Rainbow Fish Refuses To Eat, Clear Poop

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

A day or two ago my Boesemani rainbow fish started to refuse to eat. I'm really worried I'm going to lose him, any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Tank size: 55g
pH: approx. 7
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
tank temp: 78F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Refuses to eat
Stays away from others, hides behind plants/in corners
Clear, stringy poop
A few TINY white dots on scales, doesn't look like ich - flat instead of the "rounded" looking spots with ich, if that makes sense.
 
All other fish have 0 symptoms and are energetic as ever.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:
About 50% every 6-7 days or so

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
CO2 booster, the occasional dose of ferts - been doing this since I set up the tank, experienced no problems before
Activated carbon in filter

Tank inhabitants:
6 other rainbow fish

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
2 plants: dwarf hairgrass, "compacta" within the last week or so
1 rainbow fish: added nearly a month ago

Exposure to chemicals:
No other chemicals in the past month
 
I was thinking maybe parasites because of the clear poop, but I'm not sure. If it is, what kind of medicine could I give him that doesn't need to be ingested?

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

Would aquarium salts and boosted temp help with this? I read somewhere that salts are helpful with parasites.

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

Also, might it be constipation? There's no bloating, though, from what I can see.

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

Nevermind. He passed away.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Aw, sorry to hear that 

 
Sorry no one came to help you out earlier, but got a feeling this might have happened anyway, no consolation I know.
 
If you happen to have a pic before your rainbow fish passed away, this may help in deterring what may have been the problem and if your other tank mates are at risk.
 
Sorry for you loss

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

Thank you, Ch4rlie. I don't have any pictures(my phone has been messed up and refuses to take pics), but I had a video he was in from last Monday when my phone was still working and he looks a-okay. It seemed to come on really quick, unless I just wasn't noticing something wrong. He wasn't acting weird(0 energy, avoiding others) until Tuesday/Wednesday, then Thursday night he was gone. I tend to watch to make sure they all get something to eat because I have a couple that are a little more aggressive/dominant than the others and can be major piggies, but it seems I didn't catch this until it was too late. One of my other rainbows has the clearish poop, but with bits of normal. He's acting entirely okay and eating normally, though. I was going to run out today and get some peas to see if it's a blockage problem. I feed them bloodworms along with pellets and now, reading more, I've heard that both are linked with internal blockages. I've been pretty torn up about losing the one and I really would hate to lose another.
 
If they do have parasites, I'm not sure where they came from. My last fish was added several weeks ago, and I don't think I've heard of parasites hitchhiking on plants? Both plants I got from Petco, and they weren't in a tank. One came in those plastic cylinders with the gel stuff and the other came in a little bag with more gel stuff.
 
Your tank is really beautiful by the way. Big fan of the dark substrate.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ah, hmm, sounds like could have been anything really.
 
Happens to most of us at one point or another, I lost 2 Threadfin Rainbowfish without any real reason why or how it occurred, shame really, but it does happen
 
Anyway, hope things go smooth sailing for you and your tank.
 
Look forward to hearing more about your tank/s and Rainbowfish, am a fan of Rainbows myself
 
And thanks about my tank, just a little 10 gal with simple set up and low tech plants, but thanks nonetheless

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

That's so sad. I'm sorry. I'm hoping it's just a blockage and will be fixed with the peas. I hate dealing with finding/using medicines. x.x
 
Thanks, yours too!
 
I was originally going to go with opaline gourami, and as I was looking for suitable tankmates I came across rainbow fish. Now my tank is exclusively rainbows. lol What kind of veggies/fruits did yours like? I've tried giving mine bits of apple, but they just spit it back out. I'm probably going to look for some duckweed and maybe cultivate it in another container. I've heard rainbows love it.
 
You're welcome! And yeah, mine's pretty basic as well. JUST now ordered a new lamp to hopefully get some more wattage going.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I tried zucchini and cucumber but thread fins did not really take to veggies.
 
Mostly hikari mini pellets, mini bloodworms, daphnia and cyclops, they like algae wafers as well which was meant for the shrimps
 
In fact they were pigs really
 
Duckweed is cool but hard to get rid of if you no longer want duckweed, you have to get rid of every single tiny bit of that plant, otherwise any small bits left behind in water will grow again and spread.
 
Might I suggest Silvinia natans, water lettuce or Frogbit, that sort of thing.
Rainbows naturally like to have floating plants as shade and cover.

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

I got some peas and they ate it up, so I'm hoping that clears up my problem. I gave them a bit of cucumber, but they didn't seem interested.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! I was going to grow it in a separate container, then just put in a few bits around feeding time and scoop out anything left over. I'd probably still end up plagued with it though. Not entirely sure what my local pet shops have available, but I'll look around.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Let's hope for the best.

Peas are really good, I should have mentioned that but forgot for some reason!

Also fasting your fish for a day or two per week is no bad thing to do either, helps clear and encourages them to forage etc

 

[SWerbenjagermanjensen#1]

I was watching the one I was concerned about and he had "normal" poop again. (Super green because he sucked down pea bits like no tomorrow.) So I'm hoping that's the end of that whole ordeal. Do you know if peas are safe to give rainbows somewhat regularly, or should they be given only when they need a laxative? They seemed to love peas.
 
Thank you for the suggestion! I imagine the fasting is something they would experience naturally in their native environments. Though they already tend to nibble on some of my plants. Little jerks actually managed to kill one of my very young plants from eating its leaves. No biggie though, plants can be replaced.