Does stringy white poo always mean parasites?

[erik7]

Just curious.

MY flame dwarf gourami has long, stringy white poo, about 3 inches long or so. Heres the info:


1~What type of fish is afflicted?
>> White, stringy poo, about 3 inches long. Only my Flame Dwarf Gourami. He feeds and swims about just fine, nothing unusual.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)?
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
10 NitrAtes
76.5 - 70 degrees Far.
(Didnt test pH, but always around 7)

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
>>29 Gallon, set up around 4 months now.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
>>Whisper 30 from Tetra

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
>>1 Flame Dwarf Gourami
6 zebra danios
1 Bristlenose Pleco
1 mama black mystery snail
about 10-20 baby mystery snails


6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
>>Did a WC two days ago, about 30-40%. I do WC's of this ammount about every 10 days.


7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
>> Had this setup, no issues, for about 2 months.

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
>> No.

9A~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
>>No change, I feed Wardley's total max flakes and frozen brine shrimp. I mix it up.


Ive read places that it doesnt always mean parasites, but want to cover my bases. Thanks

 

[greenmaji]

internal parrisites is the most likely cause..
the medication has to be ingested to work..
they sell medicated foods to treat this.. HTH

 

[patagonia]

ive treated my 2 platies with jungle's antiparasite medicated food and it worked great...now i dont know much about gouramies but isnt 70F a little bit low???

 

[Essayons89]

White, stringy feces can also be associated with Dropsy, Malawi Bloat and constipation but the usual suspects are internal parasites as was already stated. With internal parasites the fish may or may not go off of their food but it will continue to lose weight regardless of how much food is being taken in. If you can it would be a good idea to place this fish in a quarantine tank to minimize the risk to others.

I treated a cichlid for Hexamita a few months ago with a combination of antiparasite medicated food and Jungle's Internal Parasite Guard.

Bryan

 

[greenmaji]

patagonia is correct, stable temperature is important.. 78 degrees F being a good goal.. a water heater is nessisary for tropical fish..

 

[LAGlocker]

78 is good, but I know with my pearls and opalines, they always looked better color wise, and were more active at around 82F. Of course I did have the temp lower than that to start with, less color, just seemed to "be there" instead of moving much. thats just my experience on the temp thing.

 

[greenmaji]

I would keep the temerature at the miniumum (78 F IMHO) while fighting a fugal or warm water parisitic infestation.. 82 F would be fine if healty..

 

[Zagz]

I would keep the temerature at the miniumum (78 F IMHO) while fighting a fugal or warm water parisitic infestation.. 82 F would be fine if healty..

GM, is that because warmer temps cause the parasites and fungus to grow faster?

 

[greenmaji]

I would keep the temerature at the miniumum (78 F IMHO) while fighting a fugal or warm water parisitic infestation.. 82 F would be fine if healty..

GM, is that because warmer temps cause the parasites and fungus to grow faster?

increases there metabolisum thus making them spread faster.. yes..