sick discus on hunger strike for months,tried everything out there :(

[madmisha]

Greetings and best wishes discus lovers!
i ones again beg for your aid and experience with discus that have gone on 3 months long hunger strikes.
both are fully grown adults,one a wild green who for a while would take food,swallow some but spit most of it and the other arrived to me straight from a farm,and didnt eat since day 1.
the fish are in a 35 gal qt tank,no lighting,connected to a living,working cannister filter.

things ive tried so far are:
JBL Nedol dewormer.
JBL Spirohexol anti hexamita and capilaria.
Pure Metronedazol.
Furan antibiotic.
all meds were given for a period of 10-14 days,with daily 80% water changes.

ive tried all kinds of food - Live brine shrimp,live blood worms,frozen shrimps and worms,tetra discus,sera GVG mix,tropical wild discus pellets.....

and nothing.
now the thinning down is starting to show on them,and ive really exhausted all my options......does anyone have any other ideas?

[Beestie]

They have lasted long enough that you can rule out a disease as the problem and you've dewormed them so its not that either. I would look at the water next. Test your water source for everything. 99% of the time its the water. I would also check the canister if you haven't done that already to make sure there's no rotting food in it. I would leave the bio as is and just replace the floss if its clean. Otherwise I'll rinse the bio in tank water and replace the floss.

Feeding wise I would put in a pellet or two of those bottom feeder pellets for plecos and such. My fish loves them and pick at them till they are gone. Also they won't foul your tank as the don't desolve and will still be there the next day so you can just siphon them out and at a new one.

I'm suspecting high nitrates from your tap.

[madmisha]

If only,the nitrates from my tap are about 1-5 MG/L
po4 levels are near zero too and obviously no ammonia or nitrite in the water.
PH 7.4
KH 5

[Beestie]

Ai, its never easy is it. Can you please post a pic of your setup and fish? It will make it easier to ID any problems.

[Beestie]

Forgot to ask, did you try heat? Heating might help but rather wait for some of the more experienced people. You can fill in the questionnaire so long and some pics will help.
Also post it in the emergency room I got helped there pretty quickly.

[DISCUS STU]

This is always frustrating and a cause of anxiety for me, I'm supposed to be enjoying my hobby. Having thrown the medicine cabinet at this problem at various times I asked an experienced lfs owner if he had any advice on the off chance that I might hear something new.

He recommended Kanamycin Sulfate which treats internal infections. This has worked for me on numerous occasions when I didn't have an answer for this problem. It can be purchased from Angels Plus or at a local lfs from Seachem as Kanacyn. Recommended by someone on the forum to double the dosage for the Seachem stuff.

Best of luck on this, hope it works out for you.

[chuckiesmalls]

Greetings and best wishes discus lovers!
i ones again beg for your aid and experience with discus that have gone on 3 months long hunger strikes.
both are fully grown adults,one a wild green who for a while would take food,swallow some but spit most of it and the other arrived to me straight from a farm,and didnt eat since day 1.
the fish are in a 35 gal qt tank,no lighting,connected to a living,working cannister filter.

things ive tried so far are:
JBL Nedol dewormer.
JBL Spirohexol anti hexamita and capilaria.
Pure Metronedazol.
Furan antibiotic.
all meds were given for a period of 10-14 days,with daily 80% water changes.

ive tried all kinds of food - Live brine shrimp,live blood worms,frozen shrimps and worms,tetra discus,sera GVG mix,tropical wild discus pellets.....

and nothing.
now the thinning down is starting to show on them,and ive really exhausted all my options......does anyone have any other ideas?

Good lordy..this is the things of nightmares and way above my knowledge to help..You probably know way more than me.

I hope they eat soon!

[chuckiesmalls]

This is always frustrating and a cause of anxiety for me, I'm supposed to be enjoying my hobby. Having thrown the medicine cabinet at this problem at various times I asked an experienced lfs owner if he had any advice on the off chance that I might hear something new.

He recommended Kanamycin Sulfate which treats internal infections. This has worked for me on numerous occasions when I didn't have an answer for this problem. It can be purchased from Angels Plus or at a local lfs from Seachem as Kanacyn. Recommended by someone on the forum to double the dosage for the Seachem stuff.

Best of luck on this, hope it works out for you.

Oh yea this stuff although I have it I have never used it. Kind of my silvr bullet bc again..I be always worried about stuff like this..I have it like in case a metro treatment doesn't work but I try to avoid all medications if possible and just do lots of clean water and next step like someone mentioned would be to slowly raise the temp. Meds are a last resort for me usually and it sucks because not being a biologist really has me scratching my head. No experience like hands on experience I guess?

Garlic can entice appetitie sometimes too but I doubt it will work If you have tried all of the above mentioned. SMH...sorry..I have a guy not eating too right now and it sucks big time.

[madmisha]

This is always frustrating and a cause of anxiety for me, I'm supposed to be enjoying my hobby. Having thrown the medicine cabinet at this problem at various times I asked an experienced lfs owner if he had any advice on the off chance that I might hear something new.

He recommended Kanamycin Sulfate which treats internal infections. This has worked for me on numerous occasions when I didn't have an answer for this problem. It can be purchased from Angels Plus or at a local lfs from Seachem as Kanacyn. Recommended by someone on the forum to double the dosage for the Seachem stuff.

Best of luck on this, hope it works out for you.
Well thats a thing i havent tried yet,thanks STU :) might look for the seachem stuff.


Forgot to ask, did you try heat? Heating might help but rather wait for some of the more experienced people. You can fill in the questionnaire so long and some pics will help.
Also post it in the emergency room I got helped there pretty quickly.
yeah the temprature is 32 C for a while now...and there really isnt much to show in the setup,an empty,barebottom,clean glass tank with 2 pipes going to the cannister and a heater and an air pump.all there is to it.
no external symptoms on the discus either,other then one of them starting to thin down a bit,they look pretty good...

[Beestie]

Hope he starts eating you out of house and home soon.

[DISCUS STU]

I've successfully treated this with a combination of Metro at 90-92 f. for 6-10 days in combination with Kanamycin.

[madmisha]

hey guys,its pretty much a miracle.....i have pretty much given up on meds,didnt dose anything for the last month and just changed water ones a week....but yesterday a guy on a local forum was giving away his fish,which included a nice wild green discus,who i decided to toss in the QT tank with the hungering discus.....

fed the new guy bloodworms,and today,after not eating for over health an year,the discus that was on hunger strike has suddenly jumped on the worms,munching on them like it hasnt eaten in months which it litterally didnt......now this is why you dont give up hope while its alive i guess!!! woohoo :D