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I thought I would start a thread documenting the journey of a sickly weak discus who I have named Murphy.. in recognition of Murphy's Law. Murphy the discus exemplifies how you can do everything right with a tank of discus and still have things go wrong.
Murphy's backstory...
Back in July 2023 my good friend Brian shipped me a group of really nice fry he raised. They are a meteor x ruby red cross. I have a journal thread here... http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...-(-Thanks-Jeep!) Which I will be updating soon.
All the fish in that group arrived alive and well with great appetites. As per my strict protocol all fish were quarantined and actually still are in QT. After settling a week, they were all dewormed with levamisol. I do this no matter where I get my fish. I do 3 treatments over a 5 week period. Once done I never deworm again. My quarantine relies alot on watching. I deal with things as I note them. Nothing off was noted so no other treatments were used on this group.
For food they have gotten my Discus Chow and DiskusGold now as their primary meal 3-4 x aday. When I feed, I feed on one side of the tank 125 gal to mimimize mess and the fish are trained to feed there. All would eat voraciously but over time I noticed Murphy was not that aggressive. He would swim with the pack but just picked.. .. over time he would not join the pack at all. They would eagerly eat.. murphy stayed away from the group. I started feeding him off to the other side of the tank and he would again eat but not aggressively. The other 11 were wolves at feeding. Murphy was barely touching the food. His color started fading. His siblings are at least twice his size.Murphy was officially the runt in the tank.
The runt.. the smallest weakest discus in a group. Most discus tanks have one. Its almost like they drawstraws for the role because when you get them...you never know who it could be. It doesn't mean they are sick just that they are weak. Being a runt though does come with a higher chance of a pathogen getting established in that fish so it can affect the rest of the tank. As a rule I would remove the weak fish. When I get a group of small fish in I always anticipate a few wont make it to adulthood. Truthfully, Murphy should be culled.
Instead I set Murphy up with a 10 gal hotel suite, barebones 'insulated all sides, 50 watt heater and cycled air driven sponge . TEMP SET at 85F. I moved him last week. He was not happy at all. . He hung in the upper corner . I covered the tank front with plastic so he could grow accustomed to the tank. I did not offer food on day 1. I didn't offer it on day 2 or 3 either. Just let him be. After three days I started offering some pellets.. I counted how many I added. Not many were offered ,10 pellets.The next day 3 were gone. Its a start I thought to myself. That was last week. This week he is still shy but Not hiding as much. I have added freeze dried black worms to the menu and though I havent seen him eat them, I think he has. (Obviously I dont know Murphy is a male)
Today..
Murphy's backstory...
Back in July 2023 my good friend Brian shipped me a group of really nice fry he raised. They are a meteor x ruby red cross. I have a journal thread here... http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...-(-Thanks-Jeep!) Which I will be updating soon.
All the fish in that group arrived alive and well with great appetites. As per my strict protocol all fish were quarantined and actually still are in QT. After settling a week, they were all dewormed with levamisol. I do this no matter where I get my fish. I do 3 treatments over a 5 week period. Once done I never deworm again. My quarantine relies alot on watching. I deal with things as I note them. Nothing off was noted so no other treatments were used on this group.
For food they have gotten my Discus Chow and DiskusGold now as their primary meal 3-4 x aday. When I feed, I feed on one side of the tank 125 gal to mimimize mess and the fish are trained to feed there. All would eat voraciously but over time I noticed Murphy was not that aggressive. He would swim with the pack but just picked.. .. over time he would not join the pack at all. They would eagerly eat.. murphy stayed away from the group. I started feeding him off to the other side of the tank and he would again eat but not aggressively. The other 11 were wolves at feeding. Murphy was barely touching the food. His color started fading. His siblings are at least twice his size.Murphy was officially the runt in the tank.
The runt.. the smallest weakest discus in a group. Most discus tanks have one. Its almost like they drawstraws for the role because when you get them...you never know who it could be. It doesn't mean they are sick just that they are weak. Being a runt though does come with a higher chance of a pathogen getting established in that fish so it can affect the rest of the tank. As a rule I would remove the weak fish. When I get a group of small fish in I always anticipate a few wont make it to adulthood. Truthfully, Murphy should be culled.
Instead I set Murphy up with a 10 gal hotel suite, barebones 'insulated all sides, 50 watt heater and cycled air driven sponge . TEMP SET at 85F. I moved him last week. He was not happy at all. . He hung in the upper corner . I covered the tank front with plastic so he could grow accustomed to the tank. I did not offer food on day 1. I didn't offer it on day 2 or 3 either. Just let him be. After three days I started offering some pellets.. I counted how many I added. Not many were offered ,10 pellets.The next day 3 were gone. Its a start I thought to myself. That was last week. This week he is still shy but Not hiding as much. I have added freeze dried black worms to the menu and though I havent seen him eat them, I think he has. (Obviously I dont know Murphy is a male)
Today..
Im fairly sure that Murphy is just weak. CLEAN Water, stable tank conditions, removing the stress factors have already made all the difference in his appetite and behaviour. He has not been treated with anything since he was dewormed a few months ago with his tank mates..
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