# discus won't eat!!!??!



## jebarj90 (Mar 11, 2007)

Im sorry they arent eating... I dont have a clue to what the answer is but im sure someone does......BUMP


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

thanks for the bump....bump


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

use some garlic extrac on their food, mix it in with some freshly thawed frozen in water then feed them that. garlic is an appatite stimulator


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## doug105 (Feb 16, 2006)

Try raising the temp to 88 degrees or higher.....
Live foods, even Artemia, Should stimulate them to eat...
What is their coloration like? (dark?). What does the feces
look like?(white and stringy?). If so could be parasitic infection.
Check out a metronidazole or other anti-parasitic treatment.

Doug N


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## Karlos5000 (Oct 9, 2006)

Two great discus forums that will have plenty of advice about what to do with fish that are not eating.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/
http://discusasahobby.com/forum/

What were the fish eating before? How large are they?

As Doug mentioned above, I would be suspicious of a hex infection if the feces are abnormal. Sometimes gill flukes or even Ich can make them not eat. Jacking up the heat to 88 or 90 will help. Consider adding aquarium salt as well, although caution is advised if this is a planted tank.

Other things to consider would be reducing the lighting and provide some cover for your shy discus.


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

they are in the darkness of the shade most of the day...when they do come out they are pale white, or really dark. The feces is not discolored...and actually I wouldn't know if they had any feces since they are not eating; unless it was white and stringy. I have upped the temp to a higher level but not all the way up to 88...that's hot. they were eating regular flakes before I got them and they never took it in my tank. they are about 2.5 inches in diameter. I have not tried garlic yet...(worried about the tank params...) and I have ordered from livebrineshrimp.com but I think the website is dead...have not recieved anything other than my confirmation (do not reply to this letter) sheet. 

I did add salt at 1 tsp per 10 gallons...the low side of the dose. And Am waiting to see.


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

thanks for the links by the way...


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## funkyfish77 (Apr 14, 2007)

do there belly's look swollen?? 
are they in a planted tank or bare bottom?
have u test the water?
were they shiped to u or did u get them localy?
i have had some go a week before eating 
are there any other fish in the tank with them?
they can handle temps in the mid 90's


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## Karlos5000 (Oct 9, 2006)

I keep my Discus tanks at 88 all the time.


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

I have 9 wild brown/green discuses that I had the same problem with them as you did, black in color, stayed toward the back of the tank and wouldn't eat. 

I turned the heat to 87F (from 82F), put a towel over the front/side of the tank, lowered my light levels on the other half, added Melafix (half dose), feed them live black worms and live brine shrimp (they liked the black worms over the brine shrimp). I also did a water change every two days (20%). I did this for about a week, and then slowly removed everything, now they eat dried flake food out of my hand. 

If the discuses are bought from a reputable breeder, you shouldn’t have to worry about diseased fish. The main cause of discus death I would say is stress. Stressed Fish = Sick Fish

Good Luck!

Brad


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

I am no expert on keeping discus, but I agree that 88 is not hot. I keep my discus at 85 regularly. And I keep my community tanks at 82. Go ahead and up the temperature. 

Keep on top of your water changes. I do 70% every 4-6 days with healthy adult fish in a densely planted tank. If I were you, I'd do it every second or third day. 

Lastly try to keep the area around the tank quiet. Approach slowly, and from the same direction each time. NO screaming kids running past, keep the dogs away, and try not to startle them. 

Are there other types of fish in with them? or are they alone? is it bare bottom tank or planted?


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

daveonbass said:


> It's 5 discus in my 75 gallon tank. 3 stay together, and two kind of stay seprate from everything (they swim alone, single). I have tried all that I have. Flake, colorbits, discus flake, brineshrimp, artemia, rotifers, beefheart, tubiflex worms, and bloodworms. Plus I think I remember using some plankton and mysid shrimp as well as some other marine flakes. Every other fish eats anything I add in the tank, but hte discus never eat.
> 
> dave


First thing:

"2 kind of stay seperate from everything (they swim alone)" These are most likely the most troubled of the 5. Seperate them to other quarters 29g or bigger and raise the temp on them to around 98F(over a 3 DAY period). (trust me these fish can handle high temps just fine with "HEALTHY" "CLEAN" "WELL OXYGENATED" water). Plus the added temp will shorten the lifspan of the bacilli or virus. Add some bacterial agent to the food as just putting it in the tank will not fix anything, and probably make the bacteria immune the drug. The drug I would use would be a wide spectrum antibacterial following the recomended doses on the package "TO THE LETTER".

