my little discus is not eating!!!

ever since i introduced 3 larger discus into my tank
the little one has been hiding and not eating

i think one of them chases it around when ever i feed them

what can i do...?

i dont have another tank to put it in..

and can anyone tell me why its like this?

before i put the other bigger discus in, i had the 2 little ones in the tank for about a month.
i would have thought they are well adapted by now

[Proteus]

Help is at hand...

a few things first.

where are you? how big is the tank?

it sounds like they are just trying to set up a pecking order and maybe another tank may be your only option...

[luvfishies]

Also what is the temperature of the tank? What is the decor (BB versus gravel and decor).

what are you feeding? How bright are the lights? How high off the ground is the tank?

sorry for all the questions, but there are reasons for them.

thanks guys for the reply

ok i have a heavily planted tank
so there are plenty of places for them to hide

i have 2 halogen tubes for the tank
that is pretty bright
but because i have to many plants i think its ok..
the light is set on a timer which keeps it on for about 8 hours a day
to keep the algea in check

the temp is about 25-28 degrees

the tank is about half a meter off the ground
on top of a purpose built cabinate

um..
i feed them different kinda stuff like frozen blood worms, tetra bits and sera premium discus food

all the tank mates are smaller than them
and very friendly species
like cardinals, rummy nose, cories, and golden barbs

[anti-generic]

oh yeah and im at roselands NSW

[jluna]

in my humble opinion...
you're gonna need to up the temp to minimum 28 - i think most people here sit on 29-30?? colder and the discus will stress. can you set up a partition in the tank, even one of those larger breeding nets u can buy from a petshop, to seperate yr bub and feed him up? (don't forget to give him some cover eg duckweed or polystyrene if he's close to the light with no plants to cover...) ...maybe a fed of live brine, which always seem to excite the most reluctant of feeders, and they tend to scurry away and hide which means he might find more, as opposed to the dried or frozen which he has to fight for...and how do his fins and colour look? i'm assuming he's gone dark, but is his shape ok? fins out or held close?...it can work out - i bought a new bub a couple of days ago half the size of my team, and he's fine...you could also consider some more small-size bubs to join him - depending on the size of the tank etc. that's about all i can think of - what's your water change regime?
hope he's ok.

justin

[anti-generic]

wow..!!

thank you very much for the generous advice

um..
one quetion though
im worried that the brine shrimp might carry disease

and my water change is once every 2 weeks

[anti-generic]

um..
i think the small one is a famale

and her fins and everytihng looks fine

no damage

but she doesnt erect it much though

[luvfishies]

anti-generic, I agree that the temp needs to be raised, as discus love it warm, on the order of 86*F

Also, I would increase your waterchanges. Discus don't like nitrATES, and they are pigs, messy pigs. Piggie fish tend to create a lot of waste, and I would suggest doing at least weekly or twice weekly waterchanges. Stressed discus don't eat. Clean water goes a long way to releiving stress.

gotta agree with luvfishies - your fish aren't going to make it with such irregular water changes! maybe because you only had two small ones you haven't noticed so much, but in 27 years of keeping a vast range of tropicals, these are by far the messiest fish i've ever kept, aside from goldfish!! (eeorgh!!) they need ultra-clean water, and if the water is ok, they'll be ok... i bet u see a change if you do more water changes. there are plenty of people here to give more advice re: water quality. as for the brineshrimp, do you have a local fishshop which breeds their own, or could put you in touch with someone who does? i've never had any trouble with feeding brines - worms i'm a bit more dubious about.

justin

[anti-generic]

kool
thank you guys very much

but is there anything i can do about the pecking order?

[flukes]

Pecking order will be established in any tank, as iam currently witnessing in my tank atm, the smallest (pigeon blood) is getting picked on by a blue diamond. But only by this one fish and the other snakeskin sticks up for him some times. But the main thing in my tank the pigeon blood is still getting a good feed. And he is growing. If the fish is not eating i would try to seperate him in another tank, with a another small fish if you have one. If you dont then try get one of the other discus that doesnt seem to be picking on him. If you dont have another tank, you can partion of your tank using perspex and those black corner covers that you see on the edges of your tank. Both these could be bought at bunnings for less than $10. One thing with the water changes try do as many as you can, i try to do one every day but sometimes i work late and dont get a chance, but it wouldn't go longer than 2 days, this is just my routine. I would say 2 water changes a week is a minimal in my books, many would disagree and contest that they do less but for better looking fish this would be the least amount. Even with this amount i would get some albino cory's to clean up after them, if you have the room. In my tank the corys do a great job of cleaning up after them and when i was first going to get them i was told not to because they would scare the discus. The discus like with most circumstances get used to them in time, but even when they were first put in there, the discus would not dart they were more curious and now the dont even care about them. (more about there next feed!! Piggies)
Anyway hope all goes well

Scott

Just try get the little guy seperate and plumb him up till he is big enough to fend for him self, having them by them self is not good for them but if its not getting a feed then its better too be fed then too be lonely.

[anti-generic]

ok

i have established a partition
and i have put the little discus in there by itself

is it normal for it tobe still not eating
for a few days?

and a friend suggested the idea that it might have worms or some kind of disease that make discus loose their appitite.
can that be the case?

if so what can i do to stop it?

P.S
thank you guys soo much for all your advice

[flukes]

brine shrimp is always a good way to get a discus eating, with that or a beef heat mix with a heap of garlic in it. Garlic gets there appitite going. Other than that all you can do is wait. If he does have worms you will see a buldging stomach, well i dont know if it will still be buldging if he is not eating, but this is a good sign. My mates fish had worms but they still ate and he realised by the thin stringy feces, so he treated for it and everything was fine. But the thing here was that his fish was still eating. I dont how you could tell if he is not eating, if he does take a poo, which i dont think will happen often if at all if he is not eating, take a look at it and see whats its like.

Give those foods a go and see how you go and also monitor his waste.

Cheers
Scott

[anti-generic]

ive checked its poo
and it looks white but i dunno about stringy though

its fins are looking fine though
and it does erectic it sometimes.

[anti-generic]

hey..
thank you guys so much for all your advice

i put some brine shrimp in the tank today
and the little one started pecking on some of them..

so for now
i guess it wouldnt starve to death

lets hope it goes well in a few days

thanks again!!!

[anti-generic]

un fortunately
my little discus didnt make it through the long weekend

RIP
little one..

:(

but thanks guys for all your help and support

lets hope i have more luck with future ones

on a good note...
i just added a DIY co2 pump into to the tank
its working like a dream

[flukes]

whats your kh?? adding DIY co2 to a tank with a low kh is not a good idea, reason being its very hard to judge and maintain a stable amount of co2 being disvoled, the more co2 being disolved the lower the ph, if you have a low kh the ph will swing up and down with the amount of co2 going in. Try it but i wouldnt be doing it with discus in the tank. Try it on a tank with a couple of gold fish till you can get the right mixture.

Whats you suga vs yeast amounts??

Cheers
Scott

P.S - The more yeast the faster it disolves, the more sugar the longer the mix lasts.