Poop color

[gwand]

Is white poop always a sign of disease? One of my coral teacup platy had a thin white string coming from its butt.

 

[Back in the fold]

Is white poop always a sign of disease? One of my coral teacup platy had a thin white string coming from its butt.

@Colin_T

 

[GaryE]

No. It's something worth watching, but if the fish were recently shipped, thiyr systems will be out of whack. If it continues, then there's an issue.

 

[Colin_T]

Considering the fish in question (common platy from Asian fish farm), it's probably intestinal worms. Section 3 of the following link tells you how to deal with it.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[GaryE]

You got them from a respected source, and that means they were 'crapped out' before shipping - unfed for 24 hours. So the white poop could be their system restarting. They are fed like crazy to grow them and get them to market, so the stop and restart can be jarring.

If it is gutworms, you'll know soon. If you see pointy red nematodes sticking out the vent, then it's Camallanus. Otherwise, run of the mill tapeworms/roundworms. The meds are different, but readily available in the US.

 

[gwand]

You got them from a respected source, and that means they were 'crapped out' before shipping - unfed for 24 hours. So the white poop could be their system restarting. They are fed like crazy to grow them and get them to market, so the stop and restart can be jarring.

If it is gutworms, you'll know soon. If you see pointy red nematodes sticking out the vent, then it's Camallanus. Otherwise, run of the mill tapeworms/roundworms. The meds are different, but readily available in the US.

What medication for Camallanus?

 

[gwand]

Considering the fish in question (common platy from Asian fish farm), it's probably intestinal worms. Section 3 of the following link tells you how to deal with it.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

Section #3 says: “You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And use Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.”

How do you tell whether it’s tapeworms and gill flukes vs thread/round worms? Thanks.

 

[GaryE]

Good question. I've seen thread worms hang out the anal vent, as do nematodes. Otherwise, I use prazi.

There are practical reasons, as I can get prazi easily, but the other meds are held in reserve, since I need a vet prescription to get them. You don't. Prazi-pro is a good mix, a liquid in a bottle. Customs doesn't even look at it. The others are powders, and that gets the rulebook out...

 

[gwand]

Good question. I've seen thread worms hang out the anal vent, as do nematodes. Otherwise, I use prazi.

There are practical reasons, as I can get prazi easily, but the other meds are held in reserve, since I need a vet prescription to get them. You don't. Prazi-pro is a good mix, a liquid in a bottle. Customs doesn't even look at it. The others are powders, and that gets the rulebook out...

Another question. The fish arrived yesterday by mail. How many days should I give the appearance of white poop before I begin treatment. I still see white poop today in one fish 20 hours after arrival. Thanks as usual.

 

[Ceez]

Good question. I've seen thread worms hang out the anal vent, as do nematodes. Otherwise, I use prazi.

There are practical reasons, as I can get prazi easily, but the other meds are held in reserve, since I need a vet prescription to get them. You don't. Prazi-pro is a good mix, a liquid in a bottle. Customs doesn't even look at it. The others are powders, and that gets the rulebook out...

Without getting political im gutted for you guys up there. It ridiculous

 

[GaryE]

I agree 100% with the antibiotics ban. It's just common sense, if indeed I have common sense. All I have to do is read some threads here where people throw in antibiotics in nonsense mixes every third day with no plan as to why or what exactly they're treating to agree with the controls. I thought it'd be a catastrophe when my province banned over the counter antibiotics, and in our club, we discovered were losing fewer fish without them. When the national ban came in, we were good.
The details weren't painted in when the law was passed, which is what puts deworming and anti nematode meds on the list. That's a pain, but there are easy ways around it.

Hey, you guys can't get fish across your border without a permit and an inspection. All I need is a sales slip.

Bureaucracy is the way of the world.

 

[Colin_T]

Common livebearers from Asian fish farms normally have round/ thread worms and about 99% of the worms in aquarium fishes are thread worms. So start treatment straight away and treat them for thread/ round worms first because they are more likely to have that.