Secondly: How do their stomachs look? Are they very plump around the anus area or midsection at all? (compared to normal) If so this could be an internal virus problem with a secondary bacterial infection. Again seperate them and give them the best treatment possible for virus (bought at an LFS). by soaking the food like Tubifex worms for a few hours in COLD running water, then leaving the worms in no water and adding the medicine to the worm container, and feeding within a few minutes you'll get some med inside the fishes stomach if they eat at all. (Normal Tap water carries antibacterial for human consumption and will kill any bacteria of note in the worms). 

If the fish are truly not eating with the higher temp and medicine in their new tank then they might be beyond help at this stage most discus that are not eating at all and will not accept worms even, simply have no way of combating what is wrong with them and they will most likely die. This is sad of course.

Thirdly: What are the other params like? ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, and DH? Have you tested these yet?(if any are way out of sorts compared to whats expected for your tank then this could be a partial cause to your fishes problem). These params by themselves probably will not keep Discus from eating but they do have a tendency to make the fish VERY STRESSED.

Forth: What about water changes? (I recommend at least 90% daily for the whole treatment) Also how many other and what types of fish do you have in with them? Are there any aggresive fish in the tank or at least something that perhaps has the ability to out-eat the discus who by default are slow to be the aggressors in food battles. Angelfish or other cichlids might be out competing them. Again the seperation of the two fishes most likely to be failing might solve this arguement.

If all else fails try to keep the sickest fish away from the others for as long as possible and see if the 3 remaining get any better. Might be something with the 5 not grouping together but this is pretty unlikely. 

Also Tubifex worms will stay in the gravel for very long periods of time henceforth your discus might just be to full(but then you should see some sort of feces).

I have had many discus over the years and bred them for many years back in the 80's and 90's but I have had something like this happen only a couple times and it was cured with the higher temp and massive waterchanges and wide spectrum antibacterial and Virsu agents ued at the time. The only other way my discus ever became dark was at breeding time(but they still ate) and then they just needed a place of their own.

Hope some or all of this helps as I really hate it when Discus aren't having a good day!

Good luck!

Doug


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## D.gilly (Sep 25, 2005)

Mine didint feed for 1-2 weeks i just got them to eat yesterday temp is 83 and they are extremly active now. I was using brine shrimp ( frozen ) but to find what they liked most i used blood worms and white shrimp as well as flakes they ate the brine shrimp. Good luck I feel your concern after paying 160 dollars for them i would have hated to see them die due to a lack of food.


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

I'll turn up the temp tomorrow. Sadly at teh moment I am limited to what I can do as far as QT (I can't, don't have an extra tank now). Their bodies are extrmemly concave...)(...no food will do that. They were eating flakes at the store and from the breeder that he got them from. I'n hoping that it's JUST stress. Again still not eating so no feces to see...and there are never any left over foods...the other fish take care of that. (cardinals and rummys)


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

Keep us posted!!


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## ebichu (Mar 22, 2007)

Discus may take up to 4 weeks to settle in new tank before they will swim out freely.

My concern is, did you notice any white transparent poo from the discus ?
This is one of the common disease with discus if they're not eating.


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## melissa3 (Apr 18, 2007)

Personally I don't keep discus, but I am thinking about it and was just talking to a clerk at my LFS about last night! He actually mentioned that most discus don't eat when people get them home because they need warm temps to thrive - like 80+ and most people don't know this. I'd try raising the temp first before anything and see if that helps......

Good Luck!


