would like to thank everyone for making such a big society for keeping Discus - i just started to keep discus and im sure i will be able to find all right answers in here and share my own experience.

i bought 4 Discus on Monday ( 6 days ago) they are about 3-3 1/2 inch, and so far they haven't eaten anything - i tried Tetra Prime granules, bloodworm, a little bit of beef heart mixture
but looks like they are not interested in anything at all. at start i thought that's normal until i spotted that they have white long poo which many other places refer as hex/worms/disease so now im not really sure should i treat them with some sort of medicine or should i wait a bit longer and let them settle in more?
They are not sitting in corner all the time, most of the time they will move around the tank but still a bit shy

Im doing WC every day about 25% my PH is sitting around 7-7.5 and i keep temperature around 27c

See pictures bellow - maybe someone can spot something?

Many thanks.
http://i62.tinypic.com/4r8e1g.jpghttp://i61.tinypic.com/2qn2xzp.jpghttp://i61.tinypic.com/9pwdia.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/30stz5f.jpghttp://i57.tinypic.com/2csb68h.jpg

What size is the quarantine tank you are putting them into?

[Sidlas]

What size is the quarantine tank you are putting them into?

They are in 240L bare bottom tank

Now it's day 3 with treatment - Tetra Medica HexaEx and Epsom salt

They look less stressed now and one of them was trying to eat some floating plant root but still ignore any other food

Another one tried to eat Tetra Prima granules but still with no luck - he caught one peace but then spit it out :(