# wite stringy poop and sitting on bottom



## FbodyFan (Jun 20, 2010)

my tiger oscar just had white stringy poop. He didnt eat like he normally does and is now sittin on the bottom of the tank. Sometime he will get up and swim a lil bit than right back to the bottom.

Is this bloat? or possibly a parasite?


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

The problem can be anything from bacterial, to an internal parasite (hex), to a water quality problem. It's really a toss up, but you first need to rule out problems with water quality.

A more accurate diagnoses requires more information:

Provided you've ruled out any water problems, established fish that have been in the same tank for a long period of time, have not been fed live food or a diet heavy in some of the less expensive frozen foods, and have not had new tank mates added within the last month..... my diagnoses would be a bacterial ailment.

New fish, or if the fish have been fed feeders within the last month, or if new fish have recently been added to the tank. My diagnoses would be Hex.

I really think Hex is more of a common cause of white stringy poo than a bacterial ailment.

The medicine of choice (for hex) would be any medication containing metrodonizole. API General Cure is one such medication that is relatively easy to find although my preference would be SeaChem MetroPlex.

Initial symptoms of Hex are:

1. Shows an interest in food but will not eat.
2. Taking a bite of the food and then spitting it out, without eating any of it
3. Staying to itself in a corner of the tank (when combined with the other mentioned symptoms).
4. White stringy poo, usually occurs after several days of not eating.

I've often said that Hex is much more common than we give it credit for. If caught early, it's pretty easy to defeat. The last time I personally faced hex, I noticed my Angelfish displaying Symptom #1 on a Thursday and Friday. On Saturday he was displaying symptom #3. With no improvement on Sunday (morning), I went ahead and dosed with API General Cure. He ate the next day.

Of course, all of the above symptoms can also be attributed to poor water quality, as can the onset of Hex itself (resulting from decreased immune system functionality that occurs with high nitrate levels). So you have to rule those out, and solve those problems (if they exist), before medicating. So testing your water and verifying ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, and nitrates are less than 40ppm is a must. Otherwise, you are just wasting money on medications.


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## FbodyFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Okay I checked the tank. The water was off. The amonia was above 0 and the ph level was down in the high 6 range. I cycled about half the tank, upped the ph and got the amonia under control. I also added another filter.

After I saw the white stringy poop last night, he started to have another one. However, after about a 1/4 inch or so of it being stringy and white, it was attached toa normal looking, pretty large and girthy red poop. He still cont his above activity ie sitting on bottom for a few min than hovering for a few min. Before i left for work this morn, he was sitting on the bottom again but did start to poop and it appeared to be red again, howvere nowhere near as large.

Any thoughts? Als I did add a sucker fish to the tank a couple days ago.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Everything I posted above continues to apply. Get your water quality under control and if the problem does not resolve itself, then medicate with Metro.

Water quality is not restricted to ammonia and nitrite. It also includes nitrate. There is a direct relationship between nitrate concentrations and a fish's immune system in that the higher the nitrates the less capable will be the fish's immune system. Studies suggest the physiological effects of excessive nitrate can first be detected in concentrations above 21ppm and these changes become significant above 40ppm. So any time a fish is not acting right, the first step is to check water. Ammonia should be 0, nitrite should be 0, and nitrate should be less than 20ppm.

Once that is resolved and the problem continues, then it's time to medicate.


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## FbodyFan (Jun 20, 2010)

ammonia ~.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7.8

*** been treating the tank with salt and now rid ich+ for the past couple days.

loss of appetite prevalent in 1 oscar and spitting out food seems to be the norm in the other fish.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Why the Rid-Ich?


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## Bearbear (May 8, 2010)

Rid-Ich contains formaldehyde. When you have a species that does not tolerate salt well like loaches it is great. 
Since you are already using salt I would stop using rid-ich, salt is just as bad for the ick parasites and doesn't contain formaldehyde.
I'm no expert, I am just a little cautious when I see formaldehyde in the ingredients.
The RidÃ‚Â·Ich+ combination in this formulation is *relatively* non-toxic for fishes.
http://www.novalek.com/kordon/ridich/index.htm
Ingredients: http://www.novalek.com/kordon/ridich/ridich.pdf


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

My question is why use Ich medication at all? It sounds like he's dealing with Hex and Ich medications will have no effect against Hex. They will just make matters worse by further weakening the fish (and they could potentially be the cause of the ammonia spike).

At least there is nothing in the post that identifies he's dealing with Ich.


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## FbodyFan (Jun 20, 2010)

I think my problem is that everything I read (from this forum and other places) is all the same. Every illness I read about lists the exact same symptoms basically. How am i supposed to know what it is? I got the rid ich cause some of these symptoms are listed on here as possibly being ich. Plus it says its for numerous parasites. There are no white dots but I figured I should give it a try before it got to that stage possibly.

I can't tell the dif symptom wise between hex, bloat and ich. I know there are a few unique characteristics of each but they might not be prevalent on a case by case basis so whose to say what it is?

I just ordered some clout online since I cant find any locally. Hopefully that will help. At this point since I still see no white dots, I assume its not ich so I'll stop the rid ich and cont with the salt. I bought medicated food but that was a waste cause they hate it lol.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Its not ick for sure...


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