weird fish behaviour?

[BootDink]

hello hello, within the last day or two ive noticed that my two marlboro reds have beenacting very strangly.. i have an 80 gal tank with 7 assorted discus in it, including the 2 marlboros..When i first got them (1month)the two were very aggressive swimming around chasing everyone, "claiming" their territory etc. Within the last couple of days both of the marlboros have not been thereselves..The stay in the top corners as if they are absolutely terrifed or very shy or something? when i feed they go completelynormal and take in food like its their last meal but soon after they go back to their corners..Ive noticed that they both stay in a weird position(top of tank with nose and mouth pointing almost completely straight down) the are not together by no means but its only the 2 marlboros that do this.Would anyone happen to know just what might be causing this as it is kind of worrying me as they used to be the aggressors and "wild" things of the tank, now i dont know whats going on.

parameters are all in check
nitrates-5or lower
nitrite-0
ammonia-0
ph- 7.5
temp-solid 84.5

nothing changed or out of the ordinary just this really really weird behaviour.
its as if they give up on the tank until feeding(which is at the bare minimum 6 times a day) all the fish are about 2.5"s and the water is changed daily at 50-75%

thanks

[Roxanne]

bootdink were they quarantined when you first got them , or did you put them straight in your tank? they are eating...any strange colour poopy?...are you sure they weren't sleeping?

[BootDink]

they do this all day long now for the last couple days, before they were always middle of the tank exploring everything, not quarantined(sorry was a newb when i bought) poop is a thick(well normal to me) reddish brown. I wouldnt think there sleeping unless they are real lazy all of a sudden lol

[Eddie]

Could be a case of the old nematode. Any external symptoms being displayed at all?

Eddie

[BootDink]

nothing out of the ordinary for external, breathing fine, gills have good movement on both sides,nice and red inside of the gills..If anything their gaining more red coloration on there body to be honest with you, They go crazy for feedings as if nothing is wrong but then when there bellies are full they go right back to the weird behaviour.All 5 of the other discus are normal and not doing anything and its just the two marlboros
thanks

[Roxanne]

.., not quarantined(sorry was a newb when i bought) poop is a thick(well normal to me) ..

Don't apologise mate, we all do it before we find Simply;)...

Sometimes when we don't QT, it can either make the new fish sick, or new fish can make our "old" fish sick..or, sometimes it's not disease since I found my tetras were upsetting my discus, so sometimes it is stress from tankmates.....have you given any meds at all? do their tummies look bloated/fat? a gut full of nematodes makes it hard to digest a meal but doesn't put them off their food...I know I sound like the fuzz :bandana:, but the more questions you can answer gives the experts here on Simply a good picture of your situation...;)

Rox

[Roxanne]

I just noticed, you are in Nova Scotia? So is our wonderful Guru Graham...

[Francis]

Hi
My new discus behave like that when I first got them. Then gradually stop eating. Then white feces. Then I treat them with Esha discus treatmeant. It worked. Good luck.
Francis

[BootDink]

would to many tankmates (of other species) cause this? i have an assortment of glow light, neon tetras as well as penguin and rummy nose tetras inthis tank as well?

[Roxanne]

It's just a possibility to consider before meds...there's one way to find out...if you have another tank or larger container you could move your other fish to for a while, if your discus's's attitude changes, you will know if it is that they're intimidating the discus...otherwise, we have to look at other possibilities...some discus don't mind tankmates, some do...watch out for change in poopy colour in the meantime

no fat tummies? just the head down position in between feeds right?

Rox

[BootDink]

they have fat tummies after they eat and until "digested". But other then that they look normal just in the same position.

[BootDink]

well i woke up today to find my two marlboros dead, really sucks because they were always the active ones in the tank :(. These are only lfs discus and there was bound to be some type of issue with some of them. But now i am currenty in the process of getting a 90gal show tank up in my living room and m trying to find myself some real nice wild's for it.Right now i can get wild brown x but i really really would love some wild blues and greens (absolutely gorgeous fish).

thanks for the help guys i appreciate it!

