Help! New platy with white-ish stringy poo

[missmonday]

Hello,

Just today I went to my lfs and purchased 3 mickey mouse platys and 1 sunset/honey gourami. I tried to look for the healthiest specimens I could find, so I thought everything was fine. I acclimated the fish, then let them sit in a methylene blue bath for 20 minutes before adding them to the tank.

Everything was fine until about 15 minutes after adding them, I noticed one of the platies had white-ish stringy poo! :c I know that's a sign of internal parasites, but how do I go about treating it? It won't spread to the other fish will it??

I can go ahead and order some prazipro today, will that be a good bet? I haven't fed any of the new arrivals yet as I only feed my fish once in the morning. The only other fish in the tank are 9 gold cloud minnows. None of the platies look thin.

It seems as though only the platy with the orange dorsal fin is sick.

 

[ImACoolguy]

I would go ahead and Quarantine the little guy. Just follow the instructions for the PraziPro.

Parasites are not contagious to my knowledge, they stay with the host unless the host dies and other fish eat the infected fish, then it can be transferred.




Caleb

 

[missmonday]

I don't have a quarantine tank, but any other measures I should take? Would prazipro be better than metronidazole?

 

[ImACoolguy]

I don't have a quarantine tank, but any other measures I should take? Would prazipro be better than metronidazole?

Other way around, I've heard metro has better results but I. Thought you said you already ordered the PraziPro.

You don't have to have an extra tank.. If you have a big tub or a 5g bucket that can work as well.


Caleb

 

[missmonday]

Oh I haven't ordered anything yet, just suggesting that I could order prazipro.

Metro would be better in this case? Would adding a heater and a powerhead to a 5 gallon bucket be good enough for a temporary q-tank?

Thanks for the help!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Oh I haven't ordered anything yet, just suggesting that I could order prazipro.

Metro would be better in this case? Would adding a heater and a powerhead to a 5 gallon bucket be good enough for a temporary q-tank?

Thanks for the help!

Just an air stone and a heater would be fine. Or the powerhead pointed up, don't want to put him into a whirlpool lol


Caleb

 

[missmonday]

So I ordered some metronidazole food flakes online, should be here by Tuesday. Should I quarantine the platy the whole time I'm waiting for the meds and during treatment?

 

[ImACoolguy]

Might be a good idea just in case.


Caleb

 

[missmonday]

Is it possible that the white, stringy poo could be due to stress? The same platy with the orange dorsal fin seems to be pooping the same way as the other 2, and it's no longer white. I've never owned platys before so I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, the meds are on their way! All 3 are voraciously eating the brown algae off of my wisteria so they're not off their food.

 

[Matt68005]

Is it possible that the white, stringy poo could be due to stress? The same platy with the orange dorsal fin seems to be pooping the same way as the other 2, and it's no longer white. I've never owned platys before so I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, the meds are on their way! All 3 are voraciously eating the brown algae off of my wisteria so they're not off their food.

White stringy poo and also the "sunken belly" symptom that sometimes arises is a sign of.....
Inproper diet
Bacterial infection
Worms/nematodes
Hexitima, Hole in the head (mostly chiclids and discus/Oscars)

Metronidazole is a good choice to start with. Praziopro is a good medicine, depends on whats causing the stringy poo, your guess as good as ours. Prazi wont work on Nematodes, which are parasitic small miscroscopic worms.
For those you would need Fenbendazole ... Yes I would quarantine him.
My experience and those of others is that Hexitima, Hole in the head, primarily affects soft water and large fish. Hexitima does not like hard water, which is what most livebearers are raised in. My guess, its capallaria or callamanus worms or a bacterial infection/diet problem.

 

[missmonday]

Should I quarantine the other 2 platys as well? Or just the one with the orange fin? They were all kept in the same tank where I purchased them--the platys not the gourami.

