Sick swordtail--please help.

[Aquafriend]

My male swordtail is thin, listless, and sunken in behind his lower fins. No new changes in his established 20gal community tank. All his tankmates seem fine. I've had him for several months, along with the rest of the fish in the tank. Last water change was a couple days ago. (Done every week).
Anyway, I'm thinking it may be a parasite, not totally sure, of course.
I put him in a makeshift hospital tank (5gal) with a seeded filter foam from my 10gal.
I don't know what to do for him because I'm not totally sure what's wrong. I do have Jungle Parasite Clear tablets, Aquarium salt, and a few other meds, but I don't want to just stick something in not knowing for sure.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Menagerie]

sunken in behind his lower fins

I'm not exactly sure where you are describing.

Try looking through these sites:
http://www.aquatronicsonline.com/hobbyist/hobbyist3.htm
http://www.aqualink.com/disease/sdisease.html#ich
http://fish.mongabay.com/diseases.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIndex/fishdisho.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health.htm

 

[Aquafriend]

Sorry! I read back on my post and that sounds weird, doesn't it?

Anyway, I meant his belly was sunken in so he looks long and skinny, not rounded underneath like usual. Now I'll go read your links! Thanks.

 

[Menagerie]

Let us know if anything pops up.
The decription of your sword could be a number of things. Add a touch of salt. Is he eating?

 

[Aquafriend]

Yes, he's eating somewhat. I did add half a tbsp of salt last night, half the dosage it said to use. I was going to add the rest today.
I noticed just a bit ago that his poop is white and stringy. I don't know if that tells anything. I read your links, Menagerie, but didn't find anything that was similar to what I'm seeing. Thanks for the links, though.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Aquafriend,
White stringy poop can indicate parasites. Here's the link I was reading:
http://www.junglelabs.com/pages/aquarium.detail.asp?item=70

The symptoms match: thin, listless, pale stringy feces. If you didn't try any meds yet, you could give these products a try. The Parasite Guard is a med you put in the water. The Pepso food can also be given during the Parasite Guard treatment. Here are the descriptions for each one:

http://www.junglelabs.com/pages/details.asp?item=NJ115
http://www.junglelabs.com/pages/details.asp?item=NJ169

Some people also use the Pepso food once a week to prevent parasites. Good luck!

 

[Aquafriend]

I knew I had read somewhere about pale, stringy poop! I just couldn't find it again today. All the symptoms match, too. Thank you so much, An t-iasg.
I don't have the Parasite Guard but I do have Parasite Clear tablets (fron Jungle, too, it's pretty much the same thing I think). I tab per 10gal, so I'll cut one in half and pop it in his 5gal tank.
I don't have access to Pepso food, but the tablets are better than nothing, for sure. Thanks again!

edit--He also now has very obvious clamped fins.

 

[An t-iasg]

Aquafriend, how's the swordtail? Clamped fins indicate stress, but I hope the meds have helped him! Has he gotten any better?