Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Health => Topic started by: TopCookie on May 09, 2018, 11:25:05 PM
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Not 100% sure about this one, but my one remaining Platy, the original one, sometimes has white pooh... Google reveals issues with "stringy" white pooh, but what on earth does that mean - all fish pooh looks stringy to me, regardless of colour... :-\
Not sure if I should be starting to worry or not and/or actually take some course of action...? His general behaviour seems normal...
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Yes, I agree, all fish poo looks stringy.
I have had this problem with my v. platies, who are complete pigs, will eat anything they can get hold of, and can end up pooping more than a cm of waste at a time. The advice I was given here was to feed them crushed peas. Cook some peas, remove/discard the skin, then chop/crush/mash the peas into a paste (you don't want large pieces of pea that the fish can't handle). Feeding your fish the peas will clear out their systems and help with the stringy poo issue. The fish seem to actively enjoy the peas, so I generally give my gang (apart from the carnivores) a pea feed perhaps once a week or so.
You say his behaviour is normal, so I doubt that the issue is more serious than a touch of constipation, but keep an eye on him in case it turns out to be something more serious.
Keep us updated on progress. :)
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Always a worry as i lost 4 fish like this but then realised it was cammalanus worms. I would look for red fine hair like things sticking out of the anus of the fish when motionless just (IE hovering etc) I am not saying this is the case with your platy but it's worth a check.
I used Esha NDX and it happen to all clear up and save the rest of my infected fish.
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If you ever do have intestinal worms, move all your invertebrates to another tank before treating. I know you have snails but I can't remember about shrimps ::) The same applies to all other medication as well. Inverts do not cope well.
Another good food for constipation is daphnia, live or frozen.
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I'll keep an eye on him for a while first I think... Last thing I want to do is start with medications that may be unnecessary... Pooh monitor, that's gonna be my job for the while...!!!
Never tried peas as yet but have seen that recommended a few times... Although, he certainly doesn't look constipated or anything...
Will update again in a few days, see how his pooh progress goes...
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Managed to get a couple of snaps of the Platy with poop... it looks kinda orange, just like in the photos... I did put a piece of red pepper in the tank last night, so dunno if that could be responsible for the orange poop or not...?
But anyways, what do you guys think, does it look like he has a problem and that something needs to be done...?
(https://imagez.to/i/s4r6oMDz.jpg)
(https://imagez.to/i/bpohpA27.jpg)
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Warning: graphic content - don't read while eating.
I find that the fish poo colour relates to the type of food they've had eg red when they've eaten red pellets, brown when they've eaten dark pellets. When I kept goldfish, this was much more noticeable due to their larger size eg green following peas, clear/transparent (almost like sausage casing with no content in parts - probably air) when they'd had a lot of veg and fruit, sandy and thick after foraging in the sand substrate (which I converted to for a short while after too many incidents of choking on gravel), white after having dosed with aquarium salt or medication, etc. Therefore, in the case of your platy, I would say this is related to the rich colour of the red pepper.
I wouldn't be concerned about this unless the platy starts behaving out-of-character eg dorsal fin down, not interested in his environment, not active at his usual levels, moping at the bottom of the tank or hanging around near the surface, loses his appetite, etc.
This thread (excuse the pun, given what tends to hang from a fish's vent) might be helpful: https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-health/fish-poo-what's-normal-and-what's-not/
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I have certainly had my platies looking like that, and they've been fine. As I've said, they are complete pigs and will eat as much as they can, often leading to this sort of thing. I agree with @fcmf about the colour likely to be from the red pepper, and that out of character behaviour would be more of a concern. I also think that an increase in veggies/increase in fibre will lead to a decrease in the length of the pooh string.
Obviously still keep a close eye on your fella, keep checking on all the things that have already been mentioned, but I wouldn't be overly concerned at the moment. :)
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Thanks you guys... :)