My guppy has thin, white poop. Is this parasites?

[HarpyFishLover]

I've got waaaay too many sick fish right now. I'm busy, busy, busy, and I've gotten behind on my water changes. Today I noticed my guppy Max had a long, white poop trail that looked like thread. I've heard others say that this is parasites, but I'm not entirely sure if it is, and is don't want to medicate the whole tank for something that's is my imagination. He's a bit bloated, but I figured it was normal, until today. He always looked a bit bloated because of a genetic disorder, but more so today.

He's lived in my tank for almost 1.5 years now. He's the only fish still living from the first month of the tank, so he's pretty special, and I don't want to lose him. I have a feeling, though, that he might not make it if he's got parasites.

Please respond quickly. I appreciate any and all treatment advice.

Since I know you're going to need it, here are the parameters... also, I haven't been able to vacuum in a month, so I will do that ASAP tomorrow. Parameters: Ammonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrite 0, pH 7.5, which is normal. The water's a bit gunky, as is only natural for this amount of neglection. I am so sorry about the vacuuming problem. I know that will be your very first suggestion and/or complaint/comment, so please know that I will do that tomorrow.

Max has no other visible changes, although he has been a bit tired lately. He's eating just fine. He seems obsessed with trying to eat his poop, but I'm thinking he just might not be the brightest fish in the pond (tank).

 

[Baker]

Translucent, stringy poop is never a characteristic of any healthy fish, I would say there must be something wrong but I can't be certain, in most cases this is a symptom of tape worms and erythromycin or cure all will target parasites and flukes, etc but another possibility (though I doubt it) is that it is a symptom of old age, if I'm not mistaken guppies lifespan is around 2 years and age may be playing a role in whatever is wrong but is probably not the sole cause.

If you don't want to go through a treatment regime then the best thing you can do is just keep your tank water in fan-friggin-tastic condition and slow down on the feeding. Usually the fish will live longer than the parasite when food dwindles

 

[HarpyFishLover]

I wouldn't mind treatment, I just need to be certain this is what it is before I go sticking meds in my pets' house.
I'll slow down on the feeding... Once per day, do you think?
Erythromycin... or Cure All. Never heard of either. Should I just go to Petsmart and grab a parasite treatment?
One last thing. Do parasites spread to other members of the tank? If so, I'm going to have an epidemic on my hands, and at just the wrong time, too. Please tell me me they don't......

 

[Baker]

Most if not all parasites are contagious, yes. I'm pretty confident personally that when I see stringy poo like you described that it is some sort of parasite but this is because I'm fairly confident in my database of diseases personally, and in your position what I would do is buy a small pack of API general cure and follow the dosing as labeled. It is a well rounded, safeish medicine and it will save you from going back and forth picking up a bunch of different meds that uninformed big box store employees will likely recommend to you.
General cure is targeted for treating parasites and it's pretty straight forward and gives you wiggle room to make mistakes. Prazinand metro are BB safe so you won't have to worry about killing your biological filter as well so that's a plus. Erythromycin is also BB safe and that would be my next step but I'm pretty confident that general cure by API will do the trick for you.
As for feeding, once a day is fine and you could even skip days periodically without having to worry about your fish starving

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Parasites make no sense, though. I haven't gotten anything new for a month and and a half, and then it was just that I took my filter in for cleaning, and put in an airstone. I had a cold last week... could the poop actually be mucus? But that doesn't explain the bloat...
I just don't get it. There has been no opportunity in the past month for parasites to get in the tank, and they don't just appear... right?
You're probably right, it's probably just old age. I'll still cut down on feeding, just in case. I'm just so confused, and I've gotten quite attached to Max... my first fish...
And I'll get medicine tomorrow. I hope this works.

Thank you for your help!

EDIT-- I posted this before I saw the second response. I think I'll try general cure. Am I going to have to remove my carbon pad for it? If so, I'll just grab a pack of carbon when I get the meds.

 

[Baker]

some ailments can take up to 6 weeks to show themselves and even then fish can sometimes harbor things that go undetected even to a trained eye. Furthermore, a lot of diseases lie dormant in the water column/substrate waiting for a host to present itself. Bad water conditions exasperate these things as well.
I'm not saying you should treat, just giving what my procedure would be if i did as well as a little base line knowledge for treatments in general.
It's reasons like these that the best fish keepers recommend quarantining animals before introducing them to a permanent home. When this isn't possible, the next best step is isolation treatment and temporary preventative dosing when new fish are introduced.

 

[HarpyFishLover]

I can't convince my mom to go to Petsmart, but I have started feeding once a day. I'm going to fast them today...

His poop is less white now than stringy. Is it possible he's constipated? It's pinkish, .5" poop trails, they're pretty thin, but not entirely abnormally thin.

I appreciate your help thus far, and I will try to get the parasite medicine ASAP, although it's going to be hard to get my mom to go to Petsmart, because we've got so much going on this week with concerts and lessons that I keep forgetting. But I'll try.

 

[Baker]

If you believe it to be constipated then you can feed it a little green peas, blanched, hulled and crushed into small bits. People do this for many fish and it works like a charm. The pea is good roughage and will not only clear out its digestive tract but also many fish just love the taste of peas. Just don't over feed half a pea is plenty for a small guppy

 

[HarpyFishLover]

I got the medicine. I'm a bit weary of putting my hands in there, if it's a tapeworm... I got a few pics of him while he was pooping. He was far more bloated than this earlier this week.

The pink is poop, though it's a bit redder than usual. The trail is thin and white.

I REALLY don't want a tapeworm...

Do you think this is actually parasites?

 

[HarpyFishLover]

He has new blood-red tips on his tail. If I didn't know better, I'd say his tail was bleeding, but that's not possible. The end is a bit clear, too. At this point, I'm thinking he's probably getting old. But, I am still going to start his medicine tomorrow. I put it off today because he wasn't looking that bad.

Please, I'd like some responses telling me what the red on his tail is, and whether or not to start the medicine.
The red isn't normal and just appeared earlier today. I can't get a picture because my camera can't get fish very well.

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Alright, so I started the treatment. It looks like that natural spider-killing sandy stuff my mom has... come to think of it, it might actually be the same thing, because that stuff is used for tapeworms in humans too.
Now I have white dust all over my tank. It looks dirty. Yay.

 

[Baker]

Yeah actually a lot of the medicines that we use for humans transfers to a lot of pets, including fish.