Young Discus Not Eating - help needed

[dvdrew]

Water parameters

Temperature range: 32 degrees
pH: 6.5
GH: 5
Ammonia 0, Nitrate 5 max due to daily water changes, Nitrite 0.
Water change frequency 80% daily

Tank set up

Size: 100 litre
Substrate: none
Filtration: Sponge filter. Added overhead filter two weeks ago. No carbon.
Other tank mates: 5 x 2.25" discus, 1 x 3.5" discus and 1 x6" male discus
Tank has been running for 2 months.


Symptoms / Problem description

On the 27 October I purchased 5 x 2.25" discus and 1 x 3.5" discus and put them into a 100 litre grow out tank along with a 6" male discus. No substrate, sponge filter. All discus were eating like little piggies until just over 3 weeks ago. The smallest stopped eating.

Feeding time was a real frenzy. I fed them 4 times a day, changing feeds between beefheart mix, live Australian blackworms, Hikari discus pellets and sometimes Hikari frozen bloodworms. Beefheart mix included vegetables, fish, prawn, garlic, kelp and vitamins and minerals.

When feeding there was the usual pushing, shoving and chasing. Little kids in the playground. The large male was the calming factor in the tank and never chased or annoyed the younger discus. When the young discus went into the tank they were all over the large male and used him as a play toy. It was funny to watch. The smallest discus, being a Chequerboard Turq (CT) was chased off a bit more than his larger tank mates but he did do a fair bit of chasing himself. He was stocky and solid.

Getting back to the issue at hand, he stopped eating. He started to show no interest in the food when it was put into the tank. All other discus at as usual.

Action taken and medication used

I increased the temperature to 32 degrees to speed up metabolism and encourage eating.

Every 6 months I worm my discus and as a matter of course and with the new discus not eating, I gave a treatment to this tank. I used 500mg of Praziquantel with a 60% water change after 48 hours. I then used 14ml of Levamisole with a 100% water change after 24 hours.

After this time the CT was still not eating. All others were eating well. 2 days later I did notice the some of the discus had a bit of bloat and considered that maybe the CT was constipated thus not eating. I also considered that the CT maybe having trouble passing a dead worm from the previous treatments, this too may stop the CT from eating. I dosed the tank with one tablespoon of Epsom Salts and after 4 hours put another tablespoon in. Some of the discus were passing soft stools so I discontinued this treatment.

After 24 hours I could just about rule out bloat or constipation for the CT as he was still not eating. If the CT's problem was not constipation, it most likely had to be a bacterial infection. The level of the tank was dropped to 90 litres after a 100% water change. I then dosed the tank with 600mg of Metronidazole daily for 4 days with a 50% water change on each day. After this treatment the CT was still not eating. The CT would look over the food but not eat.

As the CT was slowly looking over the food as it went in, I thought it best to give him a sporting chance of eating something before the hungry hoards devoured all the food. I put the CT into a small 40 litre tank with no substrate and with a sponge filter. Water temp at 32 degrees. Maybe without the pressure from his tank mates, he might start to eat. Water changes twice per day.

The strange thing is that he did not look ill and he had bright eyes and full colour. The only noticeable thing was the has was dropping weight and his forehead was starting to taper inwards. Other than that he swam around the tank normally.

Over the next three days I noticed that he would study the food long and hard and occasionally take it into his mouth but the spit it out. He had more of an interest in the live Australian blackworms but he would never swallow. I was lost as to what to do next. It was now over 2 and a half weeks since he had eaten. As he was mouthing the food it was decided to return him the the grow out tank with the others. I would bombard the tank with food (and remove the excess after 5 mins. This is the other discus would be distracted giving the CT a chance to watch the others eat and to eat something himself. I had to try something.

Over the course of the next day he would continue to put blackworm in his mouth and spit it straight out. It was not like he was spitting it out and taking it back in again as to break it up, he would spit it out and swim away from it.

After a day in the grow out tank, I did a 80% water change. It was then I noticed that he was breathing heavily out of one gill. The other gill was hardly moving. His activity level had dropped a bit. Could he have gill flukes? A week ago I treated with him with Praziquantel. I decided to give another dose (same dose as above), this time I added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt to the tank. The next day he was breathing equally with both gills. A 100% water change was done after 48 hours.

The CT was continuing to study the food and occasionally pick it up and spit it straight out.

A day later I noticed only on gill working again. This time I tried Trichlorfon. Over the next two days the tank was dropped to 80 litres and temperature down to 27 degrees. The lights were kept off and I dosed the tank with 40mg Trichlorfon and 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt. After 24 hours the temperature was slowly increased to 32 degrees. Both gills are now working together.

This is now where I am at. The CT is still only mouthing food and losing weight. The other discus have grown between 1" to 1.5" over this time. The CT has not grown.

I would love to get this discus eating. Any suggestions or comments? This video was taken a week ago and he has dropped a lot more weight since then.

http://youtu.be/RNI70fkFqlA

[dvdrew]

UPDATE: Still not eating. Takes food in mouth and spits it out without swallowing.

[dvdrew]

I decided that there was nothing to lose hitting him up with another course of metro. It had been a week since the last course. I have him in a seperate tank. Today is the second full day of the metro treatment.

Yesterday I had observed him pass a very large transluscent blobby sack that looked like snot.

Today he was showing more interest in food. It was like he wanted to eat but was struggling to swallow.

This afternoon I tried freeze dried australian black worms. He had a go at them but was spitting them out all the time. I crushed up some live black worms and I am sure he swallowed a piece or two. Not much but it is a start. It is like he is having problem swallowing.

He now races up to the top of the tank when I go to put food in. All I need now is for him to hold the food down. Will do another course of metro tomorrow.

[dvdrew]

Update: I was breaking up blackworms into very small pieces. He was eating and holding it down. After a week off this he began to eat more and more.

He is now growing quite nicely.

[Merrilyn]

Well done getting him to eat again. Usually with youngsters, once they stop eating, for any reason, it's impossible to get them to begin eating again and they slowly waste away.

How is he looking now. Did he catch up to the size of the others?

[dvdrew]

Well done getting him to eat again. Usually with youngsters, once they stop eating, for any reason, it's impossible to get them to begin eating again and they slowly waste away.

How is he looking now. Did he catch up to the size of the others?

He is growing quickly and has made ground on the others but not caught up. I would assume that there will be some level of stunting but at this stage that level is undetermined. The stunting is not blatently obvious (at least to a novice like me).

I did communicate with the breeder I got him from and from what I saw from the brood, many of them were not growing as fast as they should have. This could have been for a number of reasons ie over stocking, not enough feeding, genetics etc. The breeder/importer had emaculatly clean tanks however I never saw any poop on the bottom. I never saw his fish poop. Could this be a sign of not enough eating or feeding larger meals less times a day rather than smaller meals more frequently? As soon as I clean my tanks there is more poop there after two minutes!

I did pick up another one from the breeder and it now has been growing at the same rate as the one that was not eating.

I will post some photos today.