My discus wont eat

[YZFR1rider]

Ok I just picked up this discus that is about one and a half years old it's a retired breeder and I have had him for 4 days now and I've only seen him eat once, the day after I got him and he only ate just a few bloodworms and now he just looks at them. I have checked the water and everything seems fine. I'm looking for any way in helping him eat or any suggestions.

Matt

[Ryan]

Matt,

Tell us more about your fish and your tank setup. What are your water parameters. Are there other fish in the tank, or is he in quarantine alone? Do you have any discus besides him? Is he dark or skittish?

Ryan

[paulmat]

Matt
If he looks fine, but just isn't eating,I would be patient.He could still be adjusting to his new home.Check with who you got him and ask what they have been feeding him.

Good Luck

Paul :guitarist:

[William Palumbo]

You don't say what your water parameters are, but I would try high temps. and some live blackworms. The higher temp. (88-90) usually increases their metabalism and most fish can't resist live blackworms. HTH..Bill

Matt, most discus don't begin breeding until they are 1.5 yrs of age. I would question his age or reasons for retirement :-\

New fish esp large ones can be slow to eat when shipped or placed in a new environment. What's your tank temp? You may want to raise it 89/90 for a few days. Keep your eye out for any signs of illness.. white feces, ect...


Mike

[YZFR1rider]

Ok I have had the temp at 86 degrees and like I said I did see he eat the second day I had him just a little bit of black worms and now he wont eat them. He looks ok and I dont really know what you mean by dark the guy told me he was a Blue Cobalt and he is pretty big. He isn't very skiddish just sits in the corner and usually see him go and rub up against the heater. I have him in a 20 gallon quarantine tank with some baby silver dollars and baby tiger barbs and there is nothing in the tank. Well hopefully someone can go off this info and help me out a little more.

Matt

[fcdiscus]

Tiger Barbs and Silver Dollars? ??? ??? Frank :-\

[keno]

Why are u keeping him in quarantine with other fish, this seems to defeat that purpose. If i

were in your shoes I would remove everything but a filter and heater and the discus. Raise

temp to 90 add 1tbsp salt /5gal water and feed live foods. I have found LIVE adult brine shrimp to

get the worst discus to respond if blk worms wont work. Change at least 25% of the water a

day with te same exact parms as you are removing and dont forget to replace the salt.


Ken

[Discusgeo]

Like Frank said it's not a quarantine tank when he's with Tiger Barbs and Silver Dollors. Get those fish out of there first off. The tiger barbs are a very fast moving fish and most likely he isn't getting time to eat and the Silver Dollars? These fish are not compatable with Discus in my book. And at 1 1/2 years old is not a retired breeder as Mike said, he should be just starting to reproduce.

[BlueTurquoise]

What Frank is implying is that Tiger barbs and silver dollars are very active fish and may frighten your discus as discus are quite slow moving and timid creatures. Also there is the issue of water perameters as discus prefer different waters to barbs and silver dollars. Then there is the issue of barb agression, the tiger barbs are known to be fin nippers which is a no no for your discus!

It is therefore suggested that they don't make very good tank mates at all for discus.

There is also the issue of diseases. Your present fish may already be carrying diseases that don't show up on themselves but the discus may be very sensative to these diseases. Or visa versa.

And then there are issues such as food (discus require high protein diet, dollars are herbivors), and the BIG issue of water changes. You should be aiming for once daily or once every other day, 30% - 50% water changes to give your discus the best opportunity to grow and stay healthy. At the breeders I am sure he does 50% or more water change every day so the adjustment to weekly or fortnightly water changes (if that is your routine) is going to be difficult for the discus, can even prove fatal. Dollars on the other hand, I have seen doing ok on once a fortnight water changes.

I hope by bringing up these issues helps you think about the long term health of all your fish. Solving the not eating problem is only one small step in the overall big picture of keeping healthy discus.

Chong

[BlueTurquoise]

I concur, 1.5 years old means it has just reached sexual maturity.

[YZFR1rider]

Well as far as keeping other fish with discus I do I have a 100 gallon long and I have discus in there with huge silver dollars and tiger barbs and they ger along very well for months now so please don't say discus don't get along with other fish. I do understand though keeping him in the quarantine tank by himself but to me it was a quarantine tank for all the fish I have. the little barbs and dollars don't even go near him they are scared of him I have watched the tank for hours before. I always do a water change every day or every other day on all my tanks. Well Thanks for all the info and comments. I will keep you posted on his health.

Matt

[flogger426]

forget the blackworms and try live brine. IMO blackworms cause all kinds of trouble.

DON'T panic and start dumping all kinds of meds into the tank. raise the temp to 88 - 90. make sure your biological filter is working and your ammonia levels are in check.

PH should be below 7, like 6 to 6.5. i like to throw some stress coat in the tank to ease stress. make sure the water is clean and if needed make small water changes - NOT 50 - 100% water changes everyday like some people suggest when a fish is acting sick. Be patient!!

[Ryan]

There is very little nutritional value in live brine compared to blackworms. I don't see any reason why you cannot feed live brine to a discus as a snack, but I don't think it would be a good idea to put them on live brine solely.

There are other alternatives to blackworms for those people who do not believe in them. These are discussed in depth in the food section.

It has been shown that discus do not require a pH below 7. Mine are in a pH of 7.8 and are fine. Also, there is no harm in doing large water changes, as long as the pH is close to that of the water in the tank, and the temperatures are matched. Clean water will do more good than harm to discus, and most fish for that matter.

Ryan

[BlueTurquoise]

Actually Matt,

Sorry if it soudned like I meant it is impossible for Silver Dollars and Barbs can't live with eachother. It is Entirely possible. In fact an uncle of mine keeps 2 x 5 inch silver dollar monsters with his 7 inch breeding pair of discus for years without problems. They get along fine as far as interaction.

What I meant to imply is the reason why they stopped eating could be stress related, and one of those things could be that. If it isn't, Great! you narrowed one thing down.

In fact it would be 101 reasons why, and there probably is not a shortcut solution to the problem in hand. Instead you may have to look at the overall environment that they are living in as the root cuase of many diseases is hardly ever the disease parasite itself, but other outside factors that stress the fish's immune system out of wack.

I sincerely wish you all the best of luck :)
Chong

[YZFR1rider]

Well I just wanted to thank everyone for all the feedback and comments. My discus just started really eating today and it has been exactly 1 week since I got him so maybe he was just a little stressed from the move to a new tank. I am going to keep him in this tank for about another 3 weeks but I have another question will he act the same when I switch him in my big tank or will I have to go though another week of worrying? Once again I appreciate all the comments.

Thanks
Matt

[Carol_Roberts]

Probably just a day or two since water will be the same and no bagging.