How many days can fish miss meals??

Hi,

Can fish survive without meals for weeks? What becomes of their immunity (system)?

What if fish goes on without eating for a month (or more) but does not have any significant ailments that is visible. Do you dose it with medications?

Also, the one thing I have noticed as I was cleaning shrimps that we normally get from the shipping dock is that the white gelatinous long string in a shrimp is that of which is similar in appearance to that from a Discus. I also noticed another fish having to repeatedly discharge this stuff instead of the brown poo that others may have. When I feed shrimps (or any non-iron content foods) to discus they all then get this same colored poo. But when I feed frozen BWs, all will make poo that is brown (gathered that it's the iron content in the BWs). EXCEPT, the one or two fish that continues to excrement white long gelly poo.

This is a two-fold question I'm hoping to gain some knowledge from you folks.

Foods that I've been using and testing of lately are:

(i) Aqua Yums Bloodworms
(ii) Lifeline Carnivore / Red Shredded & 3.20 Cichlid
(iii) Hikari Bloodworms
(iv) Omega Super Color Flakes
(v) Freeze Drief Shrimps
(vi) Marineland Bio-Blend / Bio-Blend Herbivore

Note:

Because my discus are picky, I do NOT feed items (i) and (vi) unless I starve these guys for about three days, then they may eat a little of only (vi).

Thanks for your response. I'll check back in a day or two.

*Angie*

Well, since this question didn't get an answer I may as well believe that it may never get one. ;D

I'll try again...

How many days can fish miss meals??? Does anyone know and can you explain?
*Angie*

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Well, must know that discus are cold blooded. This means that they use no energy input to maintain a constant body temperature. This is one reason why we have to eat so much, we are warm blooded and we require high amounts of energy to maintain our core body temp and we require energy to maintain various other parts of our body. They are also neutraly buoyant in the water, and thus they dont have to use as much energy to stay in the water column. I have had fish not eat for 5 weeks. During this time, they acted very shy and werent active. What I did was put a powerful powerhead in the tank to create some fairly strong currents. This forced the fish to swim against the current to stay upright and thus use energy to move. This use of energy would eventually make the fish very hungary as all living things require food to live. After about a week of this, the fish began to eat anything I put in the tank like it had never eaten in its entire life! I was actually surprized at how sudden his interest for food became. I try to stay away from using drugs as much as possible, but if need be I will treat a non eating fish/slow eating fish with a dose of metro. JMO+JME

-Ryan

[Anonapersona]

If you search the Disease section, you will find many posts about white poo, stringy feces, not eating, and so on. Most often folks will suggest that the fish have hex. Metro is typically what is suggested.

But, do search for an answer, my fish only had that once, I treated with Paragon II becasue that is what I had at the time and it also had some other meds in it in addition to Metronidazole and since I had concerns about exactly what was wrong I used the broader spectrum drug. My fish returned to eating within an hour or so, however the one that had it the worst is still small and does not eat well most of the time so there may have been either permanent damage or not a full cure.

I didn't think discus are cold-blooded creatures, so you got me there, Ryan, on that issue. There's something that I have noticed and am not sure about how explaining it. But I'll try (by the way, I have been perusing the forum indexes written by many of the GMs and did not find an answer to my inquiry, at least not a direct answer any way):

I have right now two fish (one being Heckel and the other Curipera). Those two have not eaten in weeks (longer than 7 weeks). I've used Metronidazole 500 mgs. I've used DiscoMed (Nitrafurazone). I've even used Clout which under normal circumstances would have worked but is very harsh to the fish. I've used natural sources (my pick TTO and Epsom Salt) as well and still with no automatic good results.

Now I came across an article regarding the psychological illness behavioural of fish. I wish I had printed out the article and taken the author's name. This article summarized a theory that fish goes thru periods of degradation (mental exhaust in other words) and this illness can deplete their immunity.

Great... judging by that article, we may have to hire a psychologist/clinician and you know how costly that can be. LOL

Seriously, though, we all agree with great w/c and cleaning habits, that discus can recover fully and more naturally. But, if the fish is already feeling tormented (by the use of medications) and is hiding all the while, and then suddenly there's a large w/c going on, then how is it going to recover?

Also, I don't see white poo excrements! Interestingly enough. I used to see it, but not any more. The only time I may see it is with the non-QT tank! Where I have fed them plenty of protein items (shrimps, clams, flakes).

Two fold question: Is that a sign of hexamita? Or is it just that the foods I'm serving is being excremented from the fish? How can I be certain of Hex?

I hope I am explaining it carefully. It's a load to write.

THanks for hearing me out. :wave:

Best regards,
*Angie*

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Well Angie, first off the "mental exhaustion" can also be summarized as simply stress. Stress in all living things plays a big role in how we live and act. When we are stressed constantly for a long while, our bodies immune system begins to weaken. This leads to illness. When we are not stressed and are happy, the exact opposite occurs. Now, the prevention of any illness is to prevent stress from occuring as much as possible. This will keep the immune system up and the fish healthy. Now, say that your pH in your tank and the pH in your holding barrels differ by say .4, you can still do a w/c without seriously stressing the fish, but it is enough to cause some stress. This stress that is caused everyday will eventually buildup and result in a compromised immune system. In other words, the fish will get sick after several weeks/months of this small amount of stress. Now, in your case, both fish are wilds. They have gone through immense stress of being caught, kept in 4" of water for a long while, being bagged and shipped, going into a transshipper's tanks and being shipped again and into your tank. This creates a lot of stress, which is why a lot of wilds die along the journey to civilization. Now, since the stress is huge, their immune system will be lowered much faster. This means that by the time the fish get to you they haven't eaten in probably weeks due to the stress and are now infested with all kinds of worms and bacteria that their bodies immune system couldnt fight off because of the stress. If you were to somehow reduce the stress among the fish by either increasing the number of w/c's daily to maintain a more stable pH, deworm them to rid them of intestinal worms, or just feeding them a more balanced diet to boost their immune system.

You dont see anymore white feces because they aren't eating anymore..... No food in, no feces out. It certainly could be a sign of Hexamita, but hex (actually spironucleolus (sp?) feeds off of excess food in the fishes gut. If the is no more food in the gut, the hexamita essentially starve and/or go into a hibernation state. That could also be another reason why you no longer see any white feces. I would still treat with metro regardless to be on the safe side. I would also just increase the temperature and try offering live foods such as live BS or even CBW's. That should atleast arouse them. Oh, one more little trick to get stubborn fish to eat....Put several hungery young fry in with them. Make sure the fry accept everything. This will induce competition between the fish and I have had this work several times where the non eating fish begins to eat.

-Ryan

[CARY_GLdiscus]

I had a bluesnake live for 2months without food! Also used many meds to try and cure him! Sorry but nothing worked so I finally put Him down :'(

:-[ Sooo sad Cary. I too had to leave behind a Heckel that was not eating (but was only taking very very very faint pieces of left behind foods). I hadn't the heart to use knive to cull fish so I hid him in an old hospital cup with a little water in it and them bagged it well. That's the best I can do in culling. :-[

So perhaps they do suffer intestinal ailments much like an alcoholic with liver problems.

Thanks for giving me the heads up.

Now I must find a replacement. LOL But not Heckel.

Best wishes. :wave:
*Angie*

[Anonapersona]

Another stress for a wild fish is to be the only fish of his sort. Think about a zebra in a herd of giraffes, he is bound to be nervous, no one to watch his back and all the other guys can run faster than him. Any predator looking for a meal will pick on him. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Maybe they need a hiding place until they start to feel safe.

anona, wearing my pet psycic turban again.