Discus not eating

[Rgoganj]

I was wondering how long discus can go without eating.

I purchased some discus last friday, and they have not been eating since then.

They hide in the corners when I approach, but start swimming around when they can’t see anyone.

I’ve tried bloodworms, flake food, granules, the other discus are fine and eat.

PH 6.8
Ammonia 0
Temp 28

[Aurora]

You should ask the people you brought them from what they were feeding them, maybe they were only being feed a certain food and now thats all they'll take. Have you tried beefheart?

[weird]

An adult can easily not eat for 1 week without an effect on their overall health.

Are you able to photo your tank ? What is your setup like ? Are they located in a quite place ?

Aurora suggesting of finding out what they were eating is a good idea.

You may want to leave the light off the tank to help them settle in. If they are the sole occupants of the tank, you may want to try cranking the temp up abit to about 30-32 degrees gradually.

[Lee C]

I would bump up the temp to 92f and add a tablespoon of kosher salt per 10 gallons.
If you see white stringy feces, you may have to hit them with metro for hexamita protazoan treatment....
Usually salt and heat work, so try that first.
Good luck!

[kalebjarrod]

just up the temp just a few degrees to 30

this will increase thier metabloizim, also find out thier old food source

don't disturb the tank, keep your hands out ( as hard as it is ) and try to be as peaceful as possible around them.

they will eat, even if it not for a week that fine :wink:

[Rgoganj]

Thanks for the replies

Previous owners were feeding b/h blood worms and tetrabits.

I’ll crank up the temp to 30, as for the tank it’s a planted tank and there is some traffic as it’s next to stairs.

My son (3.5 years old) likes to watch the discus so I’ll try to keep him away from the tank.

Will try b/h and maybe live foods see if that works.

As for tank mate I have about 16 Krib juv’s, which I need to get rid of soon.

Regards and thanks

Rob.G

(Phosphates and nitrates are high would that be a problem)

[ctvu]

Hi

Don't worry they will come out for food soon, like mine one they were ok for the first 2 weeks since I had them, then they always hid in the corner whenever I came to the tank now they just started coming out from yesterday and begging for food. And you should feed them in routine, like my fish just come out for food about the time I get home from work because they know what is on their way… I agree with Aurora you should ask the shop owner about PH, Temp, Food and how often feed them etc …. The more information the better you are. Did you buy from the one in Oakleigh? If yes try tetra color bit because apparently he feeds fish majority with this stuff. Good luck
HTH

If you could post some pix of them.

[kalebjarrod]

do some water changes to get that nitrate down, i am unsure of the water conditions in melborne. maybe one of the victoria ganag can help with your water a little more

once you lose the nitrate the fish will be much much happier, the planted tank is good just leave all the plants alone for a few weeks even if they look like crap, give the fish some time. the plants will absorb some of the nitrates

i have a 2 & a 3 year old, took me a little while to teach them not to bang on the tank. i tried to take them to as many fish stores as possible. they where so amazed by how many fish where thier when they got home they left them alone a little more

if they were into blood worms try them in little bits (half cubes) they should nail it, then try all the other food types

they will get used to the traffic, just give em some quiet time for the next few weeks, maybe a "tred lightly sign" (even if only you, your other half and friends follow it)

most important let them settle, get rid of the nitrates, the rest will follow :wink:

[ctvu]

Hi Rob

Sorry I typed mine while you posted the new one I did not see that.
It happened to me recently, I got ammonia and nitrite in my tank please do as kalebjarrod's suggestion, water change daily like I have been doing to get zero reading, you will be Ok then. Good luck