Tropical Fish Discus Forum Questions Answered!

I have an 80 gallon tank with about 15 largediscus….About 8 of them are not eating….I also added a few new ones andthey are not eating either. I constantly do water changes and i feed them frozen and live bloodworms…I’ve noticed some of the ones not eating are pooping white stuff….could they have parasites and if so, how do i get rid of them?

Reply:
1. Are they eating before you introduced the new fish into the tanks?
2. The new fish should be quarantine at least two weeks.
3. The white stuff must be fungus.
4. Add Methylene Blue solution plus salt be should able to get rid of fungus.

1. What is the volume that you use for the spirulina into your food mixture.
2. What brand do you use normally?
3. What type of baby milk powder do you use for your mixture? Does the milk effect the water quality?
4. What type of multi vitamin do you use? Is it powder or capsule?
5. Do you put gelatin or jelly into the food mixture?

Reply:
1.We don’t give Spirulina to our fish every day. Once a week, we mix in the food and feed them. The combination is 1 gm S. per 100 gm burgle.
2.Any brand as long as it’s prepared for aqua culture use.
3.Any baby milk powder will do. It’s a perfect food for baby. It will cloud the water. Change water after feeding.
4.Any multi vitamin can be used. Feed them once a week.
5.No gelatin or jelly. The burgle must be in the freezer, frozen before use.

I just bought this new adult discus from an local ad in newspaper. He/she is a fully grown Blue Turquoise discus with full colour. I bought the discus on Saturday and has acclimatize it. My tank is 6x2x2 with one small discus and tetras. My water Ph is around about 6.5 – 7, temperature 30C. I do 20% water change every 3 days and filtration is adequate.

My new discus has not been eating for around about 5 days now. He doesn’t turned black or anything but he just kept hiding. He come up occasionally but never take the food. The people I bought it from said that he just settling in and it might take around about 4-5days but it has been 5 days and he is getting smaller but still look healthy.

The small discus settle within 2 days and now madly looking for food and I could touch it. I am feeding my discus beef heart, bloodworms, live worms, flake and Tetra Bits.

How you get this discus to eat and make it like the other one. In his old tank, this discus is always on the look out for food and not afraid of people. What is the longest day that discus not eating until they die, which I hope doesn’t happen to mine. Also, they said it is not good to use carbon for your filter, is this true?

Reply:
1.I suppose your tank is 72″x24″x24″. Let’s say the water level is 18″ height. There are 112.5 gallons of water. You can easily put about 30 of 4″ fishes.

2.Now you have 2 adults and a small fish. How you feel, if three of you stay in a big house, which can accommodate about 30 people. The little kid is innocent. He moves around without fear. The two adults with a bit of imagination they feel uneasy and not secure. They will take time to get use of the new environment.

3.In this big house, if you can’t get 20 adults, then you get 20 kids. These kids will move freely everywhere in the building. Upstairs, downstairs, garden, rooms, they will explore. Any food they can get, they eat or just taste it, whether nice or not.

4.The two adults will soon feel no fear and follow the kids to every corner the kids go.

5.Your pH, water temperature and water change are ok.

6.The fish can last for months without food. The two adults fish will eat when you are not around.

7.It’s true that carbon is not good to use in the filter. It is good the water is clear and no smell with carbon in the filter. But you lose something, like natural minerals, trace elements???? The fish will have problems when they are lack of these minerals and trace
elements.