Help! My smallest discus is not eating any more

[fish_maniac]

Hi,
I have 8 discus in my tank and they are between 3.5 to 6". When I first got the discus, they all are eating OK, about a month ago. For the last 4 days, the color of the smallest one darken with the bar and always hide in the corner. I try to feed them a lot but he is not eating any more. All the other discus are eating very well and pushing the smallest one around. I can't take only one of the out! Should I use the medicine routine that Carol has and assume he is sick? any suggestion and recommendation is welcome.
Thank you for your time!

Kam

[Carol_Roberts]

You can treat the sick one in a hospital tank for intestinal flagellates - I would not treat the whole tank if they are healthy.

[fish_maniac]

Carol,
Thank you for the fast reply. Is it OK if I put the single fish in a 10 Gallon tank by himself? I thought it is not too good to have a fishes by himself. It is better than treating the whole tank. I assume this sickness is not transferable to others.
Any suggestion on the cause for this problem?

Kam

[Howie_W]

Hi Kam,

It's fine to put the single fish in a tank by himself. You don't want to treat the entire tank if the rest are healthy.

Most likely the fish has internal parasites...something that is quite common. When this happens, the fish will eat less, hide more, and become weaker and an easy tarket for others to pick on.

Place him in his own hospital tank and slowly raise the temp (90F-92F), and salt the tank. Treat using metronidazole (metro). Keep in mind that the simple act of moving him is initially stressfull, so I wouldn't expect him to eat right away, but the salt will help, and the higher temp. will increase the metabolism.

Howie

[Carol_Roberts]

Look in the disease section for a stickied topic " Most Common Treatments" Read about intestinal flagellates and how to use metro

[fish_maniac]

Thank you for all your fast reply. Yes, I found the session, the "Most Common Treatments". I got the metrozol today but it will take me another day or so to get a 10 gal tanks set up. I need to move around some fishes. I hope he can hold on. I will keep you posted on the progress. My first encounter with the sickness with discus. Thanks again.

Kam

[ShinShin]

If using metro, I would raise the temp to 94-95F and forget the salt. It does little or no good for this problem. Salt ought to be used as a dip for external problems only. I don't believe it is an effecient stress reducer as some claim.

Your smallest discus is most likely suffering from a stress induced ailment, such as intestinal flagellates, and will probabally always be picked on in the tank. I am not a fan of keeping small and large discus together.

Good luck :)

[fish_maniac]

Hi,
Thank you for the advise. Here is an update with my discus.
After 2 days of metrozol and raised the temperture, he started statying and guarding around the sponge filter. He didn't eating anything yet. After 5 days of metrozol and raise temperture, I noticed he started picking on the beefheart that is on top of the sponge. He didn't eat anything else except the beefheart. After about a week, I bought some Blackworm. Man, He's color lighten up and came out to eat the BW. I think he is getting better now since he is eating the BH and BW. I stopped the metrozol now. Hopefully he will be like the rest and eat the rest of the food soon.

Here is the latest! Thanks again for all your help.

Kam