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

You need to have the ability to raise and maintain the water temp close to 100F for sick fish, some meds like metro need mid 90s to work properly. The higher the temp, the faster their metabolism, the hungrier they get. Discus that do not eat for a week or so and are kept in proper conditions are sick, especially if they are hiding and being alone. Are eyes clear with color or cloudy? Poop, eyes, breathing, and body color, can tell you if Discus are sick. Healthy, happy Discus will butt each other around when food is present exercising dominance and huddle together like buddies when their bellies are full. Check your TDS! (If you do not know what I mean do some research on Discus and TDS.) I have lost a lot of Discus to hex, if it is not diagnosed and treated promptly they will stop eating and then you have to go the metro bath route which is a royal PITA. If the fish has white stringy poop, darts around the tank, curls its tail, stays by itself, and is most active with the lights off, suspect internal hexamita. You need to get a q-tank, never, never take Discus from a LFS and put them in a community tank or put fish from a LFS into a Discus tank without quarantining them for at least 2 weeks......DC


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

There are so many variable that I just don't have the patience to explain...there are reasons as to why I moved the fish directly into my tank...the man one being that I both understood the risk, and had been taking care and monitoring the fish at the LFS...(we're buddies and he knew little about discus, But against my warnings he got some anyways). So after feeding them and checking up on them at the store almost everyday...I decided to take the best five that I could find. and at first everything went normal...they acted just like I assumed they would. "shy" But the behavior hasn't gotten much better. They do come out...and swim around...if you are patient...but all the fish are like that. They all scatter when we enter the room (they are alone and have nothing bothering them) and slowly start comming out again in a min. The discus are the same...I just have yet to see them eat. I repeat..."ther eis no white poop" so please stop asking. I've been watching them like a hawk for two weeks and they have no symptoms of disease. They look pale but with color which could easily be simply from stress and lack of food. (imagine how you feel without food) I'm going to attempt garlic now and if that doesn't work then I'm almost out of options. I may just take them back. The discus are actually growing...they are bigger than when I bought them, but they are much to skinny. MY original discus were never that picky of eateras and were nice and flat, and a little on the plump side. 
I'm actually more worried that the water is to blame since I constantly have to add ferts. 

Thanks for all the help, 

dave


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

daveonbass said:


> I'm actually more worried that the water is to blame since I constantly have to add ferts.
> dave



Now I have something else to add here. Which Fertilizers are you adding and how much per true volume of water in tank? ie How much water does your tank REALLY have in it after taking into account the gravel and rocks, wood, and so on? Some fertilizers have chems in them which have been known to give "difficult" fishes some trouble. I actually would do a major water change (90%) and leave the ferts out for a couple weeks. The plants (if healthy to begin with) will do just fine without any added for that long and you can discount the idea after two-3 weeks. 

Also you mention that they are and were eating flake food. If true they could be constipated also which gives rise to "no poop", and a non-huddling condition. Personally I have never fed flake to Discus just because of this problem.

I'll keep hoping they survive.

Doug


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

Thanks...I hope they live too.

So far I have done 10 gallon water changes every day. It's a 75 gallon tank...and with the two little pieces of wood, and the substrait...plus the two canister filters...it's probably still around 75 gallons. I've done more than 10 gallon WCs but I run into a problem. The fish freak out. The PH change is so sudden that it streeses the fish even more. I can do up to a 50% change and they'll live...but I hate seeing them laying on their sides. It takes about an hour or so for them to right themselfes and act normal (a relative term here) So I try to keep them frequent but small. All elements like ammonia, and nitrite are zero. Nitrate is higher but that's for the plants to stay fertilized. I add seachem liquid ferts to the tank...and I guess I can try to stop using htem, but my algae will break out again (crap). My first discus lived on flake and color bits (raised on them from birth) and were always fine. And grew quite large till I had my heater malfunction and the wter rose to 98 degrees...and killed my fish...therefore 90 will be my limit as far as raising the temp. 100 is out of the question. And honestly it's only becasue I KNOW that I killed 4 healthy discus at 98, and I have 5 unhealthy discus...so the temp will stay liveable. 

now back to work...I'll start doing at least 2 WCs a day and try to fix that problem sooner than later. 

Keep your fingers crossed. 

dave


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

by the way does anyone know if "livebrineshrimp.com" still WORK. I sent my money and it was recieved last week and still no over nighted shrimp.


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

Well, since you do not have the ability to move a couple of them to other quarters I guess you'll have to adjust your strategy to the one tank. I would make sure they can handle the water changes and keep uping the temp to what ever limit you feel is safe for them, (you obviously know how to watch for stress). Unfortunately the plants will probably die in this heated tank so you'll have to make a choice between removing the plants or fish somehow. 

