# Discus Hunger Strike



## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

I'm looking for advice. I recently purchased three adult full flower pigeon blood discus from a very reputable breeder. They have been in my tank for over 2 weeks and are refusing to eat. I have tried frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, live brine shrimp, flake food, pellet food, freeze dried tubifex, freeze dried plankton. I have had NO success. Sometimes they act interested, but then just swim away. I have even used the Kent garlic attractant with no success. They will pick at algae or plants occassionally, but never eat the food. 
There are several baby guppies, and the discus may be culling that population, but it is hard to tell. The discus overall seem fairly happy. Two seem to be pairing off and one is somewhat left out. None will eat. 
I am using EI for last several weeks and now have a pressurized CO2 setup. Any advice?


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## AZFIsh1 (Dec 29, 2004)

Did you see them eat before you brought them home? What were they being fed then?


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## elgecko (Apr 18, 2004)

Do they put the food in there mouth and then spit it out. Have you seen them poop?
If it's white and stringy and they are spitting there food out, it is possible they have hex.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Were they from local source or mail order? If from local source, the breeder you bought from might be your best resource. Visit simplydiscus.com and discusasahobby.com for information on discus care.

Newly aquired adult discus often go on hunger strike. It may or may not due to health problems. I would move them to bare bottom tank and increase the temperature to over 90F. I would give a course of metronidazole treatment anyway regardless whether I see white stringy poop or not.


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

The discus bred in my neck of the woods (uh, next door to shalu) are fed live tubifex worms and sometimes a homemade recipe of beefheart mash. Have you tried the live tubifex? I bet they'll eat those up. Unfortunately, tubifex is also how they get the internal parasites. 

I had several discus at one point. Yes, they will sometimes go on hunger strike. Do you have a total of 3 discus, or more? Are they about the same size? or is one the biggest? Usually, the most dominant will be the first to approach the food. If it rejects the food, the others won't eat it either.


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

Thanks for the help. I have been trying to avoid moving them to a quarantine tank, but that may be what is needed.
Currently there are only three discus in the tank. They are each about 5inches long. They were purchased semi-locally from a breeder, and we picked the fish up from him. 
I have not seen any white stringy poop (no poop at all actually). The fish don't seem to have any scratches, sores, or ich either. They all became peppered after being introduced to the tank, but two have nearly returned to their original color. One of the fish is still fairly peppered (this is the one that seems a little left out). 
I did not watch the fish eat at the breeder's showroom. I was told that they were fed frozen bloodworms. I purchased my frozen bloodworms from the breeder. I contacted the breeder with my tales of woe and he was becoming stumped too. His last suggestion was to try an appetite stimulant. 
Any other suggestions before I take them out of big tank? And if I end up taking them out of the main tank, can I ever put them back into the main tank?


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

What are the fish in your big tank?

A 75, huh? That would easily accomodate more discus. They usually like to be in groups of 6, like angels. In the wild, they establish a pecking order so no one feels left out. 
Jack Watley suggests fresh garlic. All you gotta do is take some peeled garlic cloves and smash them through a potatoe ricer or garlic smasher thing. The Kent stuff - never heard anyone have spectacular success with it.

Do you have enough shade for them to hide under?


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

The tank is pretty heavily planted. I have tried different lighting levels too, but they don't seem to act much differently at different light levels. 
Will they sometimes eat plain smashed garlic? I certainly could try that. We have garlic a' plenty right now (pesto season and all). 
I have also seen recipes of beef heart with garlic mixed in. Any thoughts? I have been reluctant to try beef heart yet because these fish have never eaten beef heart before and I wasn't sure if it would make a huge mess in my tank (since I have substrate, plants and all).
Regarding the number of fish: I did think about getting more, but three of these was about all I could afford initially. I am wondering if it might have been better to buy younger, perhaps more adaptable fish.


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

Still no luck. 

So if I move the discus to another tank, how would I go about reintroducing them to my planted tank? Would they ever be ready for the planted tank?


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

If your main goal is to eventually keep them in the planted tank, I would *not* move them. 
If they have never had beef heart before, I wouldn't try that either. Yes, it makes a terrible smelly mess - ask anyone with a pirhana. Definately try finely crushed garlic. Try live worms with garlic. Try soaking their flake food in garlic. Try sinking pellets soaked in garlic. Don't overfeed, as any mess will just cloudy up your tank. Yes, discus definately go on hunger strikes if they are stressed out, but I've never heard of them not eating for so long if they've been tank bred and raised for several generations. Maybe the breeder can offer more help or at least a discount on more discus???

*edit* just remembered. Are they still showing stress color - darkening? Are they black?


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

Thanks Sarah,
I will try the garlic route. Also, I think I will email the breeder back again today. 
Two of the fish look pretty much clear of peppering, but one is fairly dark. The darkening is not bad when compared to many fish I have seen in LFSs, but compared to how they looked originally at the breeder's shop it is a big change.


