# Long, Continual Feces Excretion?



## Raul-7 (Jan 31, 2004)

I added a pair of Kribs to an established 20L and now 5 weeks latter the male seems to be have symptoms of long, string feces with the occasional white excrement [noticed yesterday], original symptoms noticed the day before. Even now as I type this he has another one still lodged in his anus. I fed them only once yesterday with garlic soaked NLS and he ate a little, but seemed more skittish than usual.

What do you recommend? I was going to buy Jungle's Parasite-Medicated food [Active Ingredients: Metronidazole, raziquantel, levamisole].


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi,

It's unclear whether there's an actual illness here or if the fish is merely over-eating.

Long colored feces usually means that the fish is eating too much. 
Long stringy white or clear feces usually indicates some kind of intestinal stress--often bloat.

Not sure from your descriptin which is going on here--a combination of both?

Medicated food is a good way to go however it's not without its problems. If you buy the pre-made stuff then you're introducing a diet change to your fish which can be stressful for them and also they may refuse to eat it because it is different. (Overtime they will probably eat it but time is not always something you have a lot of with a sick fish)
Soaking the food you already feed them in the medicine is a good way to avoid the change in diet issue. I've found NLS soak up metronidazole fairly well. 
The problem with using any medicated food is that you can't always be sure how much the fish are actually eating.

I would first of all do a parital water change of 25% using a good quality declorinator and then either treat with medicated food or with something like Jungle Parasite Clear. If you want to go with the pre-made stuff then the Jungle brand you mentioned would be a good choice.

Robin


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## Raul-7 (Jan 31, 2004)

Thanks for the reply, I thought no one was going to answer.

As I type this he currently has a 2" long [no exaggeration here] dark greenish turd with white specks trailing behind him as he swims. Other than that he seems normal and he has been fasting for a good 24 hours now, I think I'll get some metronidazole as it seems there is something in his intestines with the amount he's releasing. As soon as he's done excreting one, another is never too far behind.

Can you please clarify:


> The problem with using any medicated food is that you can't always be sure how much the fish are actually eating.


Do you mean he might spit the food out when I turn my back?


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

> Quote:
> The problem with using any medicated food is that you can't always be sure how much the fish are actually eating.
> 
> Do you mean he might spit the food out when I turn my back?


Not so much that but if you're feeding multiple fish a medicated food some fish are going to eat more of it than others--same as when you're feeding them normally. So some fish might get too much med and some won't get enough to do them any good. I wouldn't decide not to to the medicated food route--its always better if you can get them to ingest their meds--but I would watch closely as you feed them to make sure they're all getting enough.

I've treated my fish with Metronidazole soaked food in the past--I soaked the met in the NLS pellets they were accustomed to eating already. Worked great.

Robin

Before you medicate: since your fish is symptom-less other than the long feces that ARE colored: 
You might try adding Epsom salt at the rate of 1 tablespoon per five gallons of water and continue fasting for an additional 24 hours. Dissolve the salt first and add it gradually. How often and how much are you feeding? One or at the most two small feedings a day is plenty and give them only as much as can be consumed in less than a minute.


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## Raul-7 (Jan 31, 2004)

I only feed them twice a day, it used to be once but I wanted to condition them and move it to twice. It takes much less than one minute to feed them and it's usually done in 2-4 small servings.

The condition didn't seem to improve after another day of fasting and he left off where I last saw him, pooping again. Then it seemed the condition spread to the female or maybe she had it but it wasn't as noticeable before. Anyways, treatment had to be administered.

First, this pair share the 20L with 4 Danios [originally used to cycle the aquarium]. Since they usually out compete the Kribs for the food I had to keep them away somehow. This was done by catching all of them in the same net and setting the net on the corner of the aquarium leaving the net suspended in the water.

Next, one measure of metronidazole was added to a pinch of NLS Community. To mix, 0.3mL of garlic extract was added to the mix and then hand stirred.

Finally, the feeding after soaking for about a minute the food was added three pellets at a time. I noticed the female went for it right away and she got about 5-6 pellets. I was worried the male might have developed worsening symptoms but that was quelled when I placed the food toward directly above his location and he readily ate until I fed him about 9-11 pellets. First dose completed and the Danios were set loose.

One question, how many times should I be doing this a day?


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

> I only feed them twice a day, it used to be once but I wanted to condition them and move it to twice. It takes much less than one minute to feed them and it's usually done in 2-4 small servings.


Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly but from your description it sounds like they still _could be_ overeating. Also if the fish are producing long colored feces, (the color would be close to the color of their food), then there's really not too much else that would cause that.

But at any rate it's not going to hurt to treat all the fish with the Met-soaked food. Not something you want to do on regular basis when there's no clear illness as you don't want the fish to develop an immunity to the med, but--.

You asked how often to feed the fish the met-soaked food--good question. If you feel the food is retaining the metronidazole fairly well and the fish are eating it then once a day should be fine. Any doubts that the fish are either not eating much of it or the met is washing out of the food before they eat it then feed them twice a day. One thing I've read about metronidazole is that it's fairly difficult to overdose with it.

Robin


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