Discus Bullied - Not Eating and Hiding

[jesx57]

Hi,

One of my discus, (clearly the runt of the group) isn't eating and won't come out from hiding under the plants. He is losing weight whereas the others are eating well. I added two other discus about 4 days ago to but the most aggressive discus in his place. I'm unsure what to do right now, can anyone help? Some days he hides so well it takes me 10 minutes to find him. He doesn't swim with the other discus and never has his fins fully erect.

I tried rearranging territories a while ago, and he was eating and actually bossing my malboro around. Then I was cleaning one day and accidentally moved the log a few inches and he hasn't been the same since. Keeping discus can be really frustrating at times :x .

[Boyam]

I dont think moving a log a few inches would cause your fish to become so distraught to not eat and hide all day. it is natural from my expierence to relax in some comfort zones, but they should always come out for feeding.

this sounds to me like internal parasites. keep a eye out for stringy white poo, if any. one of my fish had this same situation happen a while back.

any experts thoughts?

[jesx57]

He's doing small amounts of jelly poo, almost clear but not in long strands, only 3 mm long or there abouts. I'd like to buy some metro for this problem (it sounds a lot like hex), but so far none of the pet shops in my area stock it. I went to my discus breeder who said he had never heard of the disease, yet on their website they make note about it. Does anyone know where I can find metro?

[Hollowman]

Not sure about where you can find metro over there, but you could also look for a product called Esha Hex, it works very well. Sounds like your breeder is more concerned with selling fish than looking after his customers to me.
Good luck

H

[gypsy3]

you can only get metro from a vet

[jimmyg]

Check this link by Merilyn,

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17130&sid=615850e13305ff07cfd2f97a32e32d8e

you usally have to take the fish to the VETS as they don't like to give it out unless they see the fish, if you know him then it is easier but, just take photo's to the vet and say he is too sick to bring and I don't want to stress the fish any further.

[Boyam]

Jungle Labs has a parasite clear here is the link: http://junglelabs.com/pages/details.asp?item=NJ054

it also co exist with a medicated food; i found it very hard to get my already not eating fish to eat this medicated food. but what i did was crush the medicated food and let blood worms soak in it and fed the mixture to the fish.

im still uncertain on what it was, hex, worms, flagellates... i have no idea. but this worked.

[TW]

You can't get jungle labs any any product with metro in it from LFS. It is prescription only in Australia. It can be hard to find a sympathetic vet to prescribe for a fish. I have managed not to take a fish, but have printed out information from the forums. If you go there with a picture of the sick fish, dosage information from the forum & sound confident about what you need, I have found that helps.

[jesx57]

This isn't good, are you sure you can't get something from a livestock supplies store? But, I was able to get some capsules from my LFS that he says clears up just about any intestinal problem. They have an orange plastic capsule and inside the powder is a bright grass green. I don't know what's in them, but I'm a bit hesitant. He says they'll rot the roots of my plants and that I should wear gloves because the powder can be absorbed through the skin. They don't sell them in Australia any more because they're potentially dangerous and will make you sick if you're not careful. Can anyone tell me what they are?

[TW]

No idea what they are. You can get Big L levamisole from livestock shops, but that doesn't treat hex. Waterlife's Octozin is said to be for Hole in the Head (Hex) http://www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/octozin.htm I haven't tried it.

Can you find a vet that might prescribe metro for you?

[jesx57]

I'll have to try. So far he hasn't done any more jelly poos, just a long stringy one this morning which is probably just part of his intestinal lining because he isn't eating anything. He's still swimming around so I'm going to see if I can isolate him this afternoon and watch him. In the meantime, I'll have to get some metro to treat my main tank and the other little discus. Poor thing, he's a terrible sight, all skinny and a bony head whereas my others are nice and well rounded.

[TW]

Remember that what goes in, must come out. Once he stops eating for long enough & he has pooped out all the waste he has left in him (as jelly poops) you may not see any more poops at all.

