Guppies with long poop

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Nukey

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Hi - we have a number of female guppies (most young and mid size) but noticing they having long poos regularly. We are careful to not over feed. They have live plants in tank and are feed on flake food. They are not lethargic at all and very interested in food, go mad for it. So not looking like it’s constipation as some research suggests. Poop is generally dark but occasionally paler. Any suggestions or thoughts on why they are pooing so much in this way?
 
if you feed them lots of food, they do lots of poop.

as long as the poop isn't white, they are fine and you don't need to worry.

make sure they get some plant/ algae in their diet.
 
I agree with above post, and livebearers are also poop machines. Mine poo a lot too.
 
Long poops are fairly normal with livebearers. As long as they're not white, or stringy white, its fine. Just see if feeding less helps reduce it
 
Hi - we have a number of female guppies (most young and mid size) but noticing they having long poos regularly. We are careful to not over feed. They have live plants in tank and are feed on flake food. They are not lethargic at all and very interested in food, go mad for it. So not looking like it’s constipation as some research suggests. Poop is generally dark but occasionally paler. Any suggestions or thoughts on why they are pooing so much in this way?
I think that is normal as my guppies and plates also do the same thing but when I started feeding a little less it wasn’t as bad maybe try that it is harmless for the fish You won’t have to worry about it as long as it isn’t white
 
Thank you all. Will do, we have been careful to feed a bit less but will monitor the situation. Occasionally it has looked pale with one of them, but she’s still very active and hungry. If it is lighter and long (stringy) what could that be? Just good to have a heads up incase. Thank you.
 
Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons.
1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.

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2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.

There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.

It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.

Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.

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3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish.

Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
 
Wow! That’s a lot of incredible information, thank you so much - I will refer to this always. My best guess is worms and will get hold of Flubendazole. Thank you so much.
 
Oh and also Welcome to the forum :hi: If you have more question with fish just tag @Colin_T or @Byron they are quite informative here.
 
no point tagging me, I don't look at the tags. I let them hit 100 then click on them to remove them and start again from 0.
 

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