Number 1 cause of discus not eating.

[Bilbo]

What would you guys say it is? I have had this pair of Blue Scorpions for about a month now and since day one the male has barely ate. He does not seem to be loosing weight (or at least that i can tell) and every once in a great while he will pick up a live black worm. I have been feeding them both live black worms from the Cali farm the whole time. Its the same thing David from Anglefishusa.com fed this pair. There are no white feces at all. The female eats like a pig. He has no problem spawning with her and i do get wigglers however im concerned that his low appetite will start effecting his ability to fertilize large spawns in the future. He mostly will pick a worm up and spit it back out. Eventually the female cleans up the black worms and then i leave the room. Could it be intestinal worms? Is he just finicky? He may eat one worm a feeding. Occasionally he will swallow 3 or 4 but i've only seen that about 2 times in the last month. Im very careful to watch every time to see if he is eating so i know hes not doing it when im away because they are almost always gone before i leave. He also has a very bad targetting system and "misses" the worms that lay on the bottem of the tank. He trys to suck in front of them. But even when he does eventually get one he almost always spits it out.

[TURQ64]

I would say the number one cause is fear. They are fish. Unless they are afraid of something, they eat. Simple. Unless a pathogen interferes, and I believe this is your case..Others will weigh in on many diverse theories. Good luck.

[Bilbo]

I would say the number one cause is fear. They are fish. Unless they are afraid of something, they eat. Simple. Unless a pathogen interferes, and I believe this is your case..Others will weigh in on many diverse theories. Good luck. It wouldn't be fear in my case since these guys come up to me and are peaceful. They love people.

[spiffyfish]

I have one fish that does this as well but he is bullied.

[TURQ64]

It wouldn't be fear in my case since these guys come up to me and are peaceful. They love people.

You post was really more than one question. Fear answered the first question, and I answered the most likely reason in the case of a second question. Feeding CBW's opens up more questions than I care to ever debate again.. I choose to stay out of compound questions. Spiffy's is back to the main reason, fear.

[deepflyball]

If they eat and lose weight its worms. if they dont eat its something else. Whats your water temp???? What meds have you already tried?? have you tried metro with the water temp at say 92 f for 5 days???

I have had fish go off there feed when spawning. how was he before??? Jerry

[wanderingfish]

If my fish lost appetite,they would regain it after pp treatments ,so i think external pathogen are main cause of discus not eating.but the reason discus affected by pathogen is poor water quality.

[Bilbo]

If they eat and lose weight its worms. if they dont eat its something else. Whats your water temp???? What meds have you already tried?? have you tried metro with the water temp at say 92 f for 5 days???

I have had fish go off there feed when spawning. how was he before??? Jerry Now we are getting somewhere... thanks for the help! I did not know that if they had worms they would still be eating and THEN would lose weight. AS far as i can tell my male is still the same thickness as when he arrived. He's fast and alert and active. He still spawns with no problem. The water temp is 84. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are at 0. And i litterally mean 0. The water is clear and prestine. Water paremeters are above and beyond fine. I have not tried any meds and i dont want to unless i have to. Alot of times people jump to meds to fast. If i were to try meds, a high water temp with metro is what i would like to do. High temp with salt sometimes stimulates appetite as well. My goal was to come in here and see what you guys thought it could be. Is it simply his nature to eat 1 worm every now and then (after all sometimes skinny humans are this way with their own food, lol). Was he sick and just not showing any symptoms, etc.... these kind of things. I have always thought that if a fish was healthy then they ate, period. But this guy does not show any symptoms of being sick other than he doesn't like to eat. He will eat only very occasionally, lol.

[Skip]

I did not know that if they had worms they would still be eating and THEN would lose weight.

Biology 101..

parasites.. are inside of HOST body.. they absorb all the food and leave none for host.. host eats.. but gets no nutrition or very little

[Bilbo]

Ya in dogs and humans.... Didn't know that was like that in fish. I always thought a fish with worms would not eat. Never had this problem before so didn't know

[Skip]

Ya in dogs and humans.... Didn't know that was like that in fish. I always thought a fish with worms would not eat. Never had this problem before so didn't know

if they don't eat.. or eat and stay skinny.. either way.. something is not right.. :)

[farebox]

Have tried any other type of food for him? Maybe try Al's FDBW from SimplydiscusLLC.

