Help! 2 of my 4 guppies have white stringy poop. They have good appetite and only one is slightly lethargic but always has been since he tends to be picked on. I recently introduced them to a new tank with 5 neon tetras and two ottos. The guppies seem to be the only 2 with issues. I’m not sure if it’s stress or could be a parasite. I did recently add two new plants. Help what is this and how do I fix it? The cucumber is for constipation in case it’s that.
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@Colin_T may be able to help
What size tank?
How many of each type of fish?
How long have you had the fish?
How long has the issue been going on?
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change each time?
To the best of my knowledge the cucumber will not help with constipation.
White stingy poop is not constipation, but either worms or an internal infection
What size tank?
How many of each type of fish?
How long have you had the fish?
How long has the issue been going on?
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change each time?
To the best of my knowledge the cucumber will not help with constipation.
White stingy poop is not constipation, but either worms or an internal infection
15 gallon. I’ve had the 4 guppies and 2 Otos for over 3 months and I just noticed the issue today. I moved the fish over to the new tank with 5 tetra 3 days ago. I have 0 ammonia and both nitrate and nitrites are good. I change water every 2 weeks with about a 20% change and once a month I do a siphon to clean the gravel. If I notice cloudy water or if it’s dirtier than normal I’ll clean more water. I do have treatment for worms and infection should I just use that?
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 cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.
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2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.
There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.
It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.
Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.
-----
3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.
Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.
Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.
Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.
The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
-------------------
Before you treat the tank, work out the exact volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.
There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.
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 cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.
-----
2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.
There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.
It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.
Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.
-----
3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.
Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.
Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.
Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.
The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
-------------------
Before you treat the tank, work out the exact volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.
There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.
So this is what one of the affected guppies look like. He had white long poop and then this. My other one seems normal just chills at the bottom more than usual but has the long white poop. I haven’t noticed weight loss and they both have good appetites. None of the other fish seem affected currently and I don’t see anything in the water moving around or in the gravel. I have some API melafix I will dose them with. I’ve heard it can be from stress? I did just move them to a new tank and introduce them to the tetras so could that be it?
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Are you sure? I’ve had these guppies for minimum 3 months and this is the first I’ve seen of this. I feel like I would have noticed worms sooner than this if it were that. This popped up only a few days ago
I have locked this thread as there is another on the same subject. Please post further replies in this thread
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Idk what’s wrong ):
So this guppy has had white poop (it doesn’t move at all) and now today has stopped eating. One of my others has a similar issue but still eats. The white spots are new and just started today and affect none of my other fish but I did notice white particles coming out of my new filter so I’m...
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