Suddenly Shy Discus?

[Soft1]

Hi there,

We've got a fairly new Turquoise Discus... did its time in quarantine and made it to the community tank about 2 weeks ago.  So, it was a tad shy the first day or two...that didn't worry us.

After a couple of days it was actually 'king' of the discus... not aggressive but not shy, it's certainly the largest one in the tank.  All was going along swimmingly...until this weekend... when we noticed that it's hiding all time!  It does come out now and then to grab some food but then wooooshhhh right back into one of the caves.  It hasn't been visible long enough for us to see any damage but when it does come out it eats and seems to be moving fine.

Are we simply being over-protective parents? Or, could sudden shyness be an indication of something else?

[Aquaviewer]

How have the other fish in the tank been behaving towards the Turquoise recently?  The shyness could be a result of stress caused by attempting to break into the established pecking order.  I would keep an eye on it as stress in newly introduced discus predisposes them to a general wasting condition that has similar symptoms to hexima.

If the new fish is still feeding then I wouldn't worry too much at this point and continue to monitor.  If it continues to spend all its time in the back and stops feeding I would act proactively and move it back into quarantine, boost the temp to get it feeding again and back on its fins....  I have had success in the past reintroducing a shy fish by adding one or two of the more complacent discuss from the school into the quarantine tank to get the new fish comfortable before going back into the main tank. 

As complacent as discus appear they are still cichlids and there is plenty of bullying and jostling for position that goes on.

[Soft1]

Thanks!

He actually came out of hiding last night for about an hour or so (while we were there) and was feeding/swimming fine.  No bullying going on that we saw and believe me we sat and watched the whole hour.

We're going to keep an eye on him for the next day or two and see if anything changes.

Thanks again!