Fish not eating, please help.

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hello,

I moved my 5 discus into their new tank and one of them is not eating. They were previously separated into 2 groups of 3 and 2 fishes. They were all eating before the move and eating that night after they were all moved into the new tank. I don't have ammonia problem as I just moved the filters along into the new tank to avoid cycling again. After 3 days, one of them is not eating. I noticed it has some tears on its tail after the first night. Yesterday it was eating very little. It seemed to be interested in the food but doesn't eat it. Sometimes it will eat a worm or two then spit it back out. It has normal feces from the bloodworms it ate, no white poop. I just want to know if it was bullied into not eating or if it has internal parasites. It seemed to be less active than it previously was. It was the dominant fish in its tank prior to the move.

Any help will be great.
Thanks.
Jon

[the german]

ive us some water parameters please.\

ph,nitrit,nitrate,amonia,temp.

michael

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

PH : around 7, Ammonia and Nitrite are close to 0. I don't have a Nitrate test kit. Water temp 86F degrees.

Thanks.
Jon

[DiscusEden]

Are the bloodworms you are feeding live?

Have you wormed them?

Does the discus look dark, have stress bars or more peppering?

How is it behaving other than not eating (the rest of the time)?

[scott bowler]

CrossboneVanguard
ok i would try to drop the ph a little 6.8 or so it may make them feel a little better try to get live food and see if they will go that black worm ,mozzy larver.brine shrip any thing like that . i know there are probs with some of the live food but get them eating and if you get a prob then deal with it then . it is better to have them eating .it may be worth worming your fish too.but it has only been a short time in the new tank and some times it may take a week or two before they settle right in hope it goes well

[samir]

Hi,
Ammonia and Nitrite are close to 0.

close to or zero ? that may be the problem.

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

I feed them frozen bloodworms by Hikari. I don't have access to live bloodworms in my area. I will try some frozen brineshrimps.

The fish is not dark, it is more light after the move. By that I mean it is now pinkish as opposed to reddish before the move. They're all Marlboro reds.

I just don't understand why only 1 fish is not eating and the rest are behaving normally. That one fish also tend to stay away from the other four and seems slower. Before the move it was quite aggressive and responsive.

I just tried bloodworms today and it didn't even bother.

Thanks.
Jon

[sammigold]

HI Jon,
Is your fish eating yet?

It could just be taking a while to settle in as it sounds like it has gone from being the dominant fish in one tank to bottom of the ladder in this new set up.

Maybe it has its nose out of joint a little.

I would keep offering it what it normally eats and maybe try and observe it when it is not feeding time. Is it pecking on the bottom. ie. scavenging (it may be eating while you are not looking.)

as long as it is not losing too much weight I would not worry too much, and make sure that it is not getting bullied out of eating.

hth. good luck
sammi

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

Just a quick update. I have put a background outside the tank to shield the fish's view on one side of the tank to reduce stress. All other discus are eating except that one. I treated the fish in at QT tank with de-wormer and noticed it defecated some white stringy stuff but I do not know if it is worms. It was in the medication for 24 hours and I put it back into the big tank. Its been 2 days after the treatment and it is still not eating. I'm not sure if I have to treat it again? Or do I wait for a few days to see if it is eating. I do not have the exact name of the medication. It is made by AZOO and it treats interior parasites.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.
Jon

[samir]

what is your location ??

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

I am in Canada.

Thanks.
Jon

[sammigold]

I would not be medicating... I would just be giving it some time to settle in. You have had these discus for a while just in different tanks havent you? If I have read right... so I would just let it settle for a week or so. and if it still is not eating I would try to find some live food and tempt it with that. see if that makes a difference.
It can take a while for discus to settle into their new heirachy. anything up to 3 weeks.
good luck

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

Just an update. I applied some worming medication. I didn't wait and watch them but I saw white stringy things floating around and also an actual worm but I am sure these are not from the fish that is not eating.

My question is do I do the worms come out dead? If not, won't the fish eat it again? I've never wormed my fish before. I turned off the canister filter during the 24 hours and only had sponge filters on. I'm doing 20% water changes a day to remove the medication.

The fish are stressed from the medication as their colors turned pale. 4 of the 5 fish are eating lightly. That one fish is still not eating. I will keep checking. Also, the fishes seems to be quite scared, not sure if it is the new tank and all. It is a 45 gallon. 36 inches long, 24 inches high, 12 inches wide. The back and one of the side is cover. It is a bare tank with 2 sponge filters and a Fluval 405. Temperature is 30C degrees. 5 discus around 10cm.

If anyone can point me to some worming procedures it will be great. I found some info on how to find out if the fish has worms but not what to do with the worms whether I net it out right away or not. Again, I don't have the name of the product used.

Thanks for your time.
Jon

[Dat]

Hi,
have a look in the "Illness & Medications" section and have a read there.

what medication did you use?

maybe a silly question but i'll ask anyway, what water did you use for your new tank? new water or water from old tank?

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

The new tank has new water and also water from both original tanks. The fish that wasn't eating ate maybe 2-3 frozen bloodworms today. They are still very spooky. I want to keep the tank bare but wonder if there is anything I can do to calm them down. The tank is in my turtle room so there is not a lot of human traffic. I was watching them eat today and they got spooked because one of my turtles banged its shell against a turtle tank and made a sound but I didn't realize the fish can hear it that well.

Thanks.
Jon

[scott bowler]

jon can you put up a pic of th e fish some times we may be able to see some thing you dont , thanks mate hope we can help

[CrossboneVanguard]

Thanks. I will try to get a photo soon. Should I add more fish? They seem to get spooked very easily since it is a bare tank. They weren't like this before when they were in 20 gallons.

Jon

[sammigold]

Is the bottom of the tank see through? maybe they are catching there own reflection and think it is another fish in there space resulting in the flight response.
maybe get some dither fish like cardinal tetras or rummy nose tetras. Get a school of at least 10-15 and they should swim around and maybe make the discus feel safer.
hth

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

A quick update. I finally got some live black worms. The fish ate them. Now I just need to get it back on feeding frozen bloodworms.

Thanks.
Jon

[sammigold]

cool, glad to hear that it is eating again!
cheers
sammi