Discus stopped eating!Please help!

[aqua]

Hello Carol and other discus experts and hobbyists,
I have a 4 in PB in a 100 gal tank along with 3 other discus at the same size and 5 discus ranging from 5.5-6.6 inches. This PB always gets some harrassment from another 4in and 5.5in discus during feeding time even I try to scatter the food around the tank. Lately, this PB just spits out the food if he/she got any chance at the worms, and now is not eating at all for almost 10 days. It 's getting skinny. I have a 10gal hospital tank. What would be the temperature of the water for this hospital tank? Do I need to put Epson and/or table salt to this tank? Amount? And/or any kind of medication to get this PB back in shape with a good appetite? Thanks.

Hi Aqua......

I'm no Discus expert here...... but what I would do is move that fish to the qt tank and start raising the temp gradually and offer some live foods..... like CBW's, red worms or even adult brine shrimp. You may also want to add an extra airstone to add more oxygen to the tank..... the heat will deplete most of the oxygen.

Sometimes just raising the temp can increase their appetite. Maybe add 1 TBLs of salt to that 10 gals.

Have you noticed any white feces trailing?

Beth

[jeep]

Sometimes just raising the temp can increase their appetite. Maybe add 1 TBLs of salt to that 10 gals.

:thumbsup:

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Aqua:
Do you have a cycled filter for the 10 gallon? If not you may need to do a couple of water changes per day to keep the ammonia at zero.

If you are going to isolate the PB and raise the temp you might as well add metro (400 - 500 mg every day after a 50% water change for 3 or 4 days - make sure change water is same temp and pH . . . . you can put an airstone and heater in a 5 gallon bucket to adjust pH and temp)

Keep temp up 92+ for a week after treatment. feed sparingly of favorite foods. Maybe you should use a divider for a while when you return him to the main tank.

Hi All,

I am also no expert (in anything),

Good advice so far but I think it will not be enough.
Quote "this PB just spits out the food "

That would indicate maybe Flukes or some bacterial infection. Need to look into that also.

hth Ronald

[aqua]

Beth, Jeep, Carol, and Ronald,
Thank you for the advices. I will move the PB to the QT when I get home from work and add some Metro and salt, and also raise the temperature up slowly. I will let you all know how the PB responds to this

Thanks
Aqua

[Abercrombie6202]

I wish i could have answered your question!! :'(

But i'm not an expert...

[Carol_Roberts]

Add the metro after the temp reaches 92. Spitting out food is a sign of intestinal flagellates.

[Miles]

Aqua,
Raise the temperature of the hospital tank SLOWLY!! I have had fish that have totally stopped eating start eating again at 87-88. Unless you have seen WHITE feces from the said fish I would hesitant to use METRO right off. Add salt (non-ide.) at 1 tsp. per 10 gallons. Do 50% water changes daily with the water the same temperature as the tank. If the filters in the tank are not cycled then do 75% water changes and everything should be ok. You might be surprised what alittle heat and salt will do.
For spitting out the food that could very well be a fluke problem. PRAZI will take care of that. Hope your fish gets better.
8)

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Miles:

I agree you should raise temp slowly and see if he starts eating. That plus extra water changes and and a bit of salt will give many discus the boost they need to get well on their own.

Spitting out food is a symptom of flukes in a four inch pigeonblood with no signs of scratching or flashing? I've never read that before. ???

[Miles]

Hi Carol,
I have had it happened a few times with them spitting out food. I must of got lucky when I did the Prazi treamtent, it worked. Fish started to eat again. Also a person can try ONF2 with 2% Garlic, it seems to work if your fish will eat it.
;)

[dgmckay]

Was the 4 inch PB a new addition to the tank? Just wondering if it has been harrassed at feeding time since day one, or if this is new behaviour.

Also... it's 3 days later... how's the fish doing now???

Regards,

Dave.

[aqua]

Update on my PB,
I put the PB in the 10 gal tank with a BD about the same size (very aggressive eater), add some Metro and some salt to it. The PB became very active and started bullying the BD since day one. After 5 days (50% WC daily) in the hospital tank, the PB started picking at the worms. It still spitted out the food but only 50% of it. That's a good sign (I hope). The BD still gets a full stomach during feeding time even the PB constantly harrass it.

Dave,
The harrassment during feeding time only started about a month ago.


Thank you everyone for your advices/suggestions.