Disucs hunger strike

[robertrobert905]

Hi, my discus are refusing to eat anything, and whats worse, they are always hiding behind plants.

I have a 33 gallon tank with a lot of plants. I have about 10 amano shrimps, 10 ottos, 1 SAE, 2 chinese algae eaters, 1 swordtail, 4 rosbora and some baby guppys. When I bought my first 5cm turquose, 2 month ago he was fine, he ate all frozen food all the time. When I bought a 9 cm blood pigeon from the same store, both fish stopped eating and the small one is always hiding. Sometimes they would swallow the food but spit them out immediately. My temperature is 30 degrees. They haven't ate anything for almost 2 weeks now, and I just moved them to a 10 gallon barebottom tank so they will recover.

Can someone help me , what can I do to get them to eat? Oh they both look quite colourful, especially the pigeon blood.

[robertrobert905]

these pictures are taken today

[robertrobert905]

more

[robertrobert905]

it's home now

[robertrobert905]

the small one always hides behind the anubias and wood, ever since the bigger one is added

[sammigold]

Could you post details of your water parameters...

ie. PH, KH, GH

I notice that they were in with guppies who normally require quite different water parameters.... ie. guppies prefer high ph (7-7.4), with very hard water and cooler water temps of around 25degrees whilst
Discus prefer warmer temp 29-30, with a lower ph (6.6-7) and softer water with a lower gh...

If your guppies are thriving it may just be that the water is ideal for them although there lifespan may be greatly shortened by the higher temps...

Whilst you have your discus in the smaller tank, you could try feeding some live brine shrimp to encourage them to eat... maybe do more regular water changes as they are very young discus and juveniles require more frequent water changes...

Im sure some other people will be able to give you some other ideas... good luck... hope they start eating for you....

[robertrobert905]

sorry I don't have water parameter information. I think those fish were bred locally, so I just use tap water with conditioner. The thing is the small one did greate for the first month, so I don't think it's a water problem, in fact I've been changing more water since the big one arrived.
And temperature is 29-30 degrees.

I think one of the discus has ate some colorbits in the smaller tank. All the colorbits in there are gone and I found some red poo. Still they get scared when I approach and they always have to wait 10 minutes to eat the colorbits, when they move back they won't have a chance to do that. Since other fish eat faster and there are gravel.

[sammigold]

You might find that they are just not suited to the other fish that you have in your community tank...

Discus dont like to compete for their food that much against faster, more aggressive eaters...

The gravel and the plants arent a problem alot of people keep discus in planted tanks, myself included.... the discus like to peck and get food from the gravel floor (as long as they are eating) and the plants give them places to hide if they feel threatened....

It can take Discus a little while to settle into new surroundings anything from a few days to a few weeks... maybe you need to be patient...

I would also advise that you read up on some of the other sections in the forum ie. Discus Keeping 101 and the Food,Nutrition and water chemistry section.... you will find lots of info that can be very helpful...

Discus do require pristine water conditions and it might not be a bad idea to go to your lfs and buy some water testing kits... that way you can see if the conditions are suitable to discus... even though they are bred locally they may have been kept with certain ph, kh and gh as these can all be altered naturally and chemically... JMO

[jim]

1. Do you see WHITE POO from your discus?
2. The Chinese algea eater will suck on your discus
3. Swardtail or guppy will give your discus lots of kisses on their body.
4 You may try LIVE warm...they can not resist them even when they are sick...
5. You might want to buy MORE discus (after you discus recovered of course). They are happier as a group. It's better to have around 6 in a 4 foot tank..
So the aggrasive one will attack different fish...not just a particular one.

[robertrobert905]

I see white poo I am now treating them in a seperate tank with metron

Also I don't think it's a settling in problem. The small one was very comfortable in the tank, but after I introduced the big one, which was not shy either, the small one stopped swimming around and kept hiding.