Discus not only doesn't eat, but swims quickly away from food.

[Fishquake]

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

[Kyla]

my congo tetras recently put into quarantine are terrified of everything, even food. they hate the tank, but its temporary and their reaction is normal.

is ur discus new? when was the last time it ate? what r u feeding? are the lights bright? is there cover? are there other discus? are they eating? are there other dither fish? has it always done this? when did it start? what r the water parameters? tank size? filtration? wc schedule etc

[Fishquake]

Kyla, ms 6" discus is about 6 weeks in my tank. His mate died a couple of weeks ago from a bacterial infection. He only ate when he was initially introduced to the tank, and then only sparingly. I offer blood worms and beef heart. The light on the tank is LED and dims up slowly in the morning and then dims down in the evening. It is not overpowering. There is plenty of cover in the way of some substantial pieces of driftwood. the tank is 100 gallons with 2 Eheim Professional canister filters, a Nextreef MR1 Monster reactor running Purigen and a 60 watt UV sterilizer. Water parameters are perfect, 80% water change every other day. Right now he is the only fish in the tank. Luckily he was a beautiful, fat fish when I got him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Kyla]

have u observed any stringy white feces? could he have a case of internal parasites? that is quite a long time without food.

are there other fish in the tank? if so, what species and how many of each? sometimes offering lots of hiding places can encourage hiding, so u could try to make a more open-concept scape.

[warblad79]

I would probably increase the temp to encourage the fish to eat and also you might have to keep the fish in the quarantine tank. Most of the time if my fish doesn't eat chances are its internal parasites. I used medicated fish food to treat it.

[ESXiGuy]

I would probably increase the temp to encourage the fish to eat and also you might have to keep the fish in the quarantine tank. Most of the time if my fish doesn't eat chances are its internal parasites. I used medicated fish food to treat it.

So how do you treat internal parasites with medicated food if the fish doesn't eat? :(

[Fishquake]

86902

Raised temp to 88, treated first with Furan 2, then Metro and Epsom salt. No change. looks healthy, doesn't hide, just wont eat.

[warblad79]

So how do you treat internal parasites with medicated food if the fish doesn't eat? :(

That's why you need to increase the temp to encourage the fish to eat. Because medicated food is more effective

[Fishquake]

He won't eat.

[sdrexler078]

Fill out the questionnaire. It'll help us have better understanding of what's going on

[Vyvid]

I'm certainly not a discus expert but in the animal kingdom many animals that have been attacked by more dominate animals when eating can actually develop a fear of food by association (think Pavlov's dog). I'm not saying this is what's happened but I imagine in can happen with fish as well.

[Kyla]

if u see symptoms of internal parasites (white stringy feces) and u need to treat a fish that wont eat u can:

a) add meds to the water and hope they r absorbed via gills etc

or

b) pipette a 3% epsom and medication solution orally into the fish's gut

conway explains how in his video on internal parasites:
http://youtu.be/vBe4_bhKYKo

but it may not be wise to treat the fish if it doesnt have symptoms... if it is still strong and appears healthy (no sunken belly, no sunken forehead) it may be refusing food for other reasons.

u can try to "scent" the food with garlic to make it more appealing. i woukd try other foods too. and if it is not losing weight i would question whether it is maybe eating while you arent looking.

and although they dont typically like being alone, i dont know whether that alone would be the cause. it should still be eating... my lone discus in QT still eat. but there is something to be said for having other bold fish attack the food and prompt shy fish to eat.

[bluelagoon]

Maybe he's not sick and just adjusting to his new tank.My 8" discus took almost three months to eat and get used to his new surroundings.

[ESXiGuy]

That's why you need to increase the temp to encourage the fish to eat. Because medicated food is more effective

How high a temp can a Discus handle? Got a sick Discus that seems to swim around ok but just doesnt want to eat.

[Kyla]

Maybe he's not sick and just adjusting to his new tank.My 8" discus took almost three months to eat and get used to his new surroundings.

+1
ive also had fish that took anlong time to really settle in.

[warblad79]

how high a temp can a discus handle? Got a sick discus that seems to swim around ok but just doesnt want to eat.

92f

[Fishquake]

He has no obvious signs of illness. No stringy feces, no bloating, no popeye. He looks fine. Just won't eat. Just confounding. Nice to hear that others have experienced this as well. I'm thinking it's just going take some time.