White poo and wasting fish

[hartgirl]

So I have a few fish from time to time get sick by wasting away. They appear to eat, but sometimes they spit out their food.

I've been thinking they might have internal hexamita, because recently I've seen some whitish poo coming from one or two fish, on and off.

I've just purchased some metronidazole that I can use in the water, but I hear it's better as a medicated food. The directions online say to mix it with grain alcohol (binding agent?) but I don't have access to any. I've seen videos where they just mix it well with water and then add food to soak up the medicated water. What are people using as a recipe for that? I will post screen shots of everything....

Multiple tanks are infected but not every fish. If it's some kind of parasite, I'd rather just treat the whole tank anyway....all tanks around 78 degrees, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10-20 nitrate. Ph 7.4 in non co2 environments, about 6.8 w/ co2.

Advice, recipes for medication mix, all welcome


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[Matt68005]

What type of fish? Certain types like chichlids are more prone to HOTH, while others are more prone to nematode worms, Like livebearers.
OFC Metro absolutely wont treat worms, and vise versa. You can't always see the worms too, some kinds are miscroscopic.
That means for me to make an educated guess i have to know what kind of fish and what kind of substrate and their food.
Metro is a good start. YOU might get some epsom salt too, to flush them out. Be careful feeding, you don't want them to bloat. When my fish got like this, i starved them, used epsom salt in the tank, and used acriflavin and MG/Formalin combo in the water, and epsom salt mixed with peas and brine shrimp and bloodworms for a week, and they ended up alright. Im not saying to do that, its just really hit or miss with these internal problems. It might just be bacteria. Bacterial infections can cause skinny poo just as easily as protozoans. Just do the math, mix up the metro in a small dish with tankwater or distilled water and some epsom salt dissolved, and let it soak for 30 minutes.

 

[hartgirl]

Well- now that you mention it....The live bearers are among the group in one tank that aren't doing well- as well as a couple of white cloud minnows. The guppies and mollies I had also had babies only once and then never again, and then I kept losing them. I only have one female guppy and one mollie left. And a group of platies that don't seem affected. I haven't seen stringy poo in the apistos, but a couple definitely look skinnier than before. In the other tank, it's two of the 6 electric blue Rams that are way skinnier than the rest. They could just be runts I suppose (I got them pretty young from a local breeder). Then in my main display (125 gallon) I lost two of the kilifish, and a gourami looks pretty skinny as well. A couple of weeks ago, two of my rainbowfish had thick, long, almost plant like poo (which could have in fact been plant material, since they pick at leaves and whatnot.)

Anyway, it's all very confusing when its internal. I hesitate using meds unless I absolutely know I have to- but it could be a couple things. I will also mention I have separate equipment for all tanks including nets and siphons. They do share food, but I don't handle it first. They eat a mix of flakes, pellets, frozen blood worms and fringe brine shrimp at various points throughout the week with a fasting day every week or so.

Another thing I thought of doing was medicating the water with prazipro for internal worms, and feeding metronidazole to treat possible anaerobic bacterial infections and/or hexamita .....they use metro and prazi together in API general cure so I doubt it would hurt to try.


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[Matt68005]

Sounds like a plan. At least to start. These internal problems are defintately hard to figure out, and it seems like their going around lately.
Here http://angelsplus.com/FoodFlake.htm is a site you can get cheap medicated flake food, i would go with dewormer I Antibiotic II and you can also get metro flake.
Good luck Im flat out of ideas. My own guppies got this problem lol

 

[hartgirl]

Well, I saw this today in one of my fish. Luckily, he was very still or I might not have seen it. This is the only fish that I have actually seen with what appears to be a worm. It literally looks like a splinter....I didn't even think this tank had a problem. There's no symptoms of wasting or lethargy really in here. 55 gallons: 5 angelfish 4 dwarf neon rainbows, 15 neon tetras, and 9 cory cats. Water parameters originally posted still stand.


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[hartgirl]

Easier to just post a screen shot of what I just read. In case anyone has some input


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[Matt68005]

Yes i guess they cancelled what people use to use Levamisole and now people have to use the fenebenadazole. I basically, have no experience with worms. This is the first time my fish have had them that ive actually noticed it or had a problem with it in 6 years in the hobby. Now everything else, even columnaris, seems like a cakewalk. These internal problems are hard to deal with. Just cant tell whats wrong with your fish. At some point im gonna get a miscroscope or something. Right now im feeding my fish fenebendazole garlic flake because my guppies had sunken bellies and clamping fins. I can't really say if its working or not. Its day 6, and i just realized that im dosing improperly. Im suppose to be feeding only 1 large meal every OTHER day not every day. So, apparently this is something you have to keep up for at least 10 days, then repeat in 3 weeks. This stuff is not easy to get rid of, but at least its not NTD or something completely incurable. Never had problems like this before, seems like internal problems are going around ALOT lately especially with gouramis and livebearers. Hope we both can figure this one out!

