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DSICUS WONT EAT. getting skinny.. i need help!!!

candymancan

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8 Nov 2014
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I have 7 discus in my 55g tank.. All about 2-3 one is almost 4 inches.. They all eat.. some picky eaters.. 1 always hides in a cave.. But the one in question is my most expensive fish... I paid $80 for a Blue Snakeskin 3 1/2 inch discus about 2-3weeks ago... He refuses to eat.. His head is now sunken in... and im afraid he wont make it and hes extremely beautiful and well expensive as I mentioned.. The Leopard Snakeskin I got with him on the same day is a HUGE pig though..

This guy will grab food in his mouth but spit it back out.. then grab it again and spit it out and repeat it a few times before giving up. I have tried Tetra Min flakes.. Hikkari freeze dried blood worms, Omega one Freeze dried bloodworms, frozen blood worms, Omega one flakes.. Nothing friggen work. He ignores flakes all together.. The freeze dried bloodworms I noticed he only goes after the dark color ones. but spits them out.. The frozen blood worms that are red.. he will go after those too but then spit them out.. In fact he looks excited about them but then loses interest...

It seems he like bloodworms sorta but only the darker colored ones but then spits em out and then goes back to his damn corner... I can tell his buddy the Leopard Snakeskin is worried they always hang out together... and its saddens me that he is getting in this skinny state... Water Params are perfect and I have recently tried raising the temps to 88f instead of 84-86.. I am also trying prazipro im on day 2 now....

They don't sell blackworms anywhere locally I was thinking of trying them but I cant afford to wait another week for delivery... What else can I try ?? Im starting to think he might only eat live foods... but no stores sell live foods where I live...

Please help... $80 is a lot for a fish for me.. and if he dies I cannot afford another one plus hes my best looking discus
 
Live blood worm? If you know anyone with a pond they might have some hanging about in their filter or in the pond itself if the current isn't too strong, if you cant buy them locally. Mosquito larvae would be the other one but it depends what the temps are like where you are.
 
its 15f outside :(

Im almost considering netting him and taking some food with tweezers and force feeding him somehow..
 
What about brine shrimp usually available live from LFS, not very nutritious but if it accepts them as food and doesn't spit them out you could go the extra length and fatten them up with spirullina beforehand by dosing the bag water and let the brine shrimp feed on it for a bit, thus making a tastier meal. Cant imagine an endogastric feeding procedure to be much fun to perform on a fish, expensive going to a vet but not as strange a suggestion as it would first appear!

Hope things turn out okay!

:)
 
Problem is there are no local fish stores anymore in Northern Virginia in the US... There are a few salt water shops but that's it.. Everything else is either petsmart or petco and that's it.. All the LFS have gone out of the business over the last like 5-10 years...

I think Maybe Petland might have live foods.. but I don't think its brine shrimp its those floating pink worm thingys that LFS tend to have in like a 5g tank with an airstone. What are those ?

I can get frozen beefheart yes
 
well petsmart and petco sell frozen beefheart.. I have tried that stuff a long time ago and the discus didn't like it much but that was before I had a lot of these discus so I guess I can try that again..

Do you guys think like earthworms would work lol I can get live earthworms from like the gas station lol
 
At what temperature do you have them? (get them to 30 degrees celcius for a few days)
Try any live food you can get your hands on. Dim the lights
Forcefeeding is to stressfull i think. If you are in the USA send a mail to DIscus Hans USA and see if you get his food in your state.
 
At what temperature do you have them? (get them to 30 degrees celcius for a few days)
Try any live food you can get your hands on. Dim the lights
Forcefeeding is to stressfull i think. If you are in the USA send a mail to DIscus Hans USA and see if you get his food in your state.
+1
 
Temps were at 84-86f which is about 30c almost.. I put them at 90f right now which is around 32c.. I live an hour from discus hans actually hes in Baltimore MD im In northern VA..

I doubt if I contact him hed actually answer my email or phone call though. But ill try and see what he has to say but im sure the man is buisy
 
Im not an experienced discus keeper but I had a couple of wild greens that I couldnt get to feed and its heart breaking to see them slowly dying.

I eventually succeeded by quarantining them in a dimly lit tank, de-worming them and leaving them with live food. It was a bare bottom tank where I could syphon out any debris and I worked hard to keep the water absolutely top notch. You would obviously need a spare tank and a mature filter though. worth a try
 
de-worming them and leaving them with live food.
I agree with this. I had a betta splendens arrive that slowly wasted away. He initially was excited about food but spat everything out. He eventually died. I then received another that started doing this so I wormed with a discus wormer and he is now feeding fine and gaining weight. Not a discus but similar problem?
 
i would go on the bidka site and seek help their ! it sounds like worms but i would check with the experts dedicated to discus keeping before starting any treatment
 
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