Fish Poo

[Keeks]

One of my Tropical fish seems to be constatly pooing.

Is this a sign of something wrong?

Does it need a change in diet?

 

[Truck]

as long as its passing and its not stringy or abnormal it should be fine

 

[Keeks]

It is stringy....thats how i notice that it is pooing all the time... probably should have mentioned that

 

[WILDER]

Fish can get the trots.
Cut down on feeding.
What do you normally feed the fish?

Stringy white poo can be constipation, bacterial infection, internal parasites.

 

[Keeks]

Vita fish flakes

I haven't fed any worms or any thing else....just flakes

The tanks also has a high ammonia level at the moment....could this have an effect on the fish

The poo is long and stringy and either green or brown in colour

 

[oscars r ace]

the fish will be stressed because of the ammonia levels present, which could cause this. what are you doing to get rid of the ammonia? daily water changes of 20-30% should help.

 

[WILDER]

When water stats are good introduce a more varied diet of frozen foods and veg.

How many gallons or litres is the tank.
How many fish and which type.

 

[Amunet]

Wait wait... is the fish a platy by any chance? They are pooing machines. Mine can get a looooooong string of poop (not stringy white poop.. just a long piece of poo that doesn't break off).. that's their body length or longer. That's just a platy for you and nothing to worry about. I'm not sure if mollies are the same way.

If you're getting ammonia readings. Your tank is probably not cycled correct? Reduce feeding, and start doing daily water changes.
You're gonna have to do a fish-in cycle if you can't take the fish back or rehome them temporarily to do a fishless cycle.
Fish-in cycling will require you to do daily water changes if you want to try to keep those fish as ok as possible.

 

[Keeks]

Thanks for the help.

I am trying to do daily water changes, but other factors are preventing me so its more like a water change every 2-3days

Also it is a 90l tank

And I'm not sure what type of fish is is, but it is not a Platy. It a completely black fish that my "better half" thought was nice when she was in the pet store. I'll have a look later to see if I can find out what species it is

Daily water changes is the plan, and I must read up more on doing a fish-in cycle

What type of frozne veg is good to use for a change in diet?
Do you put it in frozen or thaw it first?
I presume you crush it up first before feeding the fist?

Is there anything else that can help?

Again thanks for the help.......and I will browse throught he forums for more help rather than being lazy

 

[waterdrop]

In your situation there are two essential things you need. You need to know the real level of ammonia and nitrite(NO2) in your aquarium, and the minimum tool to do that is a good liquid-reagent based test kit (like the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which many of us use) and if either ammonia or nitrite is at 0.25ppm or above then you need to take better action about that with proper water changes with good water change technique. The problem is that when the toxins are above this level then this concern outweighs nearly all others. The remedy, being water changes, is simple, if laborious, but the problem is that it is often not fully understood or is put off.

Small amounts of ammonia are causing permanent gill damage and small amounts of nitrite(NO2) are causing suffocation and permanent nerve damage. The fish can feel this and to them the stress will be dire, even though they just look like fish sitting in water to our eyes.

Having sounded alarmist, let me say I don't mean to sound that way, and I'd like to welcome you to the forum Keeks and I wish you the best of luck with your mollie or whatever the black fish turns out to be! The great members here will keep you going with lots of support.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Keeks]

Hi waterdrop

Thanks for the info and the welcome.

My ammonia level was really high (above 8ppm) but is gradually coming back into control with water changes.

The unfortunate thing is that I am unable to do these daily at the moment even though that is what I need to do. Work has me traveling a lot at the moment so water changes are more like every 2-3 days. Hopefully form this week on I will be able to preform water changes daily until the ammonia level settles.

I've had the tank with fish in it for about six months with no issues. I think the high ammonia level is actually my fault.

It occurred soon after a weekly water change and a gentle clean of the filter. All i did to the filter was a quick rinse in old tank water to clean some of the large build up on it. Maybe i disturbed the biological process in the filter.

Maybe it was this cleaning of the filter and new water caused the problem. It just looks like the biological process stopped altogether.

But anyway hopefully I will get it sorted soon.

Thanks everyone for the help and to all the contributors to the Beginners Resource Center. Really is a brilliant source of information

 

[OldMan47]

Another possible source of a sudden chemistry change for an established tank is stirring up the bottom sediment without removing it. Once the fish wastes on the bottom of the tank are into the tank water they need to be siphoned off. Letting the filter remove them just puts them out of sight but does nothing to slow the breakdown into ammonia. It can give you a terrible ammonia spike that will be short lived if the filter bacteria is still healthy.

 

[Natural]

I was feeding my fish three times a day, now down to once a day is feeding them too much causing white stringy poo. My green chromis is the one pooing like this my damsel is not?