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

The one that's still dark is the smallest one? Is it being picked on constantly? If the peppering persists it could be water trapped between the slime coat and the body. That would also make them not eat. Sorry for posting so much, but I love discus.


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## anonapersona (Oct 19, 2002)

*Temp?*

I suspect temperature and water quality.

Boost the temp to 88. Then do more water changes. I suspect the fish were raised in clean barebotom tanks and the water quality of a planted tank is quite different due to stuff in the gravel. Do you add CO2? They may need time to adjust to it, try reducing it a bit for now.


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

I do add CO2 (pH kept at 6.8). The temp has been at 86 degrees, so I will try to bump the temp up a bit and see if that kick starts anything.
Regarding the fish with peppering: Two of the fish had seemed to be pairing off and the other one that was somewhat leftout developed fairly significant peppering. The peppered fish (Ughhh...sounds like something on the menu) is actually the largest of the three, but the other two do tend to exclude her a bit.

Though these fish are beautiful, this has been a somewhat frustrating few weeks. I really appreciate everyone's help.


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

So, the discus have been with me for several months now and they seem to be doing great. Their color has improved. The peppering has disappeared on two and decreasing on the third. There is a crop of green hair algae growing on the uppermost pieces of driftwood that they graze on almost constantly. The problem is that besides algae I never see them eat anything. There are several guppies left in the tank that breed frequently. The babies keep disappearing and the only thing large enough to eat them are the discus. I have not actually seen a discus eat a guppy, but I must assume that this is case.  
I know that discus are supposed to be carnivores, but mine seem to have revolted from their nature. I have kept other cichlids in the past that really liked to eat plants (especially lettuce and spinach). Any thoughts?
Also, I would love to post pictures, but I can't figure out how. Any links on posting pictures?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Gmoney said:


> Also, I would love to post pictures, but I can't figure out how. Any links on posting pictures?


You'll need to "host" your images on some webserver, like here: http://www.plantedtank.net/imagehosting.php or with any other provider. :fish:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I always use imageshack.us to upload my pics and post the links here.


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

Thanks. Okay, I took some pictures today with my little nikon digital. I will try to upload them. My discus were showing off initially and then played coy when I started trying to take shots. Lets see how this goes.

Images:
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4308/dscn05574ls.jpg
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/3561/dscn05581hw.jpg


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

roud: Excellent. Thanks Shalu!! Pictures aren't great and I need to do a little maintenence this weekend. But at least there are pictures now. Woohoo.


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## Jim (Apr 4, 2005)

Very nice looking discus! I had a similar experience with peppering (red melon discus) and in my case, it was due to excessive water hardness in my tank relative to where the fish were raised. The TDS reading at the breeder was in the 85-100 range and mine was about 225. I have since brought the level down with RO water, among other things, and the situation improved.


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## Dave M (Jun 15, 2005)

Have you tried feeding them LIVE brine shrimp? They are cheap and you should be able to get them at your LFS. When I first got my discus, they wouldn't take frozen food. But they did take the brine shrimp. After a couple of days, I introduced some frozen bloodworms, and since then, everyone has been happy!

hope this helps
Dave


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

I am awaiting the arrival of an aqua-safe brand RO/DI unit that I purchased on Amazon. My wife is setting up a salt-water tank, so it became necessary to own a RO/DI unit. Our water is moderately hard. 
Regarding feedings, I did try live brine shrimp early on. The discus were not interested, but that was over one month ago. Maybe I will try them again. I have to drive up to Raleigh to get adult live brine shrimp. 
I will continue to try different foods in an attempt to stimulate them. Also, I hope that the RO water will help. I appreciate everyone's help and input. Thanks.


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

*Eggs, Eggs, Eggs*

So, today my wife discovered a large clutch of eggs laid in a hole in some driftwood. It appears that two of the discus were pairing off during this whole fiasco. I guess this means that they are happy. :tongue:


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

Here is a picture of one of the parents tending to the eggs.

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/2032/dscn05713nf.jpg


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

So this is the first time I have seen the discus eat anything other than algae; the pair ate their eggs on about day 3. I have heard that this is not unusual for a first-time spawning pair. Anyone want to sell me discus eggs to feed my finicky fish? :wink:


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Well, if they spawned they are probably not starving to death roud:


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

So today I watched the odd man out vigorously eating duckweed as I changed water. He must have eaten ten pieces. I usually let a little duckweed grow and scoop the excess out with water changes ( I figure it's a natural filter), but who knew that it was a handy and free food source as well. roud:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

This might seem like good news, but it concerns me a bit. The only time that I observed my discus eating any veggie was when they were not well, like having Hex, for example. Are you still not seeing them eating "normal" food that you feed them?


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## Gmoney (Apr 13, 2005)

No they don't really eat anything that I offer them. I have tried all the suggestions that I have gotten from this thread too.


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