Sick or a picky eater

[stevejr]

Hi i recieved my 5 discus two weeks ago from a breeder with great credentials. It has now been two weeks since i've recieved them and 3 of them are doing great and eating like pigs. The problem is one of them begs with the other three but will only acually eat frozen bloodworms, the problem is he has problems eating them and misses 9 times out of 10. The other one sits in the corner and will also only eat bloodworms. They are in a 46 gallon bowfront with a wet dry filter and a canister filter the temp is 86. I do daily 25% water changes religously with a 50% waterchange once a week. They are fed in this order daily, Omega one color flakes, Frozen bloodworms, Tetra colorbits, Formula one flakes, Mysis shrimp, then everyother day or so before i do a water change beefheart. The two that won't eat are starting to get a little sunken in and i'm worried if they dont' start eating well soon they may die. Any ideas what is wrong? Parasites perhaps? thanks to all who answer.

[Merrilyn]

First thing I'd be doing is worming them Steve. Not sure what part of the world you're in, but you need a product called levamisole. If you can't get it under that name, then ask your LFS for a product to remove nematodes (roundworm and threadworm) from your fish.

If they don't start eating after that, you may need to get some antibiotics to clear up any bacterial infection that they may have.

The sooner you get onto this, the better. Skinny discus take months to recover, and some just lose the will to eat, and perish.

[gro]

I am no means an expert.....still learning.

One of my discus has gone shy lately only really goes for bloodworm now when he used to eat anything.

Wickedglass from this forum gave good advice which i am trying at the mo, which is to combine the two foods(frozen and dry) in a mix with minimum liquid so the dry sticks to the frozen. and hopefully this will ween him back onto the dry!

will let you know how it goes...
goodluck.......