[Roxanne]

boot, that sucks:(... within a couple of days they are dead?.....they might have had something before you got them....trying to think off the top of my head what could kill them that quick otherwise...just because they swam around alot when you got them doesn't mean they were OK necessarily....just watch in case your others start doing it...you're lucky really you didn't lose more, and I guess, like us who make the same mistake, you have learned a lesson in QT....

BTW do you move the driftwood around when you're cleaning?

Roxanne

[BootDink]

move all driftwood and plants to make sure nothing is caught in or under it. It does reallysuck and it bafles me as to how it could have happened.Especially only two of the same fish.

thanks for all the input.The sponsor fish for my 90 gallon will be a blast and i cant wait to get them here and swimming!

thanks

[BootDink]

i came home today from work and found one more wrapped around the filter, completely unexpected?? no water issues nothing just up and died.Gahhhh i dont know what to do

[Roxanne]

Hey Boot

Have you started any meds? whats the latest?

Rox

[BootDink]

im in the process of finding meds, around here the lfs have nothing

[Roxanne]

How are they acting today boot? Worse/better...

[Roxanne]

check this out....

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/hexamita.php

EDIT...not that I recommend their metro dosing regime


this one is good too...http://www.fish-helpline.co.uk/health/hexamita.html

[MostlyDiscus]

Sounds like headstanders to me. Did the LFS treat the fish when they recieved them. Did the fish swim around some and kind of fought the pull of thier noses going down?

Ed

[BootDink]

all of them appeared to be in great health, as i say i was a newb when i bought these from the lfs so i didnt question as to how they were treated/acclimated when they received them.All 7 of them showed no signs of sickness for the first month but then last week the 2 marlboros started acting the way they did as previously mentioned.The last one to go showed no signs WHAT so ever, fed the remaining 5 before bed. All ate and got full bellies. I shut the lights out for the night and then found one more dead for no apparent reason in the morning.He was also my biggest of the 7 and sadly enough i was really "goin"for him (was going to be a real nice fish imo)

[Eddie]

What did you feed them? How much? That's pretty strange that the fish ate well before you went to bed and then found him dead in the morning, zero symptoms.


Eddie

[BootDink]

ijust fed him the usual bw before bed, dethawed in a container of water before hand.. nothing out of the ordinary which is what i cant understand?

[Eddie]

That is strange, did you soak them in tap water?

I don't thaw or soak any frozen foods.

Eddie

[BootDink]

yea i unthawed in tap water, same water that is directly used for water changes(well water here is real good) no chlorine etc. I do both really,sometimes i unthaw and sometimes i dont. I just unthaw so i can spread the food throughout the tank more evenly so everybody gets some, whenever i put it in frozen only the "big" dogs of the tank are the only ones who get in there and get it

[Eddie]

yea i unthawed in tap water, same water that is directly used for water changes(well water here is real good) no chlorine etc. I do both really,sometimes i unthaw and sometimes i dont. I just unthaw so i can spread the food throughout the tank more evenly so everybody gets some, whenever i put it in frozen only the "big" dogs of the tank are the only ones who get in there and get it

It is just so strange for them to be eating and healthy and die overnight. I'd say bad batch of food but the others weren't affected. Maybe he overate and exploded? They do...sometimes

Eddie

[Roxanne]

Yeh but wouldn't you see the explosion? All over your tank?

I'm finding it isn't unusual at all for discus to appear fine and then drop dead, there are enough posts about 'symptomless' deaths...could have crashed into glass....there has to be an explanation...I think the suicidal discus have the same problem, but that's just opinion;)

if you're going to feed frozen live foods, let them defrost in the tank by holding the frozen chunk in front of a filter output because it will disentangle and disperse the food so they all get some...

Rox

[Roxanne]

...reading back, this started when you introduced new fish to your tank without QT...and the new fish you added were the first to go right?...and now you're losing your original fish, have I got this correct?

Rox

[BootDink]

all fish were introduced at the same time.

[Roxanne]

...were they all in the same tank where you got them from?...or did you choose fish from different tanks and pop them all into your tank together? You said at the beginning you had tetras so I assumed you introduced discus to a tank with fish in it already?

Roxanne