picky eater

[Eddie]

I'm stumped. One of my goldens will not eat anything but beefheart or bloodworms. Sometimes he ain't eatin that either. He'll chase and bite at the food but not swallow. He won't touch bits or flakes period. I can starve him for days if I only feed flakes or bits and he still don't want nothing to do with it. What can I do? I have my temp up also. It's as if he really don't care to eat. All the rest grub big time! :(

[Cosmo]

Some Discus can be very picky eaters, and simply refuse to eat anything but what they prefer. Then again, it could be a sign of an illness, any symptoms other than the eating habits?
Jim

[Northwestcoastdisc]

i agree with jim.

Duncan

[Eddie]

Nope, he's cooler than a fan :)

[Howie_W]

The best thing you can do is observe his feces...see if it looks normal. If he's not eating do to internal parasites you'll eventually see evidence. What temp. is your tank set at?


Howie

[Eddie]

My tank is at 86-88. He really doesn't act different and his feces is normal from what see. He just has nothing to do with flakes and bits. I could starve him for days and nothing. What a punk!! :confused:

[GEM]

HI PICKY EATER :mad: TRY DOING A BIG WATER CHANGE AND ADDING A LITTLE SALT. SEE IF THAT MITE BRING HIM AROUND?



GEM

[Eddie]

yeah, I don't think he isn't coming around. He is just so so picky. I can feed him what he wants but when I take a trip for a week or so he will be fed on an auto feeder with flakes only, so he may just have come around or starve until I get back :o
I do big water changes daily>thanks for the advice though

[Alight]

OK, I have a similar problem, and I think I'm on my way to having it solved.

I had a Royal Pigeon that was picky from the first, but got more so, untill all he would eat was brine shrimp, then he quit eating that. Nothing else unusal from any of the 8, 4 inch Discus (all the others ate like pigs, everything they were fed). Then, I noticed one fish had passed a chunk of tapeworm, so I treated the whole tank, and tons of tapeworms came out of all of the fish! I also treated for capilaria and callumus as these seem endemic in Discus as well. The upshot is that the picky Pigeon is now eating Tetra bits greedily as well as blood worms, but won't touch brine shrimp now, although I suspect he will soon.

I think he needs another tapeworm treatment, as he was eating nothing before and during the treatment, and it seemed like the treatment was more effective on the fish that were eating most.

Anyway, I'd give the tapeworm, and capillaria treatments a try, even if you have seen nothing (I hadn't seen a sign of tapeworm in two months, and you should have seen the quantity they shed with treatment--absolutely disgusting!).

[Eddie]

sounds good A,
I just finished a set of Prazi treatments so we will see how he comes along. He had worms....and I'm not sure how to treat for capillaria. What would be the symptoms?????? :confused:

[Tiptoptank]

I got a picky eater as well. I finnaly got him to eat frozen discus delight, by sanfrasico brand. This made me happy because all he ate before was bloodworms and brine shrimp. These food did not have the proper nutrishin that I wanted. I would suggest trying discus delight. I think it's called cichlid chow now, or something along those lines.


How do you guys dose prazi? I just got "prazipro" is this a good choise?

[Alight]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=21099http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=21099

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/internal/tapeworms.shtml

The above links should get you all the info you will need for using Prazi Pro. I used it at the dosage that came on the package, too. I used a 48 hour application, followed by 5 days of water changes, then another 48 hour application.

I treated for capillaria and callamus with levamisole before I treated for tapeworms.

There is a discussion on capillaria treatment also at http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/disease_medications/internal/nematodes.shtml

BTW, my picky eater is now filling up nicely on Tetra bits and bloodworms, and has started eating brine shrimp again. I will be doing another capillaria treatment on him soon, and may try the metronidazole again, too, although it seemed to cause a really bad bluegreen algae bloom the last time I did it which was a real pain in my planted tank!

[Eddie]

Well here is an update on my golden. He's still as stubborn as an old dog and it's reflecting. He was my one of my largest and now the others are speeding past him. I'm not sure if he is ill because he will eat but only beefheart. Before bloodworms but he decided he ain't haven it. He is pooping normal. I've watched and nothing odd. I've finished the whole Prazi treatment awhile back and he did expell some worms but on the second cycle he had none. It's starting to worry me because his overall growth is starting to reflect badly. His body to eye praportion is not apealing by any means. He looks like the poster child for a stunted fish! He acts totally normal. He comes to the front of the tank just like the others at feedings but passes it all up. I'm not going to feed my fish beefheart everyday all day so I'm looking for some advice. I would appreciate it greatly. Thank you :confused:


Eddie