Reptile & Amphibian Forums

umm can anybody help me my jack dempsey fish wont eat. i would give him food and he would put him in his mouth but then he spit them out and never touch them again i even bought a new fish food and he did the same thing the other fish in the tank are fine. what is the problem do yo guys think he has some internal parasite or he just really picky eater pls help.

There's not much you can do if your fish isn't eating. Maybe he's just not having a good day. I used to take care of a fish who wouldn't eat for a day or two, and then eat everything in sight the next day. How long has this been going on? What's your water parameters (ammonia, pH, nitrate, nitrite, etc.)? Is he the only jack in the tank?

It's not likely that he has a parasite, if he did, he would be eating a lot.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

He hasn't eating for like 4 days now the water Is fine i gave him different food even blood worms and he would just pass them by now and yes he has a tankmate it's a pleco that's it

I will have to take your word on the water being fine. All I can think of is either he's old or stressed. You can try to offer him peas. He may or may not eat them. If he does, you should still offer him normal food, but at least he would be getting some energy.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Umm yeah I gave him some peas he tried it and spit them out I don't know what to do anymore he looks so energetic lime noting is wrong but he won't eat at all so what should I do now

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do besides offer food. If he's not eating something is not right, but your water is ok so there shouldn't be any illnesses (as most are brought on by poor water quality). Hopefully he picks at some of the food when you're not looking.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Hi...

You can try something ... feeder guppies or ghost shrimps ... but you will have to quarantine them before introducing them as food. This will give back Jack his wild instincts and may induce him to start feeding.

I had a similar experience with my Piranhas, they stopped feeding after I changed my house. They even stopped having their favorite frozen tilapia ... I gave some feeder goldfish and they started feeding ...

Try out and do let know ...

Regards

Oh ok thanks well I saw him poo white stringy poop so I bought a internal parasite med but he won't eat it so I'm gonna try to do use get some earthworm put the medicine inside the worm and hopefully he gets better if he does have internal parasite