Stubborn Discus or a real problem?

[Stuewart]

I have 5 red turqs in my 55g tank, its been running for just over 2 months with the discus, and its been going really well so far, I've gotten about half an inch or 3/4 of an inch of growth in the first 2 months. But theres one fish who has just started (last night) sitting in the back right corner of the tank, near the sponge filter. He/she is showing no signs of stress (fins not clamped, no stress bars other than the first face bar) he/she is just facing the back of the tank, not accepting food, and not swimming around a lot. Breathing rates seem normal, no signs of anything I can think of.
Anyone know what might be happening?

[Floppy Fin's]

A possible parasite... here, I use Tetra Parasite Guard with good to excellent results.. This is a shotgun treatment for all external and internal parasites. Others can add their own thoughts.

[Stuewart]

Hmm. Alright, well Ill look into behavior of discus with parasites and see if I can match it up. Thanks :) Another thing I didnt mention in the original post is that I feed Tetra Color Bits and Formula One Flake food around 6 times a day. Thats all that Im feeding right now, so it could be that the discus is just bored with what Im feeding? All the others take both foods very excitedly and like pigs :P

[DiscusDrew]

Not bored no, but you should start varying your diet more and adding a high protein supplement like FDBW our beef heart mix, also some sort of brine shrimp or mysis shrimp should be fed on an irregular basis. This all is for the overall health of the digestive tract.

Looking past that last question. I would not feel comfortable whatsoever making a claim about what's wrong with your fish without more information, let alone tossing meds in the water. If you fill out the disease questionnaire in the header in the disease section I will ask a moderator to move your thread and would be happy to give you a more in depth diagnosis of your tank health and potential issues your fish could be facing.

[Stuewart]

Yeah I agree, I had been feeding FDBW along with the 2 foods I listed before but Im all out of the black worms. Ive decided not to do beefheart because it seems like it has a reputation for fouling water. Im not going to be putting any meds or anything in the water that Im not 100% is the correct thing to do. Ill go in and fill out the disease questionnaire in a new thread, thanks Drew

[DiscusDrew]

Pop a link on here just in case I don't see it my friend and I'll be sure to get to it today

[Etek]

Please do not rush into meds. I think that's a lesson that is preached here to 99% of people that pose questions about fish with possible illness. I had a giant blue just not eat and kept to himself for about 3 weeks and I just kept doing my water changes..tried difft foods and all of a sudden one day just started eating. Best of luck and hope its not a disease.

[DiscusDrew]

He's not, he's following the advice given. Disease thread was already started. Clean and change water is his advice given for now. Trust me I try very hard to keep people away from meds if possible.

[Stuewart]

Yeah I definitly won't be doing any sort of meds without being 100% sure it'll help. I've seen wayyy too many stories on here of misuse of meds causing more problems than help. Im not too concerned now because I know that the not eating could just be an act of rebellion haha. Hopefully everything goes okay and he/she starts eating again on his/her own. All I have planned for helping now is a 75% water change on thursday, cleaning the sponge filter, and giving the glass a really good cleaning.

[Floppy Fin's]

I would tend to disagree to a point.. If you have a lonesome joe fish..hugging to the background, it, IMHO, it is either (1) being picked on in the social order, and refusing to eat, or has a digestion problem, or has a parasite problem. Tetra Parasite Guard has NO ill affects in using it for a quick fix on the parasite problem. And its VERY CHEAP.
IF you move the fish to a small quarantine tank, Treat with the Tetra Parasite Guard, as well as doing temptation feeding with FDBW's or other treat temptations, you may bring it around much faster.
Water changes yes.. but if it were only water changes needed, your entire herd would be less active. Yes, I do water changes too. Good luck with whatever advise you follow.
Floppy Fin's.

[DiscusDrew]

:) good luck.

[Orange Crush]

Tetra Parasite Guard has NO ill affects in using it for a quick fix on the parasite problem........but if it were only water changes needed, your entire herd would be less active. Yes, I do water changes too.
ALL medicine has "ill effects", they weaken the immune system and stress the fish out. This is why you should never add medicine without knowing what you are dealing with and only after you have tried improving water quality. If you weaken the fish immune system with the wrong med then whatever illness you are dealing with will be able to take a hold of the fish even more. Bad news!
Every fish is different as far as health, sensitivity to environment, immune system. This is why one fish can be sick and the others in the same tank are not. Just like people, immagine if soemone caught the flu and then 100% of the people got it. It does not work that way. That is why flu shots are recommended to the elderly, young and those with compromised immune systems, because they are the ones that are most liekly to get sick when exposed to something. Poor quality water will definatly effect all fish but some more than others and some will show signs of it before others. Poor water quality can cause many health issues with discus and large daily water changes can cure many problems with discus.

[DiscusDrew]

Ohhh my only comment I wish to say about all that, there is no reason to believe that water quality will always effect an entire group of fish in a tank.... There are a multitude of things that affect a fish's immune system, and they are NOT all held equal even in the same conditions. Very rarely as I, successfully, help people is there a whole tank full of fish which are having problems.... but yet more often that not the conditions are able to be turned around and fixed with the problematic fish simply by using water changes. Im not here to argue, I have to give up that ghost or I would not be able to stand being active in the disease forum (which is where the actual thread with proper information is...). Nor am I always right by any means, but in this instance I have about 99 percent certainty in the ability of the fish to be turned around without the impact of medications. They may be needed if it gets worse, but it pains me to think that every time a discus goes to a corner, even with no other ill symptoms, there are a multitude of people that look to medication as their solution. This is based off of my experience with a healthy fish room full of fish, and that is all I will say. JME

[DiscusDrew]

Ohhh and one thing I DO agree with, order more FDBW or live blackworms... something, you never know if it really could be that simple given the info you have provided me.

[DiscusDrew]

In his actual disease thread (the one that has the proper information to give solid advice) a discovery was just made that NOW I will recommend the use of medication, though not the same meds you brought up. You have to understand that Water Quality HAS to come first and be ruled out as a constant, then if things change or otherwise, we have a starting ground that can be built on. Its a process, and jumping to anything, especially with the info that was provided in this thread, is not wise in my opinion. Now that we have further information to act on, feel free to track and input in the advice I will give to treat and medicate the troubled fish in the disease forum.

[eaglesfan3000]

Crank up the heat to 90 and watch for clear poo.

[Floppy Fin's]

OK...Discus Drew and OrangeCrush make quite a good contention (argument aside) so follow through with their proceedures.. Question though.. where is the evidence that Medications will lower immune systems?? I recognize that it may be true with a antibiotic approach if not used properly.
And I do agree that a systematic process in elimnatijon is a excellent step.. No question.

If you go back to my first comment, I said I suspect a parasite. If so, then I would still use the Tetra Parasite Guard to check all five types of common parasites that may be in the tank. If one has this infection, then in most cases the entire group is exposed.. so IMO, treat the entire population. But carry on with this story as it is.

[Stuewart]

I'll no longer be updating this thread, if you'd like to follow my fish and the progression of how he/she is doing, here's the link to the thread in the disease section.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?98149-One-Discus-not-eating-and-is-acting-strange-real-problem

[DiscusDrew]

I think we all moved there already my friend :)