Discus Wont Eat

[grayboy1]

I recently purchased 9 discus from my LFS. I actually traded alot of fish which I no longer wanted to keep for them and so got them free. On adding them to by 6'x2'x2' tank they were a little nervous at first. 1 day with the light off saw them looking hungry the following morning and they ALL were feeding well. After as little as a day I noticed the largest one showing lots of nice blue markings. He seemed like the dominant fish and was always pecking at the others to give him space as well as the usual "wagging" and showing off. its 3 weeks later now and since about 10 days ago i noticed he chooses to isolate himself totally from the others yet he does not look unhappy and looks very colourful although he doesnt move much. ive never seen him feed after the first week or for as long as i can remember come to think of it. He doesnt look underfed and looks totally fine IMO but he wont eat. i drop all kinds of food in front of his face and the others race over to "his" spot to gobble up the food while he seems content to either attack them or simply move on depending on his mood. at present there is another of the 9 looking a little larger than the one who wont feed. this is due to his lack of appetite IMOn resulting in the others catching him up on size.

Here are some details to aid with a reply.

pH 6.3-6.5
GH around 3 or less
KH around 3 or less
temp 29 Celcius

i do 3 30percent water changes weekly. i feed flake, spirulina flake, prawns and various frozen foods as well as some pellets. i use an HMA/CBR2 filter to remove metals and other contaminants, no need for ro water as my tap water is extremely soft

the decor is about 4 inches thick of pea gravel with a huge undergravel filter powered by 8 air driven uplifts. the tank has about 4 HUGE Pieces of drift wood ive had for about over a year now that i found washed up on the beach (i treated all pieces appropriately) plus about 5-6 pieces of the largest mopani bog wood i could buy. all the wood is stacked up on top of eachother in a payramid fashion all the way to the water surface creating many hidey holes as well as plenty of open water space.

tankmates: 1 syno eupterus that ive had for about 8 years, hes about 8" with his tail
2 pictus "poka dot" cats. (probably not the best choice for discus but i dont mind mixing as long as it works, no hassle with them atall)
5 2.5" koi angels
20 small serpae tetras
8 bronze corys and 1 4 inch clown loach + 2 4 inch plecs of which i dont know the names.

the discus are all around 2.3-3.5 inches. ALL eat greddily from my hand except for 1

as a final note. to be honest, the discus were not in the greatest shape when i got them. none were suffering from disease or looked starved, but u know what i mean. when u have an eye for fish u can tell great fish from average fish easily. the only reason i took them was due to a fish only credit i was given. i figuired i could try my hand at discus and gain some experience keeping them then if i succedded, i could look into some more from a more professional source in the future as i have a large fish hut with plenty of empty tanks ready for more. dont get me wrong though, they look pretty good now and ill get at least 1 nice pair (hopefully) from the bunch, there are at least 4 that have very good round shape and finage to them where as the others dont have the correct body or head shape, probably a result of poor or no culling on the breeders part!

also i forgot to add. a few days after i added them to the tank i treated the whole tank with a discus wormer. i used flubenol. i hope i havent missed anything if so let me know.

if anyone could help with this matter that would be great as i am puzzled...thanks

oh i also forgot, my ammonia and nitrite are at zero and the nitrate reading is under 15ppm. i didnt put this in my first post as i was being a little arrogant and assuming that this wouldnt be questioned, how silly of me

 

[Tolak]

Where are you located? This will determine what meds are available to you.

 

[grayboy1]

im from Scotland, in the UK. anything else u need to know?thanks for reply

 

[Tolak]

This sounds like an internal protizoan problem, common to discus as well as angels. I've treated angels who show the same symptoms with success, I just don't know if metronidazole is available to you. I'm almost certain dimetronidazole is though, but you may need to get this through a vet. If you can get either of these, this is the procedure I follow;

This is what I do for angels, you may want to look into the maximum temp your fish can handle. Metro was originally designed for humans, the closer you can get the tank to 98.6F the better.

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per gallon. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.

 

[grayboy1]

hi, thanks for the in depth reply. ill check this out. but surely there must be a medication available as an actua l tropical fish treatment rather than resorting to a vet?

 

[Tolak]

I can pick up metro online or at most any lfs here in the U.S. In the U.K. it's a prescription item, as are antibiotics. Different countries, different laws.

 

[grayboy1]

is this no use then? cos i actually have some of it already


http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Interpet-No-9-Anti-I...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Tolak]

You need to find out what exactly is contained in it. It seems to be more of an antibiotic than an anti-protzoal.

 

[grayboy1]

http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...ct_name=Octozin


what about this treatment?

 

[Tolak]

OCTOZIN (Flagellated Protozoa) :
For the treatment of "Hole-in the-Head", Spironucleus, Dropsy, Malawi Bloat, Sleeping Sickness and Whitespot in all aquaria. OCTOZIN is a treatment for internal parasites such as those which cause Sleeping Sickness, Hole - In - The - Head, Seawater Angelfish and Clownfish Disease, Malawi Bloat Disease and also early stages of Dropsy. OCTOZIN may also be used to treat Whitespot in seawater aquaria where CUPRAZIN cannot be used. OCTOZIN is harmless to invertebrates and algae when used as directed. You will require three separate days of treatment to complete the course. OCTOZIN is active for up to 3 days after the last day of use. Although internal parasites are destroyed instantly, external signs of improvement to the fish may take up to 7 days.
http/72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:eaAgdC...us&ct=clnk&cd=1


You could try it, though metro is the drug of choice for internal protizoans.

 

[discusmad]

Hey there, sorry to hear about your discus buddy.

Octozin is one of the meds you should allways have in as a discus keeper.
I treat my discus twice a year with it as a matter of course, so I would treat your discus with it.

It can be used WITH interpet no9 at the same time if really needed, but for now, just treat with the octozin, also turning the temp up to 30/32deg to try and entice him to feed.

hope this helps

paul

 

[Tolak]

Thanks Paul! Meds are so different in different countries, the Interpet line is almost unheard of over here. I would imagine it works the same on angels, a good thing for me to know.

 

[discusmad]

thats what we are here for, to help each other

There is also another discus/cichlid med. Its called Hexamita made by esha, a supurb med if all else fails(allways got that in my cupboard as well)

 

[grayboy1]

wow guys thanks for all the replies, i really appreciate it. i spose the differences in tropical fish treatments in diff places of the world are as diff as american cars and european cars ill give octazin a go and maybe no 9 also. with octazin, shud i treat all the fish or isolate the ill fish into a hospital tank for treatment? thanks.



ps: thanks for the help

 

[discusmad]

To treat a 6x 2x2 will be expensive, so i would isolate him with the same perameter water with the temp turned up a little, but treat with octozin first and see how he goes