black moor...

[Annie/Aggie]

I'm a newbie and am curious as to what colour poop my black moor should have? At the moment it's an off-white colour, kinda long and stringy like. Thanks.

[GodOSoot]

Possible internal infection but only if the fish exhibits other symptoms.

If should be the color of whatever you feed it in a long but not stringy sausage like appearance.

That would means it's digesting normally.

[jsoong]

Long stringy poop means constipation. Try increasing vegetable matter (peas are good) in feedings.

White poop may be some kind of internal infection, but only if it is long & thin like a thread. I wouldn't worry too much if this is just an occassional thing & the fish is otherwise acting normally.

[Zagz]

I would first feed the peas as suggested. Take frozen peas, blanch them and skin them and cut them or mush them into bite sized pieces. Do not feed other food for a day or so.

[DepotFish]

I hope you have a nice 20 gallon tank for the little guy. Long white poop is usually a parasite problem. Good tank conditions and a little parasite meds should clear that up. Just out of curiosity how big is he/she? Black is the most unstable coloration in goldfish and most turn white or orange as they get bigger. Sunlight is said to help the black stay, but it would also encourage algae growth in a tank.

[Annie/Aggie]

Thanks for the advice, he eats goldfish flakes, the brown and white kind. it is long and string -like but there seems to be no other problems. I'll definitely try the peas. He's a black moor about 3 inches in a 10 gallon, with an algae eater. I tested the water and everything is normal in the tank. If he had a parasite, what other symptoms would he have? Thanks.

[DepotFish]

There may not be other symptoms at first if he has parasites, but if it goes untreated he will become lethargic, have clamped fins, and basically act like he's wasting away because they are taking all his nutrients and such. He might also start eating more in attempt to get nutrients, but you've probably not had him long enough to see the difference between a typical pig moor and one that is eating for his life. You really should use up the flakes and start on pellets and sinking food. Deep bodied goldfish tend to have swimbladder problems and flakes will only aggrivate it after a while because they swallow so much air along with the flakes.

[Annie/Aggie]

What would you advise me to do? I don't want to medicate him if it's not needed, should I wait a couple of days and see how he is with peas and/or pellets? And if he has a parasite, what meds would you recommend? Also, can my other fish get the parasite from the moor? Thanx.

[Zagz]

You can try a medicated food like Jungle's medicated food for parasites. If the poop is whitish and stringy, I would feed the medicated food. Yes your other fish can get the parasite. Any chance of QT? I wouldn't wait more than a day to see if his poop changes, based on the fact that the original post was yesterday. Best advice I can offer, QT and feed medicated food and peas.

[Annie/Aggie]

Hi It's Aggie that has the moor, this is Annie, I have the betta, different tanks. I'll let her know right away and yes we do have a 1.5 gal tank she can use. Is that big enough?

[Zagz]

How big is the fish?

[iceywater101]

I would use at least a 5 gal qt tank
I believe there is an article in the article section on how to set up a qt tank.

[Annie/Aggie]

the moor is 3" long so far, Aggie just got him not long ago. I did see the article about a QT tank I think, I'll look it up again.

[Zagz]

5 gal for a QT tank is a minimum. 10 gal per goldfish is also a minimum. Goldfish are messy fish and produce tons of waste which will quickly turn to ammonia in your tank. Which in turn can make the fish sick and even kill them. What size tank do you have them in and what are your water parameters? Parasites can also be brought on by water parameters being out of whack.

[coolchinchilla]

Poop diagnostics:

http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/kmam1/MyPond/Poop.html

[Zagz]

Nice link!

[Annie/Aggie]

thank you, that was a good link.
Right now Aggie has a black moor and a orange/black/white? goldfish in a 10 gal. tank. We had not known when we both bought our tanks that the goldfish require alot of room and she is looking into a larger tank for them right away. It's kinda early here so she isn't up yet , at least I don't see her apt. lite on. I will tell her to send the tank specs, I know she checks it frequently. Luckily they aren't fully grown before we found all this out. We found this site by accident but it's been fantastic, we really appreciate all your help.


Thanks for all your advice, like Annie said , I just got them. I really wanted fish and had a 10 gallon, went to petsmart and asked for advice. They said goldfish were easy to keep and I can have 2 for a 10 gallon. So I got them. Came home , researched and found out I was Stupid! Anyways, I am currently looking for a bigger tank... And the moor's poop is now the color of its food, medium size length but still thin. The ph is 7 (where it should be) and the ammonia is at 0.6 and the nitrate is at 5 ( nutrafin test kits). Thanks again, you've been really helpful.