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Three days ago, my grandfather purchased 3 new discus, each 2-4 in. in length for his 50g planted hex. Overall, the fish look healthy and are fairly active, but they dont seem to be eating and one discus is gasping which worries him. He has tried feeding the discus frozen bloodworms and tetra color flakes which dont seem to be working.

As far as parameters go, my grandfather has tried replicating the water parameters from the LFS as closely as is possible. This means 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20-30 nitrate, a pH of 7.0, soft water, and a temp of 86 F (although at the LFS it was an absurd 90 F!) Also he performs 30% water changes weekly.

The tankmates are as follows:
6 harlequin rasboras
8 serpae tetras
4 bleeding heart tetras
3 clown loaches

Tomorrow though, he will be giving away the CL's as they dont seem to be giving the discus a chance to feed and the often become frantic and start chasing the discus.

So here are the quesions-
-how long does it usually take to get discus to feed?
-what can my grandfather do to encourage them to feed?
-the discus that is gasping doesnt look like it may live much longer, but is there any way to prevent reverse these symtoms? The discus are not only $70 each, but they are also non-refundable, so it would be awful to have him die

Your help is greatly appreciated

Hello!

IMO...

Discus are very sensitive to water quality and stress very very easily which the move from the LFS is probably why they aren't eating right now and that is kinda to be expected the first few days to a week after bringing them home.

I would increase water changes to every third day and increase the % changed to 40-50% if possible (ensuring the same temp of water). In regards to the one that is gasping... I would ask how the airation is in his tank as the higher the temperature is the less oxygen the water will hold so it is very important to either have an airstone and/or a strong filter that moves the water good.

For food they really like beefheart and brineshrimp too and we alternate also with the tetra color bits which they seem to really like as well (they would not take the flake).

For having the discus new to the tank I would say that it is probably best to move the clown loaches as their active behavior may contribute to the discus' stress. I know some people who keep their temp at 88-90 degrees as well which I've heard other people say to bump up the temp that high when the discus are stressed.

I hope everything turns out all right... it sucks to loose expensive fish but that is why the rule of thumb is that discus are meant to be kept by experienced/advanced fish keepers and not for beginers given the nature of their care in general. Good luck!

well...
we have noticed some new symtoms. 2 of the 3 discus recently have been rubbing their gill area against the sides of the tank and the plants. their gills dont seem irritated, so would there be any other reason for this?

NitrAtes may be too high. IMO, they need to be as low as possible which is why some folks do small daily water changes. We try to keep ours as much under 20ppm as possible.

Do you know if they are wild caught discus? I am hopeful that it is not due to parasites.

well, the nitrate did get pretty high (about 30ppm). so we did a 40% water change and added Tetra Easy Balance with nitraban, although after reading this thread (http://discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4766) from discusforums we are beginning to beleive that the discus might have the discus plague. Is this disease common? The discus seem to have most of the symptoms.

And to answer your question Jamie, they arent wild caught

i dont know much about discus but i know they are fairly shy and don't like really active fish around them because they can make the discus stress wich lowers their guard against disease, and they can also eat more than their share of food wich leevs less for the discus. serpae tetra's are very active and aggresive for tetras so i would start with taking them out and replacing them with a few more harle's (more pleasing to the eye to see 1 large school than 2 small schools aswell)
also add some bio-booster to keep the water peremetres more stable. i believe they come from the black water areas of the amazon so maybe some blackwater extract to make them feel more comfortable.

serpaes really arent as aggressive and nippy as some people make them out to be. most of the aggression is held within the school if the serpaes are kept in a large enough school. Anyway the serpaes are usually hiding within the plants at the bottom while the discus are at the top.

well this morning one of the discus died , and the other two dont look too healthy either. the discus that was originally gasping is now breathing slower, but his breaths almost seem irregular. The other one though, is now breathing quicker, but he is the only one that is eating. My grandfather and I really dont think that any of the discus are going to survive, but we are leaving right now to for the pet store to see if we could at least get some money back.