discus not eating

[swifto]

hi ,i've noticed that 1 discus out of 5 is not eating.ph=6.4,ammo=.25ppm,nitrite=0ppm,nitrate=0pp m.Have not wormed them since november or treated them 4 gill fluke either.water change wed 80ltr- sat 120 every week.Wednesday AFTER WATER CHANGE WILL treat gill flukes and worm to start with,haven't notice any white stringy poop.any thoughts thanks

[m.ingram]

Is that ammonia reading after a water change or a couple of days later?
You should have an ammonia reading of 0 and you should have a nitrate reading of some sort .
I would hold off on the treatment for a while and up the water changes to 40 to 50% every 2nd day for a couple of weeks .Then see how the fish is looking .

[swifto]

ammonia reading is a couple days after water change,i will increase the amount of good bacteria (stability 80ml) after water change.my tank is a standard 5ft, 274 ltr.

[xrboy_85]

Swifto listen to ingram, look at the amount of posts difference. dont worry about additives just keep the water flushing through. IF theres one thing iv learnt on hear and iv been on a coaster ride!! listen when you ask here and dont ask at you lfs. and your fish will live!!!

[BigDaddyAdo]

Is the tank planted. It is not uncommon to have 0 nitrate.

The fact that you have detectable ammonia is a big worry.

What filtration are you using?

Run us through your water change/maintenance.

What substrate?

[Old Dave]

Welcome to the other side of cichlids...

When dealing with gorgeous & expensive fish :D you can get tied up in all the hype & emotion when something goes wrong.
That's where the forum is really good.
Even just writing out a post can make a problem clearer in your own mind.
The advice is from all levels of fishkeepers, most of whom don't want you to make an expensive repeat of of their mistakes. :oops:

What test kit are you using? Test strips can be unreliable.

Make sure you leave plenty of time before reading the ammonia & nitrate tests if you are using API "drops" kits.
The instructions say 5 min for a very good reason.

Ammonia of 0.25 won't stop your fish from eating (if anything eating is the cause :wink: ) but higher will.
It is, however, a symptom of a potential calamity if not addressed.

It is good that you are watching closely to see the changes in behaviour. :thumb

Clean water is the key, and if you can't do the wc's, at least reduce the number of heavy polluters in the tank.

jmo, hth,

Old Dave

[swifto]

hi,have been doing water change 100ltr aday,but noticed a discus with white poo it has not eaten 4 a couple of days.what should i do.thanks ps should i worm my hole community tank

[Decapper]

have a look at what poo is like. Is it like little segments? Worms.. Looks clear and sort of slimy then hex.

[swifto]

it looks like tooth paste

[Decapper]

Hard to say. I'm no expert. I have had both problems.. Dam I think I have had every problem to be honest, not far off flushing them (JJ).

Big L wormer is the easy way to go. Hex (Metro) feces looks like slimy semi clear.

Maybe someone who has lost more or brought more back from the dead can help you

[ILLUSN]

The issue with the white poo is that it could be worms or hex, as your fish is not eating, has itshy'd away from the others? is dark? does it spend more time with its fins clamped then errect? if so then i think its hex,a fish with worms will still eat when it first starts to show white poo, but will stop as the infection gets worse.

To be safe you could treat with bigL today do a water change tomorrow and then start metro treatment on day 3. Your metro treatment will be finished before the big L needs to be redosed (typically 2-3 weeks after inital dose of 1ml/7L).

[swifto]

hi,where can i find big L.

[swifto]

ok 1 fish is not eating white poo dark in colour and hiding from others,2 fish is not eating but does show interest has clamped fins little dark in colour and is not hiding.hope this helps,thanks.