Can a fish be bullied to death?

[Jack L]

one of the Discus has been dark and facing the back of the tank for a while. it is one of the smaller ones.

when it comes out to eat he is bullied back to his corner.
when it comes to mingle, it is bullied back to his corner.

his one eye is a bit cloudy and sunken, not sure why, but its looking better. the way he hides i can't see it often.

all others seem healthy.

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any suggestions.

[pitdogg2]

Short answer. YES. Stress can be a killer

[gators111]

Yep, that one is the low man on the totem pole and is being bullied so much that he has probably gotten sick from being so stressed out. You probably need to put him in a hospital tank and nurse him back to health. Then try reintroducing him. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the others, as one of them may now become the target victim. Remember, discus are cichlids, and develop a heirarchy within the tank.

[Rapture]

This was happening to one of mine for a while, then I tested my water and found high nitrates, he perked up when I got those taken care of and now he picks fights with the tank boss.

[Filip]

How many discus did you have Jack ?
As i recall you have a decend number of discus in your batch and they have been living together in your tank for a longer period without any issues .
If this is the case I would also suspect some kind of disease or weakness with the bullied one , that has triggered or provoked the bully behaviour from the rest of the batch .

[John_Nicholson]

While it can happen it seldom does. If it happens it normally means that something else is going on. Like the fish might not have as healthy ad you thought it was to start with.

-john

[BmoreBraap]

With my very limited experience I agree with John, the bullying unless very extreme and unaddressed over a few weeks could kill a fish, but it is typically bullying coupled with other issues that do the fish in. I had a recent 3" fire red die from what I thought was bullying, but it turns out stress from bullying and then big PH swings from me not aging my water did him in. I did a 80% water change when he was stressed and up in the corner not eating for a day like you said, he was in the same spot dead the next day.

[Jack L]

How many discus did you have Jack ?
As i recall you have a decend number of discus in your batch and they have been living together in your tank for a longer period without any issues .
If this is the case I would also suspect some kind of disease or weakness with the bullied one , that has triggered or provoked the bully behaviour from the rest of the batch .

11, yeah, they all started together as nickel size fry

this one and another one should probably be culled based on their eyes alone. but my children won't let me. i bought them as babies and noticed early mismatched eyes. one side is good, the other looks like about 1/2 the size and its white inside. i think maybe they are blind in one eye based on how they go for food and lean over to use their good eye. especially the one snakeskin. this blue diamond just hangs in the back shadows and really only comes out to eat.

i looked at some of my tank progress pictures, he is always in the back in those pics too.

i'm not sure why i noticed it more lately, probably all the val dying off made is easy to see, whereas before he'd be hidden in val

[Filip]

I would try to negotiate their removal with my kids and family Jack , IIWY.
If he is bullied hard the only thing you could expect from him in the future is just more health issues and potential diseases.