How long can a discus go without eating?

[DiscusinDaytona]

I have a new MR i bought at lfs about 3 1/2". She is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I have not seen her eat since she came home on 3/2. She is in qt, water quality perfect. She doesn't have any symptoms of illness, bright color, clear eyes, comes to glass for attention, normal breathing,etc. I have offered her every kind of food, no interest. She is wasting away and I don't know how to get her to eat. Have used salt and metro. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help. It's been a long time, I lost most of my fish during the hurricanes. Re-populating slowly.

Tina

[candyl70]

Try turning up your temp a little. Did you call your lfs and ask what they normally eat?

Sorry to hear she isn't eating. Don't worry, you'll get this figured out!


Candy

[DiscusinDaytona]

Temp is 90 now. Lfs said he had trouble getting her to eat while he had her there 3-4 days. She ate some blood worms b4 he would let her go. Surely she can't have gone this long without anything?

[Ardan]

You may have to try some live food. I hope you can get some good clean worms. Like from Dan at www.aquaticfoods.com (http://www.aquaticfoods.com)

Try the blood worm
If the color and all water is good (ammonia and nitrite) then as you are doing, salt 2 tblsp/10 gal and temp is good.

Is this discus all alone? Sometimes they are more afraid alone in a new surrounding. but don't just add more fish, they need quarantined.

hth
Ardan

[DiscusinDaytona]

Thanks for help. Yes, she is alone but doesn't act scared at all. Comes right to glass when I talk to her. Bright and alert. Have done salt. Water is perfect. Am truly puzzled. Could she be pining for a mate she was separated from? Today will be 13 days. She must have picked at something along the way. But is starting to look really bony. I have never tried force feeding a discus, but have a section on it in a book. Even still, that won't make her eat on her own will it? I'm at a loss. I don't want to put her in with the others until I know for sure she isn't sick.

[Paul Curtis]

I had a fish go for 7 weeks without eating. Out of desparation I force fed dewormer medicated food. This did the trick. Fish is now OK after about two months of eating but is very small.

[Jarrod]

Paul...one question how does one "force feed" a fish?...do you take it out of water and maybe use an eyedropper or something? Never heard of that being done before hence the question is all..
Thanks
Jarrod

[DiscusinDaytona]

I have never attemped force feeding. It is illustrated in Degen Discus. Put food in barrel of a syringe and insert tip into mouth, he was holding emaciated fish in a towel, then return to tank. I would definetly only use as a last resort. Very last.

Seven weeks?!? Wow. I don't think by the way she looks, would make 2-3 more days.

[Paul Curtis]

You would be suprised at how scrawny looking they can really get. The fish kept getting thinner but the color stayed good. When the color started to fade I decided I had to do something drastic. This was after I had tried everything else and I would not recommend this on any fish that wasn't about to die of starvation. I don't remember why I chose dewormer instead of metro, but I think that I was willing to try force feeding that as well. If the fish didn't recover after that I was not going to force feed it for life.

All in all it went extremly well. The fish did not look stressed by it in the least. Swimming around like nothing happened 10 seconds after it hit the water and spit some of the food out.

First I got everything ready.

1 dinner plate.
1 dish towel (fine weave no bumpy stuff on it).
1 Tooth pick.
1 syringe with small tube attached to end
Discus bits soaked in medicine of choise

I soaked the discus bits in water to soften them. Then mashed them up.

I sucked up some of the mashed discus bits in the syringe

I wet the towel with tank water

Folded towel. Placed folded towel on a dinner plate.

I caught the fish and placed fish on towel. The head was hanging out over the edge of the towl resting on the slightly wet plate. (every thing from now on is time critical)

I folded towel over fish to secure it. The head of the fish remained exposed

I pried open fishes mouth with tooth pick

I inserted tube on syringe into mouth until I met a little resistence. This was about 1/4 -3/8 (This was a 2 inch discus) so your milage may vary.

I slowly squirted mashed discus bits into fish.

I kicked at my wife for laughing at me so hard :)

I put fish back in tank and watched it spit a fair amount out its gills.

I cursed and swore a bit, but the next day the fish had a little bit more color.

I repeated the process 2 days later.

I repeated the process 2 days later.

Fish began to eat. (The crowd went wild)

[White Worm]

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_7_24.gif

Good graphic explanation, I can just picture it, LMAO!

[DiscusinDaytona]

HOORAY!!!! Day 14, she eats!!! She ate small amt of bw early am, then a larger amt just b4 I left for work. I can't wait to get home to see if she eats even more.

Thanks to all, I'm glad I didn't have to resort to the force feed. Ugh.