Sorry, May Sound Silly...

[silverchild23]

I know this sounds like a real newbie question, but I was wondering what colour fish poo is supposed to be...
...not the nicest topic in the world I know

Reason I ask is because although everything in the 240L tank seems to be right with pH, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, hardness etc, I'm worried about my current fish.

I have 4 keyhole Cichlids, 2 Angels and two Plecs, all quite new.
One of teh Cichlids' poo is a reddy (not blood red) colour - however, he feeds well, swims around with the rest of the group and generally seems very happy.
For some of the other fish, their poo is a slight off-white colour. It is not stringy though, and seems quite full and healthy?

As Im new I need to know what I'm looking out for, and what colour it should be/what the colours could signify.

They are all fed on flake food and sinking food (v small red nuggets), and a small piece of potato twice a week (old one taken out after 2 days).

Please Help

 

[paul-discus]

I know this sounds like a real newbie question, but I was wondering what colour fish poo is supposed to be...
...not the nicest topic in the world I know

Reason I ask is because although everything in the 240L tank seems to be right with pH, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, hardness etc, I'm worried about my current fish.

I have 4 keyhole Cichlids, 2 Angels and two Plecs, all quite new.
One of teh Cichlids' poo is a reddy (not blood red) colour - however, he feeds well, swims around with the rest of the group and generally seems very happy.
For some of the other fish, their poo is a slight off-white colour. It is not stringy though, and seems quite full and healthy?

As Im new I need to know what I'm looking out for, and what colour it should be/what the colours could signify.

They are all fed on flake food and sinking food (v small red nuggets), and a small piece of potato twice a week (old one taken out after 2 days).

Please Help

Potato, that's a new one on me, and why leave it in 2 days, i feed courgette or cucumber but only ever leave it in about 6 hours and then take it out before it starts going off. vary the diet a little bloodworm or brine shrimp would be good too, personally i'd leave the spuds for McCains or Golden Wonder. Good luck with the hobby, keep us posted.

 

[silverchild23]

Please Help[/quote]
Potato, that's a new one on me, and why leave it in 2 days, i feed courgette or cucumber but only ever leave it in about 6 hours and then take it out before it starts going off. vary the diet a little bloodworm or brine shrimp would be good too, personally i'd leave the spuds for McCains or Golden Wonder. Good luck with the hobby, keep us posted.
[/quote]

Ha ha! You know what? I though potato was really wierd too - but it was the guy in the shop who suggested it to us...wierd. He basically said they love it as much as cucumber etc. but they go off much slower hence why you can leave it in a couple ot days.

Colour-wise is it purely the nutrition then? What do the colours mean? What's a good colour for the poo to be?

 

[PENNYWISE]

I feed my plecs potato and they love it. There was a thread about veggies for plecs not long back, youll be surprised what they eat!

 

[silverchild23]

ok that makes me feel a little better...
but still want to know about the poo colours? Am a bit concerned. (I am thinking the white plec-poo may be a little mal-nutrition? and the red keyhole poo....who knows???)

 

[Nina]

If the fish is healthy the poo is going to depend on what you feed them. For example -

Bloodworms - red poo
Cucumber - strange looking off white poo (I would guess tattas would hav the same effect)

It is the same as in humans - ever drunk Guinness?

 

[WILDER]

If your'e feeding red nuggets it accounts for the red poo and bloodworms.
Just make sure it poo and not worms.

 

[silverchild23]

Ok thanks ppl.
Not a nice subject I know, but just needed to find out for piece of mind

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

Nearly all commercial processed food (flake, pellets, granules) has *some* dye in it, and that will influence the color of the fish waste. Pellets are usually just color--red, or green--but most commercial flake foods are tricolored, a light yellow/brown, a green, and a red mixed together. A reddish brown in the most common color from commercial foods--the red dye seems to get processed or digested or absorbed the least.

I switched a tank of fish from a generic flake, which caused the fish to poop red all the time, over to a spirulina-based flake, which they always produced green waste on, to a custom blend of specialty high quality flakes and crushed freezedried foods such as brine, daphnia, and krill, which produced a fairly neutral tan/brown waste, all from the same fish over time.

Normallly I'd worry about a white, stringy waste, as it can be an indication of not getting enough to eat, but since you are feeding fresh, colorless veggies, I'd say that's the cause. In my experience, cucumber and zucchini certainly can produce that sort of waste in healthy fish. But in fish that had only been on commercial flake food all the time to pass white, stringy waste might be a cause of concern.

 

[DarkEntity]

Its an excellent question that loads of people dont know, but are to embarressed to ask