How long a dicus go without eating?

[DiscusBR]

Hi all,

Greetings from Rio, Brazil. The 5 wild Cuipeua discus that I currently have in my 80g tank have been with me for 23 days. Those following another thread know that they are recovering from a ick outbreak. Four of fish are recovering well and are eating normally, but one of the fish has not eaten since it arrived 23 days ago. I have been feeding them Ken's premium beefheart flakes. They show no interest in Tetra bits. I am considering giving them brine shrimp artemias, the only fresh live food that my LFS carries.

So, how long can a discus go without eating? What can I try to do or to introduce in their diet to make this fish eat?

Thanks in advance,

Mauro

[Second Hand Pat]

Mauro, contact Al and see if he can ship his FDBWs to you. Glad to hear your guys are doing better.

[DiscusBR]

Mauro, contact Al and see if he can ship his FDBWs to you. Glad to hear your guys are doing better.

Thank you Pat. I am in Brazil, so it would take a long time go get something from Al. Would the fish wait that long? And what does FDBW mean?

[Lenin]

Get some frozen bloodworms if you can

[DiscusBR]

Get some frozen bloodworms if you can

I have it in my freezer. But I have read so many people here in the forum recommending not to use it. Is it safe?

[Second Hand Pat]

Thank you Pat. I am in Brazil, so it would take a long time go get something from Al. Would the fish wait that long? And what does FDBW mean?

Freeze dried black worms. My wilds go nuts over them. PM Al and find out how long the shipping takes.

[DiscusBR]

Freeze dried black worms. My wilds go nuts over them. PM Al and find out how long the shipping takes.

As I told lenver, I have it, but is it safe?

[Second Hand Pat]

I have it in my freezer. But I have read so many people here in the forum recommending not to use it. Is it safe?

Lots of people seem to have allergic reactions to the blood worms. The blood worms could get your discus eating and then you could ease them to other foods. I would suggest handling the blood worms with lactic gloves.

[Second Hand Pat]

As I told lenver, I have it, but is it safe?

Yes, FDBW are safe, these are NOT blood worms.

[DiscusBR]

Yes, FDBW are safe, these are NOT blood worms.

Sorry, mixing up both. I have frozen blood worms. Should I try them?

[Lenin]

Yes, a few people have allergies, not everyone is alergic, I use frozen bloodworms when I have and issue with them eating specially after medication, and I also feed it to them every once in a while.

[DiscusBR]

Thank you. I will try tomorrow and will let you know how it went.

[DiscusBR]

Ok, I started unfreezing the bloodworms. Just put a piece in a glass plate and covered it. It there anything I should do before feeding it to the discus? Should I rinse them in tank water? Anything?

Sorry, beginner questions....

[Altum Nut]

Are your FBW in a slab form and what brand (company label sticker).
HIKARI BIO-PURE BLOOD WORMS use a three-step sterilization, which many feel is a safer form of FBW to feed you Discus.
If you have it in a slab form, I would slightly thaw enough and cut the slab into small cubes (1/2" sq.) and re-freeze. Easier to just grab a cube rather than waiting to thaw the entire slab just to break off a piece.
No need to rinse if FBW are of a reputable brand.

...Ralph

[DiscusBR]

AMAZING, IT WORKED! I just unfreezed the blodworms and put them in the tank with my thingers (I hope I will not get the famous alergic reaction), without rinsing. All fish, including the one that had not eaten for 24 days, took them voraciously. Now I understand all the talk about bloodworms, just hope they will not get constipated. I am planning to feed them bloodworms twice a week. Does that look fine? I hope they will not stop eating flakes and that the problematic fish will start eating flakes.

[DiscusBR]

Are your FBW in a slab form and what brand (company label sticker).
HIKARI BIO-PURE BLOOD WORMS use a three-step sterilization, which many feel is a safer form of FBW to feed you Discus.
If you have it in a slab form, I would slightly thaw enough and cut the slab into small cubes (1/2" sq.) and re-freeze. Easier to just grab a cube rather than waiting to thaw the entire slab just to break off a piece.
No need to rinse if FBW are of a reputable brand.

...Ralph


Thank you Ralph. My FBW comes in a big slab. I cut smaller pieces of it, let one of them thaw a bit and put in the tank wihout rinsing them.

Since I am in Brazil, I can't purchase Hikay FBW. My LFS told me that the one I bought comes from the only provider in Rio and that he is reliable. But who knows?

