So far the sand is not a problem for cleaning, all the junk stays on the top so I can just siphon it off easily. Mine is a 55g as well I have 2 200w heaters, one Aquaclear 110 and one aquaclear70. I have bogwood/driftwood as well as amazon swords, val, green lotus and some water sprite. There are also 12 cardinal tetras in with the discus. I purchased my fish (including the cardinals) from a local fish store that I've purchased a lot my fish from (including almost all my saltwater fish). The owner fed them so I could see them eat and had already dewormed them.

You have a good source there. Most LFS discus are stunted and deformed. These are niether They are well worth frequenting for their Discus fish if you are getting more

Well I've been going to this store for a very long time. I've purchased numerous fish from him (it's not a big chain store, more of a mom and pop thing) including a lot of saltwater fish. The owner has always given me good deals and when my saltwater fish got ick he even lent me his bottle of cupramine to treat them with even though the fish that got the ich was one of the few I did not get from him. A lady that helped me get set up got her discus from him as well and said he was the guy to go to. So I got all of them (I got 6) from him and he gave me a deal on them. The golden phoenixes and the spotted greens were normally $60 each while the blue diamonds were $55. He gave them to me at $40 each, still pricey but I think reasonable for discus (at least compared to other stores out here). If in the future I do another discus tank, or get a bigger one, I'm sure I'll buy the new discus from him as well. They come from Hong kong.

I do have a question, after watching them for the past few days, one of the golden phoenixes seems to not hang with the group, it's still colored up and eating, just likes to be off on it's own, and not all the time. I realize they will form somewhat of a pecking order so could this be part of that? They are just figuring out where everyone ranks?

that sounds normal, some are shyer than others and there will probably be some bickering till they have their pecking order, i still get the occasional spot of trouble with mine after a year and half together. They seem like they have settled well, as for food try them with some freeze dried brine shrimp pressed onto the glass, mine go mad for it and it helps bring them to the front and now mine pinch it from my fingers as i'm trying to put it in, they love pulling freeze dried tubifeds from my fingers too.
regards Angel

Ok, I'm probably just being paranoid but one of my blue diamonds has not really been eating today. Now if it was any other fish it would probably take me more than one day of not eating to worry but since these are discus and not cheap I'm sufficiently concerned. I'm going to try soaking the bloodworms in garlic to entice it, is there anything else to do? I was told they have already been dewormed and it is otherwise acting normal.

S/He may just be having a "strop" Mine do this from time to time. They look normal, but avoid the rest of the group, mooch about in plants and don't eat for about a week at a time. It's not too bad unless they still aren't eating when the tell tail spot behind the eyes appears. At this point I start to worry and move the fish to a bare bones QT tank. This allows closer observation of the ailing fish, and enables me to target unusualy high carbohydrate foods that have been soaked in garlic as you are trying ATM, this digests more easily into energy allowing the fish to survive off minimal food for longer

In normal circumstances they snap themselves out of it if left alone. If they don't, or if more than one "strop" then you need to look for other caurses.

What are your water readings?

Are you noticing any gill clamping, fin clamping, heavy breething, twitching? Also, does the poo look normal?

All the best
Rabbut

I haven't taken water readings just yet. I only have tests for nitrates and ammonia as I just noticed the rest of my tests are only for saltwater. The fish is otherwise acting normal, swimming with the group, nice color, no rapid breathing or clamped fins. I haven't been able to see this ones poop (I'm assuming cuz it's not eating it is not producing a lot of waste) but the other guys all have normal poop. I'm just paranoid.

Keep an eye on him, if he stops eating for more then a week you will need to quarantine it. For now, get an eye dropper and melt frozen food in a cup of de-chlorinated water. Suck it up and while dropping the rest for the other fish, try getting this stuff closer to this guy. Try not to let the other Discus come over to this food. It should help keep his strength up even if he is only eating a little bit.

I didn't use an eye dropper but I did something similar and he wouldn't eat. The food can be right in front of his mouth and he won't eat it at all. This is my first time with discus (not with cichlids) and I'm worried because I've been told that unlike most cichlids, discus can and will starve themselves to death

What are you feeding them? Sorry if you have already stated this, but I only skimmed through the thread.

Sometimes Discus can get very picky and only curtain foods. Right know, I have Discus that will only eat frozen foods, and then two Discus (one wild) that will only eat pellets and occasional peck at a brine shrimp.

You said you tried putting a little garlic juice into the food?

