2 of my discus wont eat.

[mattbmb]

Hi guys i am having a problem with 2 of my discus fish not eating.There are 8 discus in the tank all the same size they about 3 inches round.I bought all 8 fish at the same time when they were 1 inch round, the other six are real pigs and love there food but the two blue turquiose never eat anymore.I havent seen them eat in about 3 to 4 weeks its really strange because I havent changed there diet, there fed on frozen bloodworms and flake.They still swim to the front of the tank with the others begging for food and when the food goes in they are near the feeding zone but never eat.How long can a discus go without food before it dies?They seem like sometimes there looking for food and they have just forgotten how to eat.Any ideas how i can get them eating again id hate for them to starve.

[ShinShin]

Do they appear to have a bulge in their abdominal area? What brand of bloodworms do you feed?

Mat

[mattbmb]

I feed them Hikari blood worms.I cant notice a bulge in there stomachs. they look ok still swiming with the others just not eating is it wierd that the 2 blue turquiose wont eat the others are different strains.I havent seen any poo coming out of them for weeks either the others are allways pooing.

[Pardal]

We need more information to help you out, are there any feces now? and what color? and what it was before they stop eating.
You might want to fill a disease questionaire basically we need to know your parameters, WC frequency, do you have bare bottom and of course a picture of them might speak more than Thoundsand words. Blood worms are consider a treat not an staple food, and flakes shouldn't be use alone either.
You should start using a beef heart shrimp mix, or a sea food mix and look for the famous australian black worms live or frozen dry right there in your country.
The pecking order in discus is a ***** some time an "underdog" fish will not dare to eat in front of the alpha dog of course if they are healthy they will sneak around an still a bite when the bully is not looking.
Like I said we need more information before we can help you. mean while increase your water changes daily raise your temperature , start to look for metronidazole I got the feeling that you might need it, once you gave us more information of course.
Julian.

[chiligum]

I'm in exactly the same boat mate, look as if they are interested and then let the food drift right by without touching it!

[Pardal]

I feed them Hikari blood worms.I cant notice a bulge in there stomachs. they look ok still swiming with the others just not eating is it wierd that the 2 blue turquiose wont eat the others are different strains.I havent seen any poo coming out of them for weeks either the others are allways pooing.

Mattbmb at the time I start to write you I didn't see any dialogue post , it looks you were already talking to Mat. Any way we still need more information and a pic will help to see the status of the fish health, If you see a bulge in their stomach start with Epsom salt in a hospital tank 1 tbsp per gallon you can go up to two , this an standard for constipation and then do not raise the temp as in this case the if bacteria is present it could be worst . You can also will be dealing with capillaria or nematodes in this case you need to look for vermisol sold by sponsor member here in simply . many things could be going on here so we need more info and a pic.
I hope you are not keeping them with gravel and plants (at that size of the fish), and your WC regime is often daily will be best.
Julian.

[ShinShin]

I have treated noneating discus with metro even though they had shown no physical symptoms of hex and they responded. It was a tip passed onto me by a veteran discus keeper.

Hikari are safe to feed. I avoid others.

Mat

[jimg]

1 Tbsp for 10 epsom but unless you see bloat I wouldn't add that. as suggested fill this out completely http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?38545-Disease-Questionnaire-please-complete

+1 I have treated noneating discus with metro even though they had shown no physical symptoms of hex and they responded.

[Pardal]

I agree in the metro too, in fact was my first sugestion however he mention the bulge abdomen to ShinShin , we really don't have the whole picture here. Metro required high temperature 90F to be effective , if is bacteria present although it work in some bacteria the high temp will do more harm that good.
I suggest the Epsom salt because he mention no poop observed.
Fill the disease questionaire and a picture showing the fish addomen area and one front to see the crown as 3 to 4 weeks is a relative long period , lets hope they are not razor thin forehead.

Julian.

[mattbmb]

Hi guys,I have dosed my tank with metro which proved very hard to find in Australia after ringing around I found out that it is presciption only medicine,so i went to a doctor and he refused to prescribe me some because they werent for myself he was a douche bag.So i went to the chemist and told him my situation he was happy to prescribe me some I crused the pills up to a dosage that a discus shop here in sydney recomended and mixed it in a cup with tank water and added it to the tank.fingers crossed the fish recover.Im also in the process of getting some beef heart from my butcher tomix up there diet a bit so there not only eating blood worms.
thanks for all the helpful sugestions I would have added some photos but I couldnt work out how to get them uploaded ill keep working on it.

[Pardal]

Matt
Just remember that metro in order to work properly you need to raise your temp to 90 F or 32 C . Do a partial WC and retreat. The usual dose is 250mg for 10 gallons but this will take up to 10 days . I personally use 500mg with good results and only 5 days many member here use this dose as well so is not anything new. Your discus should be eating soon.
I recomend that you order some metro from Angel plus http://www.angelplus.com. They have metro and other medications for a very razonable price.
Metro usually works for a lot things so lets hope it does this time.(shotgun method) not an educated guess but if the first choice for many discus keepers, I hope is not constipation. or nematodes.
Good luck
Julian.

[ShinShin]

Actually, protozoa flagellates and a few anaerobic bacteria are about all metro is effective against from what I know.