 

[missmonday]

What would be a good medicine to help with any possible bacterial infections as well? On hand I have paraguard and methylene blue.

 

[Matt68005]

I use terramycin, oxytetracycline. Powerful safe cheap antibiotic, used in the food fish farming industry for the last 30 years. Treats Gram + and Gram - ....basically everything. Also its easy to overdose on kanamycin, and its only for gram - bacteria. I have had a lot of luck with Terramycin.
Antibiotic II Antibiotic Fish Flake Food
More info on terramycin. DailyMed - TERRAMYCIN 200 FOR FISH- oxytetracycline hydrochloride powder Great antibiotic. really works, even for Columnaris.
Click on the "Dosage and Adminsitration" and it will expand, listing all the things terramycin treats. There is also a PDF on this site, its in blue at the middle/top of the page.
This is to me the best of the best. Its like using a farmers pesticide on your houseplant. Really works.

 

[Matt68005]

I was also gonna say your platies poo looks fine, they may just need a new food or something spoiled.

 

[missmonday]

Ohh that's good news :0 I don't know what they were fed at the lfs, but they seem to be acting fine now. As far as I can tell, I haven't seen any white stringy poop, maybe slightly long poop, but not a giant trail like the pictures I took.

None of the platys look thin, they look like nice slightly-plump females (or hopefully females, the owner and I tried to sex them as best as we could). They also accept the flake food and pellet food that I feed the minnows, and continually eat the algae growing on my plants.

I'll quarantine the platys when the medicine (metronidazole) arrives and follow its instructions.

 

[missmonday]

Well do I have a story for you guys!

I noticed that the platy with the orange dorsal fin had what seemed to be a white spot (couldn't really tell if it was genuinely an ich white spot or some sort of reflective scale--but I don't remember seeing it before) but I freaked out, thinking of my other fish, and quickly filled a bucket with water, a heater and a powerhead and added a tiny bit of salt, stressguard and ich attack.

I got it out, put it into the bucket--all of the nice deep buckets are either in use or are in hideous condition as we're getting new washer/dryer and the laundry room is in total chaos--and after a few minutes, it jumped about TWO INCHES into the air.

Realizing I needed some sort of lid/screen/etc. I rushed to the kitchen to find something suitable, and when I came back it wasn't anywhere to be seen. Not under the powerhead, not under the heater. I called my mom over to help me, and it had jumped OUT of the bucket again and behind the slightly dismantled entertainment set in my room, with about an inch or so gap between it and the wall. After a few minutes of taking stuff out to try to rescue it--or at least it's body--there it was, lying on the carpet.

I was almost sure it was dead, but my mom encouraged me to put it back in the quarantine bucket, and sure enough, it started to swim around again. The poor thing must be so stressed out, and I'm surprised it lived after being a few minutes without water.

This was the same platy I suspected of having internal parasites. Any advice? I feel really bad...but it's still alive now.

 

[Matt68005]

I would put it back in the main tank until you actually have something to treat! lol
No use using the metro if it dosent have stringy poo.
No use using the methylene blue or antibiotic unless it has an infection.

 

[missmonday]

Darn I tried to post but it didn't save...

I did notice a white coloration on an otherwise cream-colored body that I don't remember seeing before. I was afraid ich would spread to all my fish, so I did panic :c I'll find a bigger bucket tomorrow to improve the set up and add a decoration/plants to hide in.

I feel guilty that it jumped out because I tried to quarantine it, but I'm afraid its immune system will be so compromised from ending up on the floor that if I were to put it back in the main tank it'd get sick anyway...

If it is ich, I have kordon ich attack, salt and a heater

EDIT: forgot to mention the platy in question does sometimes have stringy white-ish poo, sometimes not, what's up with that?

 

[BettaThanYou]

My female platies often have white stringy poo when they're about to give birth.


~ BettaThanYou

 

[Matt68005]

Sounds like diet then. What do you feed them and is it still good experiation date wise?