Mauro

[Altum Nut]

Mauro,

I guess in your case you will have to trust your LFS. You can tell if your FBW are fresh....when feeding they should look blood red instead of white/pale which would mean an empty worm casing. Not red would mean the worm died before being processed in packaged frozen form.

...Ralph

[Lenin]

good to hear.

[DiscusBR]

Mauro,

I guess in your case you will have to trust your LFS. You can tell if your FBW are fresh....when feeding they should look blood red instead of white/pale which would mean an empty worm casing. Not red would mean the worm died before being processed in packaged frozen form.

...Ralph

The bloodworms look great, dark red. I did not see a single white/pale one. So hopefully the fish will be fine.


good to hear.

Thank you. I feel relieved...

[DiscusBR]

So the question remains: how often should I feed them bloodworms? Is twice a week ok? I don't want them to stop eating flakes.

Another question: would you recommend adding artemia brine shrimp to their diet?

Mauro

[atitagain]

Mauro

As long as they continue eating the flake when you feed it FBW should be fine. Every once and a while I have to stop feeding FBW because they won't take the flake, to them it's like candy.

Took me a while to get them going but now they get something different every day. I also feed the frozen brine shrimp once in a while.

Glad all you fish are eating and healthy again!

[TonyAPBTx]

Most people feed bloodworms as sort of a treat or a food fed after staple foods are fed.

Its good they are already eating flake food. You could use a variety of flake foods to achieve an overall very stable diet. I would suggest getting a beefheart mix, seafood mix or some blackworms as suggest earlier. Anything with a high source of protein that the bloodworms lack.

Are your wilds done growing?

[DiscusBR]

Thank you Marc and Tony


Are your wilds done growing?

I have had them only for 24 days. Just a beginner :)

[wendy9722]

Make sure when you feed them the real food ie: black/bloodworms, beefheart,seafood mix etc you get leftovers out so it doesnt spoil in the tank. I turn off filters before feeding so I dont have to take apart to clean out spoiled food. Keeps tank and fish healthy.:)

[DiscusBR]

Make sure when you feed them the real food ie: black/bloodworms, beefheart,seafood mix etc you get leftovers out so it doesnt spoil in the tank. I turn off filters before feeding so I dont have to take apart to clean out spoiled food. Keeps tank and fish healthy.:)

Thank you Wendy. Right now, I am doing WCs everyday, always vacuuing the sand, because they are recovering from an ick outbreak. I also think that if you use a good prefilter in the intake of the filter you do not have to switch it off during feeeding.

I have two questions:

1. The fish that was not eating before is taking only frozen bloodworms. Will it start eating flakes and other food at some point? Is there something I can do?

2. I am planning to introduce artemia brine shrimp this week, the only live food available in my LFS. Is there something I should know about brine shrimp feeding? Any precautions?

Thanks,

Mauro

[DiscusBR]

This is an update and a call for help. The fish that was not eating has been eating only bloodworms, which I feed three times per week, and still rejects flakes, bits, etc. It is a beautiful fish, but it is getting really thin and most of the time its stress bars are very dark. The other fish are thriving, eating well, looking good, with good colors. But not this one. I am going to travel for 3 weeks in June and I don't want to have a dead discus in the tank during my absence. But this fish seems to be going down hill. Have you had a similar problem? Is there something I can do? Should I just give up? What about isolating it in the QT tank and give only flakes to it until it starts eating? Any ideas?

PS - I forgot to add: The discus that is not eating is in the bottom of the pecking order, always being beaten by the others.

[tcyiu]

I forgot to add: The discus that is not eating is in the bottom of the pecking order, always being beaten by the others.

This is what I would do. Isolate the fish in a hospital quarantine tank. Increase the water temp to increase metabolism. Feed with worms for a week to let it gain back some strength. Then try flakes again. If unsuccessful, continue feeding whatever it will eat until gets fat and healthy. It's easier to coax a healthy fish to switch foods, than to bring a dead fish back to life.

By the way, I don't mean to be discouraging, but in all likelihood, be prepared for another sick fish after this one recovers. Chances are, when this one is removed from the main tank, the school will find another victim and harass that one until sick from stress. Unfortunately, I speak from experience. Unless you have a large school such that the harassment gets spread out to many low ranking fish, this will happen.

Tim