Keep an eye on this, sometimes if a fish is getting bullied really badly it gets stressed and stops eating. I would quarantine this like I said, after one week. After a few days in quarantine, we can discuss treatment but hopefully we won't need to...

I have been feeding bloodworms as this is all they will eat right now. And yes I started putting garlic guard in the food. It will be one week tomorrow that I have had this guy and he stopped eating on thursday (so 2 days ago). I do have one fish that appears to be more dominant than the rest but I haven't seen it go near this one that is not eating (which by the way is a blue diamond)

Well, keep us posted on the situation. I have had two small Discus to this to me. They stopped eating one day, and after a while of failed treatment they died. No other fish got this but my two juveniles (also from Hong Kong.)


Keep us posted on the situation,


DL

Wow lots of good info in this thread!
I was wondering where most of you buy/find your discus. None of my LFS carry them.

Well now I'm getting more worried, this guy is looking kinda pale compared to the other blue diamond. I hope I don't lost him!

If he is loosing colour, I'd get him out into a QT tank. Sounds like he may be heading into a bad way I've never been able to get them to come round after they loose colour, and all treatements I've tryed have failed. Something is seriously upsetting him, and it could be something in the main tank... Once he is out you can keep an eye on him. I'd get him into QT, add some bloodworm and leave him in peace untill the morning. Count the bloodworm in, and use an air driven filter for keeping the water good. This will reduce the flow while keeping it filtered well, so the discus should be more relaxed. Check that some isn't gone in the morning, and any that does remain should be removed. He may be eating, but your not seeing it while in the room. If it's all there we'll discuss available treatements Hoepfuly some will be gone, as this will indicate that he is eating.

All the best
Rabbut

P.S. remember to move some mature media accross into the QT tank filter, so it is cycled

I don't have any air driven sponges to use as a filter. All I have for my 20g is an aquaclear50 so I hope that will work ok. I will try to get the tank set up and ready to go this aft. and hopefully move him this evening but I'm going to be going out for supper tonight so I'll have to see how it goes. Do I slowly acclimate him to the new tank? And do I leave it bare with no decor?

Sorry I'm late replying. Fill the tank with water from the main, and get some mature media into whatever filter you are going to use. Ensure there is no carbon or zeolite in the filter, as you may need to use meds here. Try to get the flow down, and add some food to the bottom of the tank. Make a mental note of how much is there, and leave your fish in peice with dim lighting for an hour or two. If the food is gone, or some is eaten, leave him in QT without treatment for a week to regain his streangth before adding back to the main tank
If he doesn't eat, you need to get some Flubendazole or Metrodanizole baced wormer in there. You could try Kisuri wormer plus, but it is unlikely that it will work. Give it a couple of days with this in the system, and feed daily as before, noteing the food that is there and removing it if it isn't eaten. If he still isn't eating after a few days, you will need to force feed. This is very stressful for the fish, and you should only do it as a last resort
If he doesn't eat after the move, get into stock a small seringe and some puppy worming syrup. You will need these if you force feed. The worming solution desolved into the QT tank is unlikely to work, so if it is needed I'd prepair for something that you are likely going to need to do later. Post back 48 hours after the worming med bath if he still isn't eating, and I'll talk you through the force feed procedure. I hope for your sake I won't need to though

All the best of luck
Rabbut

Wow, bad day for fishkeeping in my house. Came home from being out to dinner and one of my male bettas had by passed the divider and was getting his butt kicked by the male on the other side!

I was however able to contact the discus expert in my area and he suggested trying to raise the temp up to 90 and has great success with this and fish that don't eat. So I'm going to give that a try first. He said if that fails then move him to the 20g and treat with metronidazole (pure) which luckily I have easy access to as I work at a vet clinic.

If I have to move him into the 20g I can get the flow down and I have an extra filter running on one of my tanks for this purpose. I don't use carbon or zeolite in any of my tanks.

As for force feeding (and I hope it doesn't come to that) I think I could hopefully handle that. I've done it in cats, dogs, and calves but never fish.

I do have one last question. My original plan was to do a barebottom tank and was kinda talked into doing planted. Not only am I a discus newbie, I'm a plant newbie and now I'm wondering if I should have done the tank without substrate. All the other fish seem fine, but could this be the source of my problems? It would be a huge pain to remove the plants/sand now but if it is a good idea I will do it. Let me know. I'd have to move the discus and the cardinals to another tank temporarily but I could do it, and then just have some anubias and java fern tied to driftwood and maybe some water sprite on top.

I really appreciate the help, thanks so much and I will keep you posted.