Discus Help

[P1ckl3s]

Hi i have had six discus now for about 4 months i bought them wen they were 2 inchs, my biggest discus is about 4 inchs the other 4 between 3.5 to 3.0 inchs , MY problem is the 1 discus has not grown at all since i bought him and because hes smaller than the others none off them will let him feed. When i feed them now the small discus does not even seem to try and eat he jst sits under the bog wood until the food is gone and then hel come back out. any advice would be great thanks lewis

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Hi, a little bit more info would help with this. Tank size, water parameters and full stocking. This will help people to give you a more accurate suggestion as to the problem

 

[kevinjames]

Tank parameters must be fine as 2 inch discus won't get anywhere near to 4 inches if they aren't.

Have you a photo of the little fella as he.may just be the runt of the litter so to speak. It isn't uncommon for discus to grow at different speeds and if yours is stunted due to genetics it won't grow anywhere near as fast as the others. Has he kept his colour?

Also what water change routine do u use and have you wormed them recently?

 

[P1ckl3s]

PH-7
Nitrte-0
Nitrate-5
450 litre tank
temp- 84-86
6x discus 18x neon tetras 1x siamese fighter 2x plecy
i do a 20% water change every 3-4 days need nemore info plz let me no thanx for help

 

[kevinjames]

20 percent every 4 days is far too little for growing discus. They need very frequent feeding and plenty of fresh water. With u changing little water and ur nitrate still being low I'd assume you ain't feeding them enough. Where they all bought from the same place as if he's got different genetics he may just be a runt.

 

[P1ckl3s]

ok ill up the feeding and up the water changes the other thing was i orginally feeding them on beef heart and bloodworms but i was told tht feeding them this would result in them regularly getting intestinal parasites. is this true because i changed wot i feed them about 1 month ago to tetra flake thnx

 

[kevinjames]

Beefheart and frozen bloodworm won't give them internal parasites at all. U look at any show quality discus and they are always fed with beefheart and usually a homemade recipe with multivits and garlic. Are u feeding them tetra flake exclusively?

 

[P1ckl3s]

for the last month yes thats wot i was told in my local fish store guess they dnt no wot there on about. so start feeding beefheart again i guess ?
if so can ne1 share a recipe for a homemade beefheart

 

[kevinjames]

Don't take any lfs advice regarding discus, unless they actually keep healthy stock of discus. I'd just Google a recipe. I use yorkshire beefheart and its regarded as the.best available. I feed it daily aswell as tetra prima, spirilina granules, frozen brineshrimp, bloodworm, tubifex. They get earthworms as a treat also.

 

[P1ckl3s]

thx for all advice ill let u no how i get on

 

[Seed_Lord]

get some beefheart or something you can hold and try hand feeding him, depends on his confidence though i guess, and if he will hand feed 3/4 of mine will eat from my hand