[Bilbo]

if they don't eat.. or eat and stay skinny.. either way.. something is not right.. :)
Obviously, lol.....

[Bilbo]

I have tried my pellet food I give my other cichlids but he wont touch it.

[strawberryblonde]

My males tend to go off their food when they are ready to spawn. Depending on how long it takes the female to finally lay eggs, they can go several days without eating much. Once the eggs are fertilized and the male is busy fanning them, his appetite usually picks back up. Sometimes though, the female decides not to take her turns at fanning, so the male refuses to eat and just hangs out, fanning the eggs 24/7.

If it was me, I think I'd keep a really sharp eye on him to be sure that he doesn't start to lose weight (which would indicate a real problem), and I'd probably try to entice him to eat with some nice tasty Al's FDBWs. Those things are highly addictive (for discus anyways!) and should get him to do a little more eating.

[DiscusDrew]

I would say live blackworms are just as addicting, especially if he's picking them up but not retaining them. I do however agree that trying variety might prove to stimulate appetite. I also agree that this us a far better solution than resorting to medication until you knew for sure there is a medical problem. Flagellates could be the issue which metro would address but honestly my friend I have several of Davids fish and they are pretty clean when it comes to that, I've never had to treat his fish for parasites or anything else for that matter. That said, I truly suspect spawning behavior because Davids fish have the most aggressive appetite i've seen in any of my fish. Hope the best for you my friend and I would go with Strawberry's advice... Watch his weight very closely, if it diminishes I think we have a problem.

[Bilbo]

My males tend to go off their food when they are ready to spawn. Depending on how long it takes the female to finally lay eggs, they can go several days without eating much. Once the eggs are fertilized and the male is busy fanning them, his appetite usually picks back up. Sometimes though, the female decides not to take her turns at fanning, so the male refuses to eat and just hangs out, fanning the eggs 24/7.

If it was me, I think I'd keep a really sharp eye on him to be sure that he doesn't start to lose weight (which would indicate a real problem), and I'd probably try to entice him to eat with some nice tasty Al's FDBWs. Those things are highly addictive (for discus anyways!) and should get him to do a little more eating. And yet another helpful reply. Thanks! Do your discus prefer freeze dried black worms over live black worms?

[Bilbo]

I would say live blackworms are just as addicting, especially if he's picking them up but not retaining them. I do however agree that trying variety might prove to stimulate appetite. I also agree that this us a far better solution than resorting to medication until you knew for sure there is a medical problem. Flagellates could be the issue which metro would address but honestly my friend I have several of Davids fish and they are pretty clean when it comes to that, I've never had to treat his fish for parasites or anything else for that matter. That said, I truly suspect spawning behavior because Davids fish have the most aggressive appetite i've seen in any of my fish. Hope the best for you my friend and I would go with Strawberry's advice... Watch his weight very closely, if it diminishes I think we have a problem. Excellent, Thanks!! Dave is a cool guy by the way. So please with what he did for me and his shipment of fish.

[cjr8420]

maybe he just dont like u watching him when he eats u posted u wait til the female finishes all the worms then leave the room maybe he would be eating if there wasnt an audience.i got a couple that dont like to eat when im there but will eat when they think im not there. and yes i snuck up on them so they didnt know i was there watching lol.so back to that fear factor

[Skip]

low self esteem?

[Bilbo]

maybe he just dont like u watching him when he eats u posted u wait til the female finishes all the worms then leave the room maybe he would be eating if there wasnt an audience.i got a couple that dont like to eat when im there but will eat when they think im not there. and yes i snuck up on them so they didnt know i was there watching lol.so back to that fear factor Man that's just sad!!! But you have a point, thanks, lol!

[YSS]

I would say hex. Try heat. Raise the tank temp to 96 and keep it for 5 days. Your finicky eater will start eating again.