Force feeding discus?

[Mta472]

After 16 days I have finally gotten my 5 inch red royal blue discus looking well again. What seemed to do the trick was 400mg/40 L metro every other day along with 250mg tetracylcine/40L every day, 3 tablespoons of aquarium salt per 5 gallons and raising the temperature to 94 degrees.

Her color is not at all dark and her eyes are clear again. No more white feces - no fecess at all, probably because she hasn't eaten in 16 days. She doesn't look emaciated - she ate like a horse before she got sick.

The only apparent problem now is that she sits on the bottom of the tank, face downward and ignores any and all food.

Is there some way to force feed her - eg thawed blood worms mixed with tank water using an eyedropper - or is it just a matter of time before she starts eating on her own?

My concern is that- after 16 days of not eating - she has simply become too weak to eat and will slowly starv to death.

Any help will be deeply appreciated.


Mike

[poconogal]

Mike, treatment with Metro makes them lose their appetite. I went thru the same thing about 2 mos. ago. My RM did not eat for 2 weeks prior to treatment, during the 1 week treatment and for several days afterward. It was recommended that I slowly lower the temp back down to my usual 84 and that I feed live CBW to stimulate her appetite. It worked like a charm, and afterward, she began eating anything I put into the tank. They can go for quite awhile without food, especially a larger fish like yours (my RM is 4.5"). You can try the FBW or perhaps FBS first.

Connie

[Mta472]

What are CBW, FBW and FBS? Thanks...Mike

[pcsb23]

CBW = California Black Worms
FBW = Frozen Blood Worms
FBS = Frozen Brine Shrimp.

Connie is right in that they can go very long periods as adults if they have previously been in good condition. 16 days is not too long by any means. I would lower the temp to 84f and try small amounts of live food such as brine shrimp. I can't comment on CBW as we don't get them over here in the UK, but I would not feed live blood worm under any circumstances. Frozen blood worm on the other hand are an excellent food and I have often seen this stimulate them into eating. A few good water changes always helps too!

Keep persevering and remove any uneaten food after 30 mins or so. Good luck.

btw force feeding is a bad idea and can cause much harm and damage to the fish unless you are practiced at it.

[poconogal]

Hey Paul. Welcome back. Did you have a good time, did you travel? You've been missed!

Mike - My info to you was learned from Paul. Got my RM back to good health under his guidance.

Paul, FYI - now I have another problem. They want to eat everthing that goes in the tank, even in darkness they are eating algae wafers! LOL. That's 2-3 hours after lights out and I think they're asleep!

Connie

[Kindredspirit]

btw force feeding is a bad idea and can cause much harm and damage to the fish unless you are practiced at it.


So.......there is such a practice Paul? Have you ever done it?


Welcome back, Sir!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_2_4.gif

[pcsb23]

Hi Marie & Connie thanks for the welcome back, and yes I took my family to Ireland, very nice indeed.

As for force feeding, yes there is a practice of doing it and yes I have done it with adult discus and koi (not mine, never kept them). There has to be very good reason to force feed any animal and all the times I have done it is to get medicated food inside of them when they have been very poorly and are of such a value (either money or sentiment) that the risk is worth it. It involves sedating the fish and handling out of water too, so the risks become higher.