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Thread: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

  1. #1
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    Unhappy Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Problem

    1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
    About 3 months ago maybe more, I noticed a couple of my discus had developed white poops. After the following treatments, one still has stringy poop, and just now I watched another one DIARRHEA lumpy white poops,is also twitching and agitated, and another has ghost poops. Lastly one other has been hiding and turning dark.
    *I cannot tell if this is re-occuring parasites or bacterial. Metro seems to help a little bit but never quite goes away. I tried Furan -2 in case it was bacterial but they because stressed very quickly. I am preparing to move on to Levamisole or back to Flubendazole, or perhaps try a different treatment for bacterial infections like general cure*


    2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
    Discus 1: Has had stringy white poops (with a short 1 week break in the middle) for months, is wafer thin but still eats.
    Discus 2: Poops are stringy and white off and on for 4 weeks, still eats. Just liquid pooped lump white, and twitching.
    Discus 3: Dark hiding, thin, pecking at anything but the food.
    Discus 4 & 5: Normal poops, Quarentined away from the rest because after the Flubendazole treatement, they both got swim bladder disorders and lay sideways or tail stand. This has been for 2 weeks, I have them in some salt and espom, with sponges bubblers and lowered water level. They are SLOWLY recovering.
    Discus 6, 7 & 8 seem fine.


    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

    [*]Meds

    [LIsT=1]
    Flubendazole - Used Charles instructions. Treated twice with 4 weeks spaced in between each treatment. Caused tail standing and side laying in my two biggest healthiest mating pair. Quarantined them, 89 degrees, 1tbs salt per 2g in a 20g tank plus 1tbs epsom, no food.
    [LIsT=2]
    Metro in water 500mg per 20g daily dosed for 2 weeks and metro food - took a break for 2 weeks and restarted. its now been 1 week no meds and white poops are back.
    [LIsT=3]
    Heat and salt were also attempted for a week.
    1. Furan - 2 was attempted but seem to really stress them out!




    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    120g
    8 discus, 2x 4", 1x 3", 2x 2", 3x 1.5"
    6 Cory Cats
    4 loaches



    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    4x's per week 50% WC OR 1x per week 90% WC


    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    Tank has been running for a year, I had substrate, sand, 1.5 inches, until 1 week ago assuming maybe the sand was harboring parasites and thwarting my success. Now its bare bottomed and 4 sponge filters.


    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    No I use R/O and remineralize with Revitalize to 130TDS, PH is always 6.4 - 6.8


    8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
    None apart from revitalize


    9. Parameters and water source;
    Amm. 0
    Nitrites 0
    Nitrates 5
    Ph 6.8
    Temp 85 -86

    R/O water only
    Note: I tried using 50% tap and 50% water for a few months but it turned out to be too difficult to keep my tap water PH (9!!!!) down to a normal range.




    10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
    No


    11. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
    For 2 months its been Everthing Aquatic Duo Flake, Prazi and Metro. This helped stringy poops go away but once I switched back to normal food the poops came back. When I'm not feeding meditated food its Vibra Bites, FD brine shrimp, or Community CRave on a rotation.


    12. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

  2. #2
    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    No more medications..... Over medicating there is a danger of toxicity to the fish, frequently causing liver, kidney, or other organ damage that may or may not be reversible.... IMO.....Raise temperature to 35 degree celsius (95 degree Fahrenheit)for 7 days to treat Hexamitosis ( Sprronucleosis).
    Grasshopper
    Francis

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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Quote Originally Posted by seanyuki View Post
    No more medications..... Over medicating there is a danger of toxicity to the fish, frequently causing liver, kidney, or other organ damage that may or may not be reversible.... IMO.....Raise temperature to 35 degree celsius (95 degree Fahrenheit)for 7 days to treat Hexamitosis ( Sprronucleosis).
    It's been 4 months, two rounds of Flubend. and two round of Metro. I know people that put their juviniles through Flubend, then metro, then prazi, then Erythro. I dont think its the meds.

