One Of My New Discus Not Eating!

Hello Everyone!

I recently (8 days ago) set up my first discus tank and so far, it has been going pretty good. I picked up 8 discus for my 90 gallon aquarium (fully cycled for over a month with fishless bottled ammonia cycle). Bare bottom tank, over filtered 0 amm, 0 nitrates, and under 10 nitrates. I have been doing daily water changes of 30-60 percent since purchase as well. Fish are 3-4.5 inches. All fish but 1 have been eating very well and seem to have settled in nicely. I feed my fish 2 different pellets (and they were eating pellets at the breeder too). D-50 Tropical pellets as well as HikarI Discus pellets. One of the cobalt blue's was not eating, and was hiding facing the back for a while so I have begun treatment for Hex. Temp is 91.4 and have been dosing Metro+ daily (high temp due to treatment). I have tried soaking the food in garlic guard and still, the one fish will not eat. It looks like it is likely the lowest in the picking order, but is not bullied too bad (it could still eat if it wanted too like the food goes in front of its face). After 1 week of no eating I figured okay screw this so I threw in the frozen bloodworms and he/she ate 2 of them!! However, I DO NOT WANT TO FEED BLOODWORMS but instead only pellets and maybe flakes. Is this normal behaviour considering all the other fish are eating? The fish is starting to look skinny around the forehead area (although this may be me becoming paranoid) but the lethargic hiding and facing the back has faded away. This is now day 4 of treatment but still not eating. Please let me know what to do!! I need this guy to eat for I fear it will die due to malnourishment. For some reason the pics would not upload so here are the pics on flickr if they help. the fish on the far right side centre and fish centre with stress bars.

Thanks for your help and advice,

Stephen

 

I wouldn't worry too much about a discus not eating after 8 days--- Ive had them not eat for 2 weeks when acclimating to my tank.
Metronidazole also makes the fish loose appetite-- so that is an element as well.
I would, however, add a liquid vitamin in the mix that you can add to the water, like Vitachem. this will replenish lost nutrients, and I have found with my own discus that it increases their appetite.
This discus may have been fed bloodworms/beefheart as a staple when at the breeders, that is why it isn't accepting the flakes and pellets. That is why the fish attacked the food in that manner--- it was a recognizable food source.
Personally, I would not just feed juveniles processed foods, I would also feed frozen foods that contain high protein for optimum growth.
The discus looks pretty good, I wouldn't worry yet...
You might also give them a three day treatment with praziquantel as well after the metro treatment as a precautionary measure.
Might also be a case of tapeworm.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about a discus not eating after 8 days--- Ive had them not eat for 2 weeks when acclimating to my tank.
Metronidazole also makes the fish loose appetite-- so that is an element as well.
I would, however, add a liquid vitamin in the mix that you can add to the water, like Vitachem. this will replenish lost nutrients, and I have found with my own discus that it increases their appetite.
This discus may have been fed bloodworms/beefheart as a staple when at the breeders, that is why it isn't accepting the flakes and pellets. That is why the fish attacked the food in that manner--- it was a recognizable food source.
Personally, I would not just feed juveniles processed foods, I would also feed frozen foods that contain high protein for optimum growth.
The discus looks pretty good, I wouldn't worry yet...
You might also give them a three day treatment with praziquantel as well after the metro treatment as a precautionary measure.
Might also be a case of tapeworm.

Thanks for the great reply. The breeder I picked up off of said the fish were pre-quarantined so should I still be using the praziquantel following Metro+?

 

Yes, I always treat with prazI when I get new discus. Three day treatment is all that is needed for them to expel the worms.
Internal parasites can do a lot of damage to a discus before you are aware of their presence.
You will not always see the tell tale signs of the white feces.

Edit: do give them a week of rest after treating for Hexamita before beginning another treatment.

 

I would setup a hospital tank for that guy. Do daily WCs. May want to try BHM and FDBW. I'd say after a month and no eating, put him down and get another discus. If this guy is sick and getting sicker, you don't want it with the rest of your healthy discus.