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White poop
Hi-
1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
It began with one that stopped eating and became quite stressed, hiding in a corner. Another started behaving similarly and they continued to have white stringy poop. The one that died also was passing almost a white sack of stool and became bloated despite not eating. The other fish recovered and is eating again. They both were eating well. I treated with general cure twice but one ultimately succumbed. As I said, one recovered but now another discus is acting like the one that ultimately died- he's hiding, passing white stringy poop, not eating, and had a white sack of poop. The other 8 discus, dither fish and cory's are fine.
I got the fish from the same importer 5 months ago, and I suspect that they have internal parasites that are manifesting now. The problem with my current fish began 1-2 weeks ago. I was hoping he would recover like one of my other fish. Now I am convinced these are internal parasites. He otherwise looks OK. No clamped fins or flashing. Just not eating and the poop I already described.
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).
Nothing except what I described above- white poop, hiding
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
Since the most recent fish got sick, I began treating with flubendazole, today is day 3. He's still not eating and hiding. I plan to do a water change and siphon the gravel and treat with prazipro.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
120 gal with ~20 gallon sump. The tank has been set up for 5 months. I now have 9 discus of various varieties originally from Asia. They are between 3-6 inches. I also have 9 corys, 15 dither fish and 1 pleco.
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
Large 40-50% weekly, with usually 20% every 2-3 days.
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
5 months, quartz sand substrate 0.5-1.5 inch around the swords.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
No, use a python and seachem prime. Ph is consistently around 7.8.
8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?
Seachem prime, add to tank with a python. Temp close to temp to tank. I use the dechlorinator as directed but usually add a little more..
9. Parameters and water source;
Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.
- temp __30C___
- ph _7.6-7.8____
- ammonia reading __0__
- nitrite reading __0__
- nitrate reading __10-40 ppm__
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
Tap water
10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
Some new java ferns, anumbias and amazon sword, but issue with the discus preceded adding the plants/driftwood.
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.
2x during the day, beef heart flake and vibra bites, 1x later usually a small piece of frozen beef heart mix (beef/krill,shrimp and vitamins apparently- made by the importer I got my discus from-they eat from my hand) or Hikari mysis/brine shrimp. Just started giving a garlic flake, but they don't really like it.
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.
Sorry, no videos. Just a fish hiding and having the poop I described.
*Again, I started treating with flubendazole from cloverleaf for 3 days with no change*. I'm going to do a 40-50% water change and start treating with prazipro. I appreciate any advice!
Re: White poop
You have done everything except what would have been my first choice. Trytreating with metro for 12 days at the rate of 500 mg per 10 gallons for 12 days. Do a huge WC every day during treatment. BTW, if your nitrate goes as high as 40 you aren't doing nearly enough WC. Most folks say that 10 is good enough. I keep my Discus tanks at 5.
Mama Bear
Re: White poop
How are you treating the flubendazole? It should be dosed in a bare bottom tank with lights off and a thorough cleaning of the tank between treatments so you can hopefully remove any expelled eggs. An infected fish won't recover overnight and flubendazole is harsh on internal organs so I would wait 10-14 days before treating with a different med.
Do you have access to a microscope? Only a microscopic exam of fresh feces will determine what parasites they may have.
After you complete the flubendazole treatment I would slowly raise the temp to 93 and add 2-3 TBS salt per 10g with regular water changes for 10-14 days. Recovery may take a week or two after treatment...
Re: White poop
I thought metro was for hexamita. It helps with some GI bacterial infections but does metro help with parasitic worms?
Re: White poop
I’m actually a scientist and physician so I do have access to a microscope but it’s in my lab. That said… another fish is having white stringy poo…. My tank isn’t bare bottom. I’m going to do a good 50% water change and treat with the prazipro. General cure has metro in it and it didn’t help before. Also, I’ve seen the Gabe Posada videos and he seems to be all about the metro. That will be my next choice after this treatment.
Re: White poop
Stools which change to a hollow, white stringy nature are “casts” and are seen when a fish has not been eating well for a while or which has an
intestinal infection. Stools, which change to the color of the food that is being fed, may indicate a digestive problem in which the food is not broken down or absorbed. You should then examine the stool under the microscope. You may see eggs under the microscope, which would indicate a de-worming is in order.Only microscope analysis of the feces can tell if it is hexamita. metronidazole is not for treatment of internal worms. It is mainly used for internal flagellates. Feces to be examined must be absolutely fresh, since feces that have been in a tank for even just a few minutes may contain free-living nematodes that are not parasitic and are not a concern for fish health.
Grasshopper
Francis
Re: White poop
Thanks- I’ve seen both castes and white stringy feces. I agree metro was not my first thought here
Re: White poop
My nitrate is typically 10-20 ppm. Also thanks everyone!
Last edited by mleibowi; 12-02-2021 at 10:00 PM.
Re: White poop
20 is too high. 10 is OK but 5 is best.
The amount of metro in Quick Cure isn't enough to even bother the hex. You need to use 500 mg of pure metro per 10 gallons of water for 12 days with as big a WC every day during treatment that you can manage.
Mama Bear
Re: White poop
Thanks Liz. Yes, there is only a small amount of metro in general cure. 5.4 grams of metronidazole daily for 12 days for my 140 gallon (total water volume)? >50 grams of metronidazole seems like a lot.
Re: White poop
Update- removed seachem phosguard (was getting diatoms from phosphates/silicates) and reach it can remove medications or at least per seachem advised to remove it while treating the tank. I then re-treated with clover leaf wormer + for 3 days (large water change prior) and 50% water change after 3 days. I’m still see white poop and the sickest fish still was T eating. I am now treating with prazipro-pro day 3. The sick discus is still hiding and not eating. He’s not flashing or fin clamping, just his stools are off and not eating. I’m not sure what else to try. Maybe metro, paraguard? Thanks in advance!
Re: White poop
Sorry, took a while to get a pic of the white poop. Below is an example. Today is day 3 of metronidazole. 2 started to eat or at least scour the sand for some scraps. 1 still isn't eating.
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While I've been treating the fish on/off for the past month (flubendazole and praziquantal), I opted not to change the filter floss as I had been monthly. I noticed a white round tuff on the fins of a few fish. It is most notable on the pigeon blood below. Is this fungus? If so, what would be the best treatment. What treatment can be given with metronidazole. The tank parameters are the same as the initial post to this thread. Thanks all!
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Re: White poop
Have you raised the temp? 93 heat alone is very effective for this condition and metro works best with high temps as well...
Re: White poop
Thanks for rotating pics. I did raise temp and am treating with metro. Even after 3 days 2 out of three that stopped eating are starting to nibble. The white dot/pimple on the pigeon blood’s fin- what ks that best treated with? I’m doing daily water changes and changing the floss and cleaning my sump. It kind of comes and goes… not sure if it’s fungal or bacterial. Anyone seen this on discus before?
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