# Discus Not Eating-



## Scampi (Apr 21, 2014)

Hello all-

I'm posting here about a discus.. says the title.

I've had it now for just over two months. Always hides in the corner.. poops very little, when it does it's white.. It's been rubbing against things too in the last three weeks.

I've treated with mela/pima and i'm half way through the course of treating with Metro. if it's Internal parasites and it's not eating, will the metro still treat??

I'm just so lost right now. Everyone else in the tank is doing wonderfully.

Water changes are as follows:
20% every other day for the exception of one day a week of 50% or so. I have an aquaclear 75 on a 55gal. tank with ammonia pearls and a sponge. No carbon unless it's post-med treatment for about a month. 
I use aquarium salt in the tank as well, 1tbsp./10gal. as directed.

Ammonia is 0ppm
Nitrate/nitrite less than 5ppm.
PH is 6.5.

I even went through a corse of Parasite Guard by Tetra two weeks ago.. I'm shocked that my shrimp lived through that. [the label says not safe for inverts.]. It just doesn't seem like anything is working. I can see that it's skinny, but it's still strong enough to put up fight for life. It's not weak in any way, nor is it listless.

I never see it eat, but it poops, so it's gotta be eating something, sometime. I let some time pass before treating, since I know some discus when introduced can be put into hiding after being introduced into a new tank.. but I've put new discus into this tank after this one and they've all taken to their new home diligently.

Let me know..

EDIT:

Substrate is 1/4 inch of gravel.. About a month and a half to two months ago I DID experience an ammoinia/nitrate spike. Could this still have something to do with it??


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

20% water change for discus really does nothing. Is it nitrite at 5ppm or nitrate at 5ppm? You are well under filtration with a small ac75 for your tank if you are not doing a mass amount of water change. My guess is, go back to the person who sells you the discus and see if the seller can offer you more insight as I believe those are tank raised fish. So he must have gotten it eating before it gets to you.


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## Scampi (Apr 21, 2014)

Nitrite always 0, Nitrate less than 5, if not 0.

I test my water at least 3 times a week, I've never had any problems other than the one spike. [which I believe was caused when I sold a small school of fish then added two small fish the next day..]

But I'll up the change amounts and see if it helps..


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## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

Try raising temperature, even to 90 degrees for a while (week), increase aeration! BTW, what temp are you keeping them at?


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## Matt & Larissa (Sep 1, 2011)

Thanks for posting a lot of info about your setup. 

I'm with Charles on the waterchange, do a 50%-60% and refill with either aged water or a SLOW refill to keep the bubbles and stress down. Discus hate the bubbles and if the fish aren't moving, they won't shake off the bubbles as they collect on their sides. And do them daily until you see signs of a positive change. If the tank mates can't handle it, you'll need to quarantine.

I suggest treating for Gill Flukes if it's rubbing. Once those little jerks attach to the gills, the fish have a hard time expending any energy. 

So you should be looking for treatment of external as well as internal parasites. 

Water to 92 if the tankmates can handle it. (If you have shrimp in there, I'd pull them out).


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## Scampi (Apr 21, 2014)

Thanks for further replies!

Since the last post, one of the discus had to be humanely euthanized [using clove oil]. It was too far gone and still not eating, and hadn't grown at all in the last two months while it's tank mate from the same batch is catching up to 5 inches. Very skinny and just generally not well.

I keep the tank at 82*F [30-31C]. I've already treated for internal/external parasites with a course of Metro, so I don't possibly know how they could still have problems pertaining that. I've upped water change sizes and frequency to daily.

I've also tried adding Seachem's Garlic Guard to their food a couple times a week and I also picked up some aquatic vitamins for them. [the brand escapes me now, but it's made for discus.] Just to help boost their systems.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Sometimes it is just a single poor breed discus.


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

charles said:


> Sometimes it is just a single poor breed discus.


100% agreed. A discus might seem like a good deal at the beginning but lineage and the breeder is key. After that it's easy, just heat, good food, lots of water changes and wait for the babies


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