Not sure if fish is sick or just stressed

[Di3sEL]

ok I purchased 2 discus from Big Als like a month ago.......one being a rosy red which is 2.2 inches and another blue discus 2 inches which I think has internal worms.

The rosy red which is quite active and bossy and the other blue one always hiding at the back of the tank. Ever since I got the blue discus he doesnt look that good. Always hiding but it does come out to eat with I feed him BUT the rosy red always chases it away and then it just stays at the back.

I purchased another discus from a fellow forum member which is a 1-1.5 inch discus and I thought it would be picked on since its like half the size of the other two but it turned out that the little one is really active and the 2.2 inch rosy red rarely picks on it. :confused: Like everytime I feed them the rosy red would chase the blue one away and it would eat with the little one. Some times the rosy red chases the little one away too but it actively goes back to the area to eat unlike the blue one which just stays away after being chased. Is this normal?

I treated the whole tank with Metro (general cure API) for 3 days with 2 packets for my 20 gallon tank last week.......and I don't know if I should do it again.

Any advise would be great. thanks

[Eddie]

Well, its hard to say what the BD might have but it doesn't sound like anything except stress.

Discus do better in larger numbers. This makes more targets for a bully fish. Now your BD is stressed and to me it seems like constant stress. This will break the fish down over time and allow disease to set in.

I probably would not have treated the tank with General Cure. Metro has its purpose and so does Praziquantel. Nothing of what you spoke of, gave me reason to believe there was a need for meds.

The BD is eating, doesn't have white poo. No need for metro

To me it is stress that is wearing down the fish and disease will eventually surface. You need to get more discus to keep the BD out of Rosy's sight.

Eddie

[Mr Wild]

Or you could put Rosie in a sin bin for awhile until Bluey mans up and can handle her! lol

[Eddie]

Or you could put Rosie in a sin bin for awhile until Bluey mans up and can handle her! lol

Very true Kath, very true.

If you give the little BD some rest to recover a bit, it may help.

Eddie

[Di3sEL]

actually there are some things that suggests is internal worms. Like 2 days ago I saw a CLEAR(not white) fece hanging from the BD but I read on the forums that it could be the shell of bloodworms which I have been feeding.

Another reason to believe is that the color of it is somewhat dark but again I am not too sure since it seems like I can still see the black stripes and the blue tint.

Lastly is when I feed tetra bits, it kinda splits out the food not sure if the food is too big or not. It splits it out and it chases after the tetra bits again and then split it out so I really don't know if its eating anything and before he could get a third bite, he gets chased away then he just stays away from the food.

[Roxanne]

...do you pre soak the tetra bits?

Roxanne

[Eddie]

actually there are some things that suggests is internal worms. Like 2 days ago I saw a CLEAR(not white) fece hanging from the BD but I read on the forums that it could be the shell of bloodworms which I have been feeding.

Another reason to believe is that the color of it is somewhat dark but again I am not too sure since it seems like I can still see the black stripes and the blue tint.

Lastly is when I feed tetra bits, it kinda splits out the food not sure if the food is too big or not. It splits it out and it chases after the tetra bits again and then split it out so I really don't know if its eating anything and before he could get a third bite, he gets chased away then he just stays away from the food.

If you feed FBW, than that was the casing. Stressed fish are always dark. If he is only spitting out tetrabits but eating other foods, don't see a problem. Also, as mentioned above, do you pre-soak the bits?

Eddie