The person at the LFS you are friendly with might be able to loan you a tank for a short time since most stores have extra tanks in the back room for their purposes also. or, something else with that, do you have a website called craigslist.org in your favorites? I just bought a 29 gallon tank from someone at my local craigslist here in Eugene OR for only $20. Here's a link and you can check for one locally to yourself: http://eugene.craigslist.org/about/cities.html

They have a pets section, and maybe you can get a smaller tank for dirt cheap. 

You mention that the fish freak out and act badly to your making bigger water changes. If your PH is this out of wack with your normal tap water maybe this is something to work on also. What is the difference between your tap's PH and the aged water in the tank? If the PH is too low in the tank your fish might be having a poor reaction to the PH which stops them from eating. Just a thought also.

I would press for borrowing a tank even to segragate just one fish to see if things get better for that one fish with different conditions.

Sorry if this seems hunt and peck but there is only so much that people can do with regards to helping without being there.

Doug


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

Discus will die at 100F due to lack of O2 not the heat......DC


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

DiabloCanine said:


> Discus will die at 100F due to lack of O2 not the heat......DC


I figured there was a more technical explanation...but the high heat was the catalist to that disaster. It is usually written differently...people recommend two heaters over just one incase that one breaks. But here in texas where the ambient room temperature is enough to NOT KILL the fish...I only ever keep one Small heater...underrated to heat the whole tank...that way if it ever does need to turn on, which is rare, it won't malfunction and wipe out my whole tank again. 

I actually feel stupid. I DO have a 100 gallon tank sitting in the next room. It's empty and so I decided to fill it up tonight and get it ready for a potential QT. I was trying to move it out of the house...but me and my wife can't move it alone...(mainly her)...so it's bee sitting empty. So I will heat it up and get a filter on it and get ready to start doing water test to possibly move the discus to it. The only thing I worry about is that it's SO big. Is it a bad idea to have a QT tank that is bigger than the main display? I don't want to fix the eating problem and then throw them in a crampped environment. So far I'm still looking for white poop...and have noticed that they are quite a bit bigger than they were when I bought them, so they have grown, I just haven't SEEN them eat. and they do have empty bellies...so I'm still worried...I've never had picky discus. 

Let me know what you think about the BIG QT...I don't have any other tank available. But I figure a larger body of water would be more stable and easier to clean and maintain...but If it's a down right BAD idea then I'll drain it. 

dave


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

Doug, You made me think of something?

I gotta dumb question?

What is your PH?
What was the PH at your LFS?

I had a problem with my discus a few weeks ago; I changed my substrate which caused me to drain all my water, DC my fish in the process. When I put everything back together, the next morning 6 of the 9 discus where black, spotted, and laying on there side. I checked my PH and it had dropped to 6.2, the cause was low O2 levels, so I changed the water and had the water inlet above the water surface (oxygenate the water). 

The discus can handle the low PH level, but because of the low spike and lack of O2, almost killed them. They all survived and are doing well now, but had a few days of panic.


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

daveonbass said:


> Let me know what you think about the BIG QT...I don't have any other tank available. But I figure a larger body of water would be more stable and easier to clean and maintain...but If it's a down right BAD idea then I'll drain it.dave


I wouldn't worry about the size of the tank. i.e. Just because you can fill the darn thing doesn't mean you have to fill the darn thing... (give em about a 12-14 inch water base) take the discus to the new home bare bottomed and keep heated. 
Use a bucket and airline drip method for transfering them(tie a knot in the airline and dangle it to a bucket so that they have time to accept the new water from tap over several hours. DO CHECK YOUR PH BEFORE TRANSFER and during the transfer also to make sure they are not being killed by to great a drop or increase. Remember the difference between 7.0 and 6.0 is 10X.

Once there take time to watch them during the first several hours if your PH has a pretty drastic change between tap and old tank water. Though the main idea here is to get them to somewhere with WELL oxygenated water that is completely free of anything tha "might" cause problems.

You also do not want to fill that big tank in case your going to medicate later it will cost a lot less without all that water to treat and the meds will be more effective:icon_wink 

Keep us posted.