This is my opinion only, but my heckel hadn't eaten for the longest time & I had never seen any jelly poops in the planted tank (but I think they may be easy to miss in that tank). I removed him to QT. He didn't eat & he didn't poop - not at all. I didn't know what to treat him for. Then, one night, for whatever reason he ate just a few spriulina brine shrimps. I thought he was cured (he wasn't). Next day, he went straight back to not eating, but he did do jelly poops.

So, if the jelly poops are gone & he is eating, you are probably safe. If no poops at all & no eating at all, you still have a problem IMO.

[jesx57]

I did see him eat some mosquito larvae once, probably because it was moving and looked a bit exciting, but I'm very cautious now because it might collect parasites. My LFS said that live bloodworms have tapeworm, is this true? I don't know what's safe to feed them half the time.

[ILLUSN]

most live worms carry the risk of paracites, best to avoid them if you can, live brineshrimp should be ok, salt water paracites wont last long in fresh water.

[jesx57]

What if I set up a bucket for mosquito larvae?

[Hollowman]

The water will still become stagnant, and the parasites are passed on by the parent mozzies.
Blood worm seems to get a bad wrap lately, I don't feed it live either for the reasons given, but the frozen irradiated stuff should be fine

[Bill Tune]

I have used Octozin in the past & it fixed everything.
I still have some but it is a few years old, so I'm not sure if it is still OK.
I got it posted to me from Waterlife, by the way, as I couldn't buy it locally.

[mistakes r crucial]

Jes,

I know it's 3 weeks since your original post but if you're still having problems getting hold of Metro shoot me a PM, I maybe able to help you.

Vet's are just doing their thing but I know how frustrating it can be if you haven't built a relationship with your vet yet, costly is another word for it!
Cheers
MAC

[Cooldaddyfunk286]

see, Im almost in the same boat. Im starting up my new tank, I only had 1, 2 inch blue diamond in there along w various tetras and a few corys. then I added a 3 inch red tiger. for the first 2 days they were together the new red tiger was the boss, fully happy, chasing the blue diamond around, basically at the top of the pecking order, then I did a water change and did a gravel vac. the blue diamond hid and the red tiger was following my gravel vacs every move, he was practically getting in the way of my cleaning, i was very careful not to hit or disturb him. anyway, to make a long story short. right after the 30-40% water change and gravel vac, the blue diamond has now taken the top spot in the tank. for the last few days its been the blue diamond now chasing around the red tiger! the red tiger still eats more, and isnt really shy. but he has been showing his black bars. when I first wake up and turn on the lights tho, his bars are not there...its not untill the blue D starts F***ing with him, that he shows the black bars.

im just wonderin if theres anything I can do to switch up, or evenout the pecking order. I dont like seeing my new beautiful lil red tiger w those pissed off stripes being chased around my tank by what i consider to be a much less desirable blue diamond.

YA KNOW?!?! it is frusturating my man, but thats the beauty of trying to "control" nature. :P

[lpiasente]

Add 2 more discus.

[Cooldaddyfunk286]

Yeah, I plan on making an order on liveaquaria.com, Im here in the states and they ship overnight. anyone order thier fish from there before? If i do purchase from them I was gonna get a red terquoise, a royal red discus, and 12 rummynose tetras, any thoughts guys?

do you think liveaquarias discus' will be better quality than a LFS??

the only decent LFS in my area only gets new discus shipments every 2-3 months now, pretty crummy :roll:

thanks guys! :D

[Hollowman]

Cool,

I have pm'd you

H :wink:

[Daniella]

I am starting to think that the only way to go with discus is to have many fishes in a bare tank. That way they have not much choice but to stay together as they feel more secure that way.

Kind of like people regrouping when a catastrophee happen. Ennemy become friend...etc.

I have a though decision to make as I have the same problem as you do. I am thinking of either selling them or putting them in bare thank and buying a few more fishes. nothing is prettier than a ground of discus swimming together in calm and harmony.

I only see that in bare tank though. Mine is heavily planted with plenty of places to hide. I think that's not good for discus as they become very territorial and agressive, not to mention skittish too.

In a bare thank, there is no recognisable territory for the fish to adopt and defend. Everywhere in the tank is the same and they only protection is sticking together in the group.