 

[wan2banimalcop]

Looks like camallanus. If you search you can find a few (mine included) discussions about it. You can get levamisole through mr. Ink. There is a link on my thread (sorry I dont k ow how to attach it on here) I was able to order some and did the recomended treatment and havent had the little buggers since.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

 

[hartgirl]

Looks like camallanus. If you search you can find a few (mine included) discussions about it. You can get levamisole through mr. Ink. There is a link on my thread (sorry I dont k ow how to attach it on here) I was able to order some and did the recomended treatment and havent had the little buggers since.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

Do you feed levamisole or dose the water? I will look for your link. I know there are a lot of opinions on the matter- including what meds to use. So I guess I was more curious if that does look like those worms (kinda actually looks like a splinter lol) and what the likelihood is of the other dis having them. In other tanks I have skinny fish- wondering if they could have the same thing? A couple of others suggest praziquantel works (sometimes) so I was thinking of starting with that and metronidazole in case they do have hex also ....and then follow up with one of the other two meds just to cover my bases. It seems like a lot of meds- but I seriously can't handle the guess work on this lol


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[hartgirl]

Do you feed levamisole or dose the water? I will look for your link. I know there are a lot of opinions on the matter- including what meds to use. So I guess I was more curious if that does look like those worms (kinda actually looks like a splinter lol) and what the likelihood is of the other dis having them. In other tanks I have skinny fish- wondering if they could have the same thing? A couple of others suggest praziquantel works (sometimes) so I was thinking of starting with that and metronidazole in case they do have hex also ....and then follow up with one of the other two meds just to cover my bases. It seems like a lot of meds- but I seriously can't handle the guess work on this lol- I mean- do you treat the fish with no symptoms??? Or does it do more harm?


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[Matt68005]

Here hartgirl DeWorming Fish Flake Food

 

[wan2banimalcop]

I dosed the water...before I went with levamisole I tried fenbendazole food, and prazi and none worked. But as soon as I used the levamisole it worked right away.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

 

[hartgirl]

I will try the levamisole then! I'm going to order some or see if my local store has some this morning!


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[Matt68005]

With the dewormers, its like an ongoing battle, one treatment is not gonna be sufficent. On the package of my fenebadazole flake food it says "feed once every other day for 10 days. Repeat in 3 weeks." so your suppose to keep them starved, only feed the dewormer once every other day, and repeat in 3 weeks. I have to say, maybe you just have'nt did it properly the dewormer? I think it is something you must keep doing for awhile because its tough to kill.
Again, im no worm expert, but it seems like callapari and callamus are going around in the fish hobby ALOT lately, so im learning along with you. IT seems to have cured my guppies by following the directions. No more skinny or bloated guppies after my 10 day treatment.

 

[hartgirl]

Well I personally haven't tried anything yet for worms. I don't think you're meant to starve them for 3 weeks....just the days in between feedings during treatment.

Side note: should I go ahead and deworm my other tanks if they're NOT showing symptoms? I don't see any worms sticking out- but I guess you never know....


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[Matt68005]

ya that is what i meant, starve for the treatment and then resume normal feeding until 3-4 weeks later and retreat them. I think you should treat the other tanks, because miscroscopic worm eggs and larve can get in your buckets/hoses and such.

 

[wan2banimalcop]

If any of the fish have ever been together or you used any of the same equipment (gravel vac, net, etc...) then they could be passed to the other tanks. I would definitely treat the other tanks.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

 

[hartgirl]

Their equipment is all separate, but there has been movement of certain fish between tanks in the house. Currently the only fish with visible worms are one of the dwarf rainbowfish. There is another tank experiencing whitish poo, but no visible worms...and also, I noticed yesterday that he angelfish in the tank with the fish that for sure has worms are showing some slightly ragged fins for no apparent reason....ughhhh. Fish diseases ???


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[samram0829]

When my fish recently had camallanus worms some had white poo and sunken bellies before there were any visible worms. Since the fish can be infected with these nematodes weeks before even showing any symptoms and you've moved fish between tanks you should treat all of your tanks and sterilize all of your equipment.

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[samram0829]

Also the ragged fins could be a secondary infection from the camallanus.

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