Discus Fish Not Eating

[TheRedDiscus]

Hey everyone, THIS IS A EMERGENCY. One of my discus(red), has stopped eating! it's been around 4-5 days and he just won't eat!! From what i'm guessing he (or she) is going to die in a few days if this continues.... so anyone, anyone! Tell me how to fix this problem!

 

[petertr]

Are they new in the tank?

I bought 5 discus 9 days ago - and it took 4 days before they even had a nibble at some blood worm. Even now, they still won't eat normal food (bought the same stuff as they were given at the LFS)


What are you ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? Temp?

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

give them up to a week id say or maybe even a week and a half. everything has to be perfect and settled in for discus to be happy, they r the most easily stunned and finicky fish i reckon

 

[Colin_T]

Unlike mammals which use most of the food they eat to keep warm, fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. this means any food they eat goes into building muscle tissue, and for swimming. A healthy fish should be able to go for weeks or even months without any food.

As mentioned by others, check the water quality and temperature. If there is any ammonia or nitrite do a water change. If the nitrate is above 30ppm do a water change. Get the temperature up to 28 or 30C if it isn't already there.
Try offering the fish some live food like brineshrimp, daphnia or mozzie larvae.

If there are no other fish in the tank then perhaps add some small peaceful dither fish. These can be things like neon or cardinal tetras, small species of rainbowfish, or dwarf cichlids. These smaller fish will usually eat within a few hours of being in the tank and this can encourage the discus to come out and forage.

 

[TheRedDiscus]

Ok. I got some info. The temprature is around 80F-82F, Fish is new to the tank, around 3inch to 3.5inch. There is one medication in the water, Melafix. No plants, nitrate 0, ammonia 0.25 ppm, chloramtes 0, PH (PH balancing product is added) 6.9-7.0. hope this info helps.

 

[Colin_T]

put some plants or ornaments in the tank to give the fish somewhere to hide behind. And if you don't have a backing picture on the tank put something there to provide a sense of security for the fish. Bare tanks with open sides (that is no sides covered in anything) tend to freak out most fish.

 

[TheRedDiscus]

Thanks Colin T good advice, i will try and get some plants and some other things for the fish to hide in and meanwhile getting a background paper. Thanks once again.

 

[TheRedDiscus]

This is the discus that isn't eating

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

mmm it could be just me but he doesnt look to good, i noticed you said 0.25 ammonia. i would put money on this being the problem! you know discus are probably the most fragile fish and 0.25 from what i read will easily stop them eating and im thinking most probably enough to even cause death? but i may be wrong

 

[mike os]

ammonia is probably the culprit... discus NEED near perfect water 365 days a year, is this tank mature yet?>

 

[TheRedDiscus]

I have started using a product called ammonia detox, does this help?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I also now have a blue that has stopped eating.....(also around 5 days)

My question is Why is it only the one..... There are 8 in the tank, but only the one has stopped.... (just happens to be the biggest one).... He/she was well up to now,.......

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

as you may or may not know. problems can be segregated to a certain area of water in the tank. my understanding after being told bigger the tank the better as the problems seem to isolate themselves to a certain mass of water. if one fish is affected then i think it may be the age old wrong place at the wrong time, within that part of the water he was in he may have experienced a controlled ammonia spike or something bad in that quadrant of water and hence he was the only one affected. again i will say TRD plz take your discus back until you get ur tank cycled. DISCUS DEMAND EVERYTHING THAT IS 100% IN FISHKEEPING. please do research on fish and even ask here befor buying. i am guessing discus was a ooo i like those their awsome. and bought. I nearly did this but after checking on the net, and not having the money at the time, i ended up setting up a tropical tank which became a mbuna tank LOL and after 6 months i feel im getting close to knowing enough to keep discus so ill be getting in there soon but yeah. please research. especially if you plan on going saltwater one day. i really stress do a course in saltwater aquariuming at ur LFS or somewhere before looking into it cause its very very in depth and if you dont. a shwanky LFS whos only out for money will sell u a setup and continue selling u replacement fish at 50$ a pop until ur tank cycles which is probably a fish every few days for 6 weeks and will tell u it happens all the time and just a settling in thing. dont listen to the ones who r only after your money m8.

BTW THE AMMONIA THING U SHOWED there. it wont do #### m8. my first tank setup i was told to use stability with a few SD's and id be right well after adding gouramies and ghost knife i was told itd be fine. lost the 2 gK's and used 2 bottles of medium sized prime in 2 weeks after being told itd detoxify the ammonia and it did ####. i lost the 4 gouramies i had. the peacocks were ok but their hardy basterds and they came out of it with no visible problems. plz take the discus back, theyll start die'ing one by one or all at once pretty soon m8. if gouramies didnt survive think bout ur discus as being 1000X more fragile and suseptable than gouramies

 

[TheRedDiscus]

apperently, the small red discus has started eating and is swimming around just fine as the other two discsus are still freaded in the corner... why?

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

because dude theres still ammonia in the water. also they r all individuals so they will probably begin feeding each in their own time