Fish Poop

[Saltair]

I saw and article on line a few weeks back that described different types of fish poo and the likely causes of each. I have been doing so much research and reading I cannot find it again. Has anybody seen this? Where is it?

 

[jsoong]

This is THE article on Goldfish poop:
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES

Is this the one you read?

 

[Saltair]

That was the article I saw. I didn't realize at the time it was for goldfish. Does any of this apply to tropicals?

 

[jsoong]

I suppose that some would apply to tropicals. Although JoAnn (the Goldfish guru) wrote the article specifically in reference to Goldfish.

There are some major differences in a regular fish's gut vs a fancy goldfish. The fancy goldfish's gut is very much shorter and squashed due to breeding selection for the body shape, so they have special considerations as far as feeding & pooping goes. Eg. A goldfish's poop comes out almost immediately (maybe a few minutes) after eating. So what you see in the poop reflects the current meal. Whereas in tropicals, the poop might be a result of foods eaten days ago.

Also, the appearance of egg sac & reabsorbed egg is pretty goldfish specific.

However, things like thin white poop being indicative of internal infection (or parasites) or bloody diarrhea being bad is pretty universal.