Discus not eating...

[grey_fox]

I purchased a pair of brown discus (juvenile), its been a week plus already and whenever I feed the colony of fishes in the tank, they're not eating at all! They don't hide, initially they did but now they are brave enough to swim about.

So far so good, no outbreak of whitespots (which I read in other forums that discuses are famed for when introduction to planted tanks) and they look healthy except for the fact of them not eating.

Anyone has any advise for me on this? Just afraid they'll end up starving to death.

[michael lai]

Hi, what is the temp of your tank now?

[grey_fox]

Currently it fluctuates from 27.6 - 29.3 degrees celcius

[PeterGwee]

Ask the previous owner what he/she is feeding the discus with. Maybe some live food can trigger the need to feed.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[michael lai]

How's the colouration of the fishes? Intense? light? or fish getting black in colour?

[grey_fox]

Ask the previous owner what he/she is feeding the discus with. Maybe some live food can trigger the need to feed.

Regards
Peter Gwee

The LFS fed blood worms, tubifex & pellet foods. Which is what I am feeding..

[grey_fox]

How's the colouration of the fishes? Intense? light? or fish getting black in colour?

They look normal at the moment (no stress bars at the moment), when I put my hand in to remove a dead leaf, they become light. So far no 'blackness' in both the discus.

[benny]

Maybe tempt them with some live food? Brine shrimps or if you dare, tubifex worms (after disinfecting them).

Cheers,

[grey_fox]

Benny, I did tempt them with Tubifex (after thorough cleansing + rinsing + soaking + rinsing *you get the picture*) and blood worms but still even though the food is passing by them, they ignore it and just swim past it.

I'm wondering when the hunger will get to them and start snacking on my neon tetras

[sage08]

is your tank too bright? you may consider switching off the t5 for a week or introduce ktp leaves into the tank to give it a brackish setting...

[grey_fox]

Although PH readings from test kits should be taken with a pinch of salt, the sera test kit I have is currently showing 6.6 for my PH, so the water should be acidic enough, also there are quite a number of hiding places for the discus amongst the dense vallisneria forest & the large Amazons that I have, so shelter and shade isn't much a worry.

Strange thing is that they are freely swimming around and never dashes around when I put my hand in now or when me or my family members walk past the tank, no longer shy but still on a hunger strike which is worrying me.

I will try to feed them with brine shrimps as I have already tried blood worms, tubifex & dried food. Just afraid they'll end up starving to death.

[celticfish]

best method i know is to up the temp and keep it constant.
28C would be a good starting point.
when treating for sickness i go as high as 34C for two days max.
then lowering to 33C for two days and finally 32C till i think they are okay.

[lyh]

Hi did you quarantine your discus? If not then my guess would be that they are suffering from intestinal parasite since you said the LFS where you bought them from fed them tubifex worms. Signs would be white poo.

[StanChung]

hi aaron,
did you get wild fish or bred browns? wilds need to be quarantined, treated for external parasites, deflaggelated and or dewormed.



before you go into meds be aware that discus can handle not eating for a week.
they need to acclimatise to planted tank, should be nibbling by the third day... some are extremely picky. haven't come across a discus that doesn't like blood worms unless it's sick or scared and the temp isn't right. 27-29c is fine.

*high nitrates/nitrite/ammonia make them lose their appetite.
i tend to suspect partly nitrates because of your EI dosing...

[vratenza]

hi aaron,
did you get wild fish or bred browns? wilds need to be quarantined, treated for external parasites, deflaggelated and or dewormed.



before you go into meds be aware that discus can handle not eating for a week.
they need to acclimatise to planted tank, should be nibbling by the third day... some are extremely picky. haven't come across a discus that doesn't like blood worms unless it's sick or scared and the temp isn't right. 27-29c is fine.

*high nitrates/nitrite/ammonia make them lose their appetite.
i tend to suspect partly nitrates because of your EI dosing...

hi! i am intending to have some discus in my planted as well........ so far i see 2 obstacle.......

1) my water temp... currently maintaining at 26 degrees....
I am thinking of slowly raising my tank temp to 28 degrees before introducing the discus.....i foresee my willow/weeping moss will die a slow painful death.....

2) using my own modified EI....... so nitrates will be high!

Any experience to share on these 2?

[StanChung]

put your chiller on a timer... get it to work on 26-28c range.
weeping moss can take 28c. the tank i had for the iapc only using fans so i could get a good range.26-28c. lights off time can be cooler [25-26c] as the discus do go to sleep.
not sure about willow moss.

nitrates keep it on the low side <5 ppm. on your inorganic dosing.
not the 5-10ppm EI recommends. discus are poop machines and the bio filtration will provide some.

[guan]

arron, maybe the discus prefer to be in a school of 6 and above, since it is still juvelline, and when they come in groups, they tend to fight for food and thus grow better as compared to just one pair.
maybe there is organic feeding from the plants,thus they are not tempted enough to eat the worms. but even so, discus will still chase after the worm and spit them out after taking a bite.

so you may want to try feeding them after 3 days, hopefully they will be hungry by then?

[grey_fox]

hi aaron,
did you get wild fish or bred browns? wilds need to be quarantined, treated for external parasites, deflaggelated and or dewormed.



before you go into meds be aware that discus can handle not eating for a week.
they need to acclimatise to planted tank, should be nibbling by the third day... some are extremely picky. haven't come across a discus that doesn't like blood worms unless it's sick or scared and the temp isn't right. 27-29c is fine.

*high nitrates/nitrite/ammonia make them lose their appetite.
i tend to suspect partly nitrates because of your EI dosing...

Hi Stan,

The discus aren't wild ones, they're domesticated I believe and probably farm bred. I suspect that it might be due to high nitrates like what you mentioned, due to the EI dosing method I am using.

Looks like I will need to further accomdate. Also, from what I notice, my other fishes tend to be super-duper greedy. *still trying to catch them...* I'm intending to let go all the other fishes but need to find a better way to trap them first.

[grey_fox]

arron, maybe the discus prefer to be in a school of 6 and above, since it is still juvelline, and when they come in groups, they tend to fight for food and thus grow better as compared to just one pair.
maybe there is organic feeding from the plants,thus they are not tempted enough to eat the worms. but even so, discus will still chase after the worm and spit them out after taking a bite.

so you may want to try feeding them after 3 days, hopefully they will be hungry by then?

Hi guan,

It's about a week odd already, don't know if they're munching on my neons or not but I see the numbers dwindling down. No sign of any carcass despite looking hard at the substrate and in hiding pockets.

Noticed that the smaller neons are now missing.

So I guess you are correct also in the sense that there needs to be more than just 2 of them, however I need to figure out why these two are not eating first, don't want to end up having 6-10 starving discuses.

[StanChung]

hmm you're the third person asking about discus not eating in a week i've encountered... should put an faq in the fauna section as sticky!
well nitrates are a problem. i've got ten in my tank and only 5 are readily feeding. the others are going to be angels i think. will scoop them out later.