2 Discus Not Eating & are Sluggish also

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sushiray

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 11, 2009
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new windsor/cormwall, ny
Sorry to hear of Swick's loss. Sounds like I may have similar ills but no other symptoms.

72gal BF 15 juvie discus (who btw are not sparring or chasing other around as much as last week!)

API master test kit

pH=6.6 (consistent since 7/15)

AM/NI=0 (last wk AM was .125)

NA=.25 (since 9/9 when it was last zero, between the 2 color scales)

temps = 85

80% w/c yesterday

So I have one that is so skinny cuz he's been on a hunger strike for a week now. Sluggish stays in corners also. If I place my hand there it will swim to other side. I'm afraid it will be near it's demise.

The other swims around albeit also sluggish but has been pecking at driftwood & sometimes sponge filter but lets the flakes go by & has ignored frozen brine & bloodworms. It does swim to the top like it was going to eat but fakes me out.

No physical signs of stress/disease/Ich/tail rot at all. No white pooping/actually I haven't caught either pooping.

I thought finally I reached a level of equilibrium after my bouts with Ich & I think I had a parasite in there along with fungus on my plecos & tail rot on my one angel & my albino corys. But there are only discus in the tank for now about 3wks.

So, hope someone has a clue or suggest what I can do - no meds yet right?

thx all.
 
I would get them into a Q-tank, and be giving them daily 80% water changes, with lots of air ~82 degrees. You might also want to think about treating for parasites on the one that hasn't eaten for a week.
 
Try live black worms, skiter larvae, or brine shrimp and stick the ones that are hiding in to a quarantine tank if you have one or get a divider. Are you matching the temperature of your WC water to the tank water and are you using conditioners? If you are doing 80% wc you could be thermally shocking your fish.
 
I'm confident all your problems goes back to your water quality problems. Poor water quality weakens the immune system, and allows internal parasites to flourish and take over the fish. Good thing you got that ammonia taken care of, or you most certainly would have lost all your fish one at a time. Keep up the water changes. As long as the water is the same temp. as water in the tank, it's no problem. You could treat the tank with metro in smaller doses for about 10 days, followed by a prazi treatment for 3 or 4 days. Really sick fish often decline even further if you move them because of the stress on the already weak immune system. The sick fish might pull through, but it might not. My advice is cut your losses now, and cull the sick fish from the tank. The reason is, if an infected fish dies in your tank before you can kill parasites off, the parasites are going to be looking for another host, which would be another discus. Very sick juvie discus often stunt if they survive anyway, so I would end it now. No one likes to lose any fish, but one or two is a small price IMO when you have a tankful of healthy ones.
 
thks, I will cull it out. some others had said hexamite? my bone fish looking discus looks like it's on it's last legs tho it swims ok, still not eating. can I use jungle clear which has the combo meds in it? treat the whole tank right?
 
It likely is hex, or Hexamita, a protozoan caused disease that is commonly referred to as just internal parasites. You could use the Jungle meds, but it may prove to be crazy expensive to use, because the concentration in those products are low, so you could end up using a ton of it for a complete cure. It's much better to call JEHMCO at 1-800-521-6258, and tell them you need a jar of pure Metronidazole powder, (metro). Internal parasites such as hex can be extremely difficult to get rid of, especially if the fish has had them so long that they are emaciated, which is why I suggested it's better to just cull the fish.
 
Put the temperature slowly up to 35 Celsius (that's 95 Fahrenheit in old money) and keep it there for a week than bring it slowly down by a degree Celsius a day. No need to throw antibiotics at them. Half the time the pathogens are already resistant to them. That's why a lot of people use di-metro these days.
Make up your own food, half and half beefheart and garlic. It stinks to high heaven but it works a treat.
If you have some almond tree leaves, add them as well. Most pathogens don't like an acidic pH
 
so is 95F ok & no meds you say?

discus can tolerate that high for that long?

I will be ordering metro from JEHMCO shortly.

so if I don't have a QT tank any suggestions?

I suppose if I placed with my angels, they can catch also.
 
Praziquantel usually does the trick for me. A bottle of Prazi-pro sits right next to any tank of discus I have. I would deffinatly run a treatment after you move/cull the bad apples.
 
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