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

bwagner said:


> Doug, You made me think of something?
> 
> I gotta dumb question?
> 
> ...


The only dumb question is the one not asked...

Are you asking me or Dave? Daves' fish are the ones having trouble here not mine. PH levels of 10x between 6.0 and 7.0(6.0 and 8.0 is 100x greater) will, and can, kill some fish especially if they are already streesed and not eating to begin with. If there's to much CO2 being entered to the tank over night then the ph can be adversely effected and the O2 levels will obviously drop to near nothing, but Dave has not mentioned that his fish were having trouble breathing so I didn't complicate the already bad situation with that theory also.

Doug


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## original kuhli (Nov 28, 2006)

Actually, the 6 is -10x different than the 7 and the 7 is +10x different than the 8 but the 6 and the 8 aren't 100x. 5 and 7 would be 100x and 7 and 9 would be 100x but 7 is a neutral acidity so the 100x rule doesn't work.


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

Take a looksy at the scale at the bottom of the page please.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...1&hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&sa=X

The ph scale works from 0-14 it doesn't matter if your going from 5-7 or 6-8 or 7-9 it still comes out as 100x. ask any math expert besides myself.

also this site:
http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/en/manage/qual/e_ph.htm

Come again...


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

I was asking Dave about his PH level?

I'm not questioning that the PH level itself being the problem problem. 

I was questioning the level because if you have a high PH you tend to have more O2 (less CO2), but when you have low PH you tend to have less O2 (more CO2). 

Low PH is good for plant growth but can be bad for sick fish.


Brad


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## Galactic Doug (Apr 14, 2006)

The reason I was asking was you used my name Doug in your posted question...

Gotcha...


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

I said you because you mentioned checking the PH, which then made me think of the possiblity that the fish are suffocating or in shock because of the change of PH from his house to the LFS. Anyways, were getting off track...do we need to send Dave Discus Sized Caskets? I think all of us Discus finatics have killed a discus or two in our life. The can be alsost as bad as Wild Altum Angels.


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## daveonbass (Nov 12, 2005)

I have a PH monitor to check all the tanks. they are all around 6.3. But since I do have well water I would now assume that the O2 at the time of water change is whats stressing them out. (the LFS was the same PH as well) I'm still haveing to work out what to use for flow and/or filtration in the 100 gallon QT. After that I'm thinking about moving them soon. 

thanks guys...for all the help I'll keep you posted.


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

Did they make it?


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## dan112 (Aug 4, 2010)

hi there iv had my discus 5 months or so iv had them before but never had this problem they were eating but then one was being a bully and it was growing the same as the other 1 i first moved the big one out to other end and seperated them with a divider and then the other 1 the next day as they were not letting other ones eat but one of the others got in with them but they are all eating finly now its just the other 3 they have not eaten at all in the week i have seperated them from others i keep getting food on the bottom of the tank going off every day and having to clean it out my tanks are always on 29-30c which is nearly 88f they used to eat if they could when they were all toghter but not eating at all now what do i do pls help me i want to get them breading as my first lot i had them breeding until i went away and they all died on me and my second lot had a virus and i couldent fix it sadly but they was eating so its somthing differant so do some one pls help me


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## sean117Ply (Jun 28, 2009)

Mine didn't eat for 3 weeks!

The only way I could get them to eat was to start them off with live food then slowly make the transition to dry pallets and flake.

They are pu**y's really, you need to let them adjust to their new maison.

Note: If there is too many plants in the tank they don't seem to come out, my discus are only happen when most of the tank is bare.


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## BakedStuffedHuman (Jul 9, 2007)

zzzzoooooommmmmbbbbiiiiieeeee thread


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## sean117Ply (Jun 28, 2009)

btw I wouldn't suggest frozen worms of any sort. Mine got worms (intestinal) every time I fed them frozen goods.

At one stage the worms were so bad I could see them swimming around in the tank.


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## fishyjoe24 (Dec 10, 2009)

keep the lights off and let them a-just to there new enviroment. mix the food up and tuxifex worms are really bad for discus. wouldn't hurt to treat them.


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## BakedStuffedHuman (Jul 9, 2007)

The original thread is 3 years old.


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