    I might take your advise on the degrees, but what do I do with my loaches and cory cats? If I separate the discus from them, treat the discus and then return them to the tank, wont they give my discus the parasitre again?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    If you suspect it is s. vortens (flagellates), you can turn the temp up ~30C, add an air stone, treat with metronidazole in water 500 mg/10 gallons daily for 14 days (WC before treatment), adding epsom salt to their feed 3 wt/wt% has been shown to help for rainbw trout but it can make the food less tasty, epsom salt as a bath is not effective.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    If it was me I would treat with Epsom salts to purge their intestine. I'd then do nothing but frequent water changes and observe for two weeks - Assuming they continue to eat. And then report back

    One thing that I know after many years. Discus are usually pretty tough, as long as you follow a regimen based the advice of the senior members of SD. Something seems strange in your aquarium: that it almost appears that each discus excretes a unique form of stool

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Quote Originally Posted by JamesW View Post
    If you suspect it is s. vortens (flagellates), you can turn the temp up ~30C, add an air stone, treat with metronidazole in water 500 mg/10 gallons daily for 14 days (WC before treatment), adding epsom salt to their feed 3 wt/wt% has been shown to help for rainbw trout but it can make the food less tasty, epsom salt as a bath is not effective.
    Were you successful with this dosage? The normal dosage is half that on all of the metro meds I have.

  7. #7
    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Metronidazole has a very broad safe range...to treat discus with Hexamita the recommended dosage is 500 mg per 10 gallons for 12 days and with a 50% WC before the each dose. Tank temp is up at 92-93. This works for me.
    Grasshopper
    Francis

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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Quote Originally Posted by seanyuki View Post
    Metronidazole has a very broad safe range...to treat discus with Hexamita the recommended dosage is 500 mg per 10 gallons for 12 days and with a 50% WC before the each dose. Tank temp is up at 92-93. This works for me.
    Okay I did a WC and upped the dose to 500mg last night. but 92 degrees?! They are already breathing rapidly and scratching themselves on things in aggitation. I'll keep you posted on how this goes

  9. #9
    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Parasites that are weakened by the heat may succumb more easily to salt and/or other medications.With an increase in temperature, the fish also produce more antibodies to help fight infections. Higher temperatures also increase the fish's metabolism and apetite.

    Remember that warmer water carries less oxygen, so be sure to use extra aeration (surface water turbulence) when using high heat.

    http://www.forum.simplydiscus.com/sh...as-a-Treatment

    Quote Originally Posted by Red.Aceco View Post
    Okay I did a WC and upped the dose to 500mg last night. but 92 degrees?! They are already breathing rapidly and scratching themselves on things in aggitation. I'll keep you posted on how this goes
    Grasshopper
    Francis

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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Quote Originally Posted by seanyuki View Post
    Parasites that are weakened by the heat may succumb more easily to salt and/or other medications.With an increase in temperature, the fish also produce more antibodies to help fight infections. Higher temperatures also increase the fish's metabolism and apetite.

    Remember that warmer water carries less oxygen, so be sure to use extra aeration (surface water turbulence) when using high heat.

    http://www.forum.simplydiscus.com/sh...as-a-Treatment
    I have not had a chance toturn the heat up, I sending my loaches and corys to my LFS because I just dont have the time or energy for the right now and they will hate the heat and salt.
    But two of my discus are breathing double time and with one gill. Is this a symptom of gill flukes or maybe the meds? Whats the possoble cause here?

  11. #11
    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Perhaps a photo or video could help b4 throwing meds at them.
    Grasshopper
    Francis

  12. #12
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    Unhappy Re: Persistent White/ghost stringy poops, HELP!!

    Quote Originally Posted by seanyuki View Post
    Perhaps a photo or video could help b4 throwing meds at them.
    https://youtu.be/amBtAGSmL1A
    https://youtu.be/CDMckzh8XWk

    Please see video, I had them on 7 days of metro 250mg/10g and then increased to 500mg/10g for one day but I ran out. The last four days (two days without meds) they have been breathing heavily and sometimes with one gill.

    Ph is 6.8 - 7
    Ive increased the temp to 88 degrees so far with the goal of 90-92
    Nitrates are 5ppm no more than 10ppm
    Ammonia sometimes got to .25ppm but I test twice daily and WC if any ammonia comes up. I yesterday gave my LFS the 6 cory cats and 4 loaches I had so now it's only 6 discus, so ammonia shoulnt be an issue in my 45g tank.

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