sick or starving discus

[jimfoy]

i have a 55 gallon tank with 6 discus of various sizes. one of the smaller discus has lost a lot of weight and is just "skin & bones". the fish has also been hiding in a back corner of the tank. this seems unusual as a few weeks ago it was mingling with the other discus.

assuming that the other discus were intimidating it, i moved the discus to a quarantine tank yesterday to try to get it to eat. the quarantine tank was set up with the same water from the 55 gallon tank so there were no problems w/ ph, etc.

now the discus is listless, has a darker color and has not eaten. also i noticed a thin layer of slime and a very slight film over the eyes.

what disease would cause the discus to stop eating and lose weight. also why would the discus be doing so much worse in the quarantine aquarium?

thanks

[Fishguy2727]

Internal parasites may have started this, possibly along with being at the bottom of the pecking order.

As far as the quarantine tank problems, water quality can drop faster in a smaller tank, especially if mature filter media was not used. Another possibility is that he was so far along that the stress from the move could have been worse than the lack of more dominant fish.

[salman]

From my little experience with discus, i think that people shouldn't buy small discus because they get sick really fast, and sometimes they dont eat. Some of my small discus died. But now they all look healthy. Also, when you are in the fish store, look at the discus carefully and tell the person working there to get the discus to swim around a bit so you can see both of their sides. I bought a small blind discus because i want looking at it carefully. It died a week later. :(

[Fishguy2727]

I think if they have been at the LFS for at least a week or more, and is eating and doing well, even smaller ones should be okay. Assorted discus also seem to be hardier than specific breeds. I got all but one of mine at about 2" as assorted discus from my work after they had settled in and started eating.

[jimfoy]

the 55 gallon tank i have all the discus in gets two 25% water changes per week and has an uv filter. currently i am doing a 30% water change daily in the quarantine tank.

the fish appears to be getting weaker. how would you suggest i treat the disease.

the question is parasite, fungal or bacterial. if it is an internal parasite what medication should i use.

thanks

[Fishguy2727]

In cases like these I personally would treat for all. Pimafix is for fungus, Melafix is for bacterial, and there are a few for parasites. Is it eating at all?

[RobbieG]

Fishguy - I have used this for internal parasites on loaches I don't know if it would help in this case or not - do have any insight?

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[jimfoy]

the fish is not eating at all.

do i treat the discus individually for each problem or all at once?

thanks

[salman]

Jimfoy, one of my discus has the same problem. I put it in a new tank i bought a week ago and called it a hospital. I have no idea what i should be treating it.

[Lady Hobbs]

Fishguy......I'm glad to see the point you made regarding "Pimafix is for fungus, Melafix is for bacterial".

jimfoy....I'm sorry to hear your discus is so ill. I hope you can get to the bottom of it's problem. Fish will pick on the smallest of the group and also on any weak ones so he has probably been stressed for some time.

It sounds like an internal parasite to me as well especially when you wrote about the slime on him.

[jimfoy]

based on what was said, i will start treating for internal parasites today. treatment will go for 48 hrs with the option for a 2nd treatment. i think that i will only do one treatment as the fish is weak. afterwards, i will treat for the bacteria and then the fungus.

thanks

[Fishguy2727]

The only problem is you can treat for one, only to have it die becaus it was actually one of the other things.

[Cal Discus]

simplydiscus.com will answer all of your discus questions