Discus fish healthy but looks thin

[LostInFish]

My discus looks thin. He or she eats and is normal as the other 12 discus are but he just looks to be a lot thinner then the rest. I do 2 times a week water changes 25percent all levels are 0 ppm tank has been up and running for about 1 yr with no issues. Oh and it is full of plants also any ideas on how to diagnose him

 

[LostInFish]

Here is some pics of him. He was a Craigslist buy lol he's orange the blue is another but the blue is healthy and the orange is thin. Look at the difference can u tell

 

[JustinKScott]

He is certainly not a happy discus.


What are you feeding him? Beefheart, bloodworms, Blackworms, flakes, bits?

Your ammonia and nitrites should be 0, but not your nitrates. If your nitrates are 0 you aren't using your test right or your filter is broken.

Was he thin when you bought him?

Was he bought with the other discus?

What's the hardness of the your water?

Do you age your tap / use RO?

If its not a water condition or food problem, it could be an internal parasite. Do you have a QT tank with cycled filter?

EDIT: I saw your video on another thread. Is he the one that's swimming around actively and being agressive to the others? If so your pictures on this thread are telling a different story than what you have. From the clamped fins I assummed he was being reclusive and hiding. It still could be a parasite problem, especially if he's no longer acting like he did on the video. I am curious what you are feeding them.

 

[JustinKScott]

BTW, great job on getting adult discus in that planted tank, they look happy! Great job on the water changes too. I'd consider digging a little deeper and doing 50+% water changes though.

 

[HUKIT]

I would lean towards a parasitic infection especially since he's eating and continuing to lose weight. I'd feed medicated flakes as those from Angels, in the meantime until you order the food I'd soak his food in distilled water with a 3% Epsom salt solution and fed this for 5-7 days.

Medicated Flake Food for Fish

Parasites such as spironucleus vortens and other flagellated protozoa are becoming a epidemic throughout our hobby. Every new Cichlid should be quarantined and treated prior to the addingbthem tonthe display tank with a medicated food for a minimum of 10 days or a water born treatment containing Praziquental or Metrozoidale such as General Cure or preferably Clout. I've been breeding cichlids for a long time and this problem continues to get worse are the demand for fish increases the poor breeding techniques start to show their effects on a fishes health and immune system.

 

[JustinKScott]

If you are only feeding low quality flakes or ->blood<- worms, or if you are feeding more but he's exclusively eating that junk... Then this could be the result.

I had a discus once that was the runt of batch, he had some sort of personality defect where he would only eat last and would never eat enough... No matter how much high quality food was left over. I even put him in his own tank for a while, he would never eat enough. He grew to be the smallest discus I've ever owned and eventually died of malnourishment. He did not have any internal parasites...

But based on the size and activity I saw in the video, I would also be pretty confident he has an internal parasite. If you have access to a microscope at school or a kid in school; collect poop from HIM (be sure it's his) and take it in an look at it under a scope. This is the only way to know what kind of parasite he has. Teachers are often very excited to help students with this sort of thing.

 

[LostInFish]

Thanks for all the feed back I currently have him in a quarantine tank and I'm using metronidazole in his frozen brine shrimp he is eating better and even looks a little better but still not outta the woods I'll continue to feed him spirulina flakes along with brine shrimp and beef heart I will post if he gets better thanks for all the help my Discus and I appreciate it.

 

[LostInFish]

BTW, great job on getting adult discus in that planted tank, they look happy! Great job on the water changes too. I'd consider digging a little deeper and doing 50+% water changes though.

I will do more days a week on the water changes to make that 50 percent