Concerned About Stringy Poo

[KCB]

I'm growing concerned about my male Endler guppy. He has had stringy white and green poo hanging from his anus for a second day now and it isn't dropping off. His behavior is otherwise normal except one of the other males is now chasing him because of this poo. I'm concerned about parasites but can't think of how they could possibly have gotten in (no new fish for months, these guys were all quarantined, nothing has been added to the tank since they've been there). So it must be just poo right?
 
What can I do help him? I'm thinking of feeding some peas but I have had no luck getting them to eat these in the past so they are fed solely on Aquarian flake food. Should I try again or maybe get some veggie flake food?
 
Thank you.
 
P.S. What are the risks involved with manually removing the poo if it doesn't drop off within a reasonable amount of time?

 

[KCB]

Bump.

 

[KCB]

I'm going to try peas again this evening and see how it goes.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

I'm no expert on fish poo but I thought white poo was a potential sign of infection. Unless you're feeding your fish anything white.
 
Poo should generally be a similar colour to the food you're giving them which, hopefully means the green is due to peas...

 

[mark4785]

The white poo can be a sign that the intestinal wall has been damaged by a protozoan parasite to the extent that the white coloured wall has sloughed off. Parasites which interrupt the function of the intestine (which involves the breaking down of food and the uptake of the food's nutritional content) can result in future problems with the absorption of nutrition from food resulting in a slow death.
 
It is a common myth that parasites are solely introduced by parasite-infested fish that have been added to an aquarium with a pre-existing body of fish that are not immune to those parasites. Parasites and other pathogens can actually lay dormant in fish for years and can succumb to problems when stressed by things like changes in temperature and hardness.
 
To treat this issue, you need to be increasing the vegetable (fibre) content of the fishes diet to flush out the pathogen in the intestinal tract.
In addition, you may want to try treating the tank water with Sterazin which is a general purpose anti-parasitic.
 
Before starting any treatment ensure that ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0 ppm and that nitrate levels are below 30 ppm.
 
It is always a good idea to identify what kind of parasite you are dealing with before treating (although, given that Sterazin is a general purpose remedy for parasite infestations, I don't think this will be necessary) so if you want to try and carefully remove the poo and mail it to me I will gladly put it under the microscope to see if I can identify what kind of parasite you are dealing with.

 

[KCB]

Thank you for the detailed info Mark! The poo (pretty sure that it was this) eventually sloughed off on its own but this was a couple of days ago so I'm sorry but I don't have the sample to give you 

.
 
The fish appears fine at the moment, better than before actually. The Endlers happily ate some peas I fed them the other day, the BPT's had no interest at all though, would a dry veggie flake help with their digestion or does it need to be moist and fresh veggies?
 
I didn't realise parasites could remain dormant for that long, I'll keep an eye on things and see if any symptoms develop as I don't want to medicate if it's unnecessary, but I'm pretty sure it was poo as the white stringy bit wasn't uniform like a parasite would be.

 

[MrsM]

hi pls help! ....fish flashing, red gills, lethargy, clear/white poop occasionally,enlarged anus(white bulge), hanging under the waters surface,(until i added an air brick) showing some aggression when they're hiding away too if others come close im worried its internal parasites, they have enlarged anus's too....ive fed them garlic soaked brine shrimp a few times and deshelled peas, it seems to flush them out slightly but then the clear hairlike poo comes back, ive done a whole courese of sterazin....no improvement so im now on day 2 of 10 of course number 2. any other advice?? are these fish going to die eventually...what can i do to help, i have tested params, amm 0 nitrite 0 and nitrates 20(ish) 6 guppy 1 tetra (30+fry)......