hexamita, how can i get him eating again?

[Kev]

I've got a community tank, 55 gallon, 7 discus. There is one pigeon blood that has lost weight rapidly, and exhibited the typical stringy white feces. The fish is starting to look emaciated, especially above the eyes and is getting less and less active.

I've been treating with Hex-a-mit as per the directions on this forum, 250mg/10gal with the 50% water change in between.

All the other fish in the tank seem to be doing quite well. Everyone looks healthy and eats well.

My problem is that I cannot get the pigeon blood who is quite starved to start eating again. I feed flake, brine, and blood worms, and he just lets it all float right past his face. What can I do to entice him to eat? He ate well before he got sick.

thanks for any help.

[Ardan]

Hi,
I treat for hex as follows

add 400 mg Metro every 8 hours
for 3 days

temp 94F for 10 days

if that doesn't work it could be internal worms

hth

[discusfish]

I just bought hex-a-mit myself for my 4 discus. It started with just one not eating and now all are starting to shake and flintch there fins and so forth. I did a good water change today and i'm starting the medication tonight. I hope to see some improvement soon. I also ordered Metronidazole and Formalin 3 from Foster and Smith but they are not here yet. Witch would be a better choice to use?

Chris

[yippy]

the same thing happened to one of mine a while back. Sounds exactly like your is behaving. I used metro and within 2 days he was back to his normal self.
Yippy :)

[fcdiscus]

Chris- I would just up the WCs to 50% daily and see if that helps before adding any meds. Frank