Possibly constipated Honey Groumi

[GroumiFan05]

Hi everyone,
ive had my male honey groumi Pikachu for almost 8-9 months, and recently ive noticed stringy white poop hanging from him and starting to have trouble swimming.
yesterday he was going to the toilet fine as far as i noticed then in the afternoon he was 'clogged up'. he hadent been fed lots during the day only a few freexe dried blood worms.
Today he has started having trouble swimming and is generaly looking uncomfterable as he makes his way around. I tried n epsomsalt bath for him but he freaked out and was only in teh bath for about 7-8 min (ive noticed no improvements). Hes' also been fasting for the last 12ish hours.
Any help would be apprciated as he is my favorite fish
Thanks, GroumiFan05

 

[GroumiFan05]

Quick tank specs,

40l planted tank, medium flow filter,
one honey groumi,
8 fully grown guppies (many babies)
7 neon tetras
4 rummy nosed tetras
and one BN pleco
Tank is fully cycled, with a 25-30% water change every week

 

[Naughts]

After fasting for 24 hours, feed him a pea. The pea should be blanched in hot water for a minute or two, then popped out of its shell and broken up into bite size pieces. This is fibre to ease digestion.

Blood worms have a few problems. They are too fatty for a regular food and should only be fed as an occasional treat. They have a solid head that, on larger varieties, can get stuck in a fish's throat or digestive tract. And the freeze dried kind can swell up in the fish to cause constipation so these should be presoaked before feeding.

 

[GroumiFan05]

Thanks for the advice, ive tried the peas on him recently after posting the last comment, diden't touch them though, he's a picky eater any other ways i could help him though, would be apprciated

(ill also give less freeze dried food, i gave it to them maby 2-3 times a week with a day or so inbetween, ill turn it back to once a week as pikachu loves them)

 

[Naughts]

You might have to fast for longer to encourage him to eat the pea.

 

[GroumiFan05]

Will do, has been fasting for 15ish hours now, how long would you recomend fasting him for?

 

[Naughts]

24 hours, if that doesn't work 48.
Other adult fish are fine with this but the baby guppies will be hungry. Do you have another tank for them? You are overstocked and inappropriately stocked so another tank or rehoming will be a good idea.

 

[GroumiFan05]

Im planning to rehome most if not all of the baby guppies?
are you refering to all the fish or just the guppies, the tetras have never caused any trouble with fin nipping etc

 

[Colin_T]

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

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...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Naughts]

Im planning to rehome most if not all of the baby guppies?
are you refering to all the fish or just the guppies, the tetras have never caused any trouble with fin nipping etc

Not fin nipping, space and shoal sizes. I read 40l as 40 litres (10 gallons), but as you aren't in the UK perhaps you meant 40 gallon long?

 

[GroumiFan05]

Nah, australia so 40L which is about 10 US gallons
its not as cramped as it was, a friend gave me heaps of neons, i rehomed lots though, when im done with the guppies there should only be 4-5 left over

as far as pikachu is concerned, i havent had a chance to try the peas yet but i have noticed an improvement with him becoming more active again, this is a good thing right?

 

[Naughts]

Yes, he must feel better if he's more active

 

[GroumiFan05]

yeah, his poop looks normal again, i think he's better,
would you recommend making peas part of their diet (once every 1-2 weeks?)

 

[Naughts]

yeah, his poop looks normal again, i think he's better,
would you recommend making peas part of their diet (once every 1-2 weeks?)

If you can feed it without causing pollution. I have a tank with honey gourami and rummy nose tetra, the tetra are much faster and greedier, I would have to put a lot of peas in for the gourami to get any. Mine get spirulina flakes for vegetable matter and I avoid freeze dried foods.

 

[GroumiFan05]

Gave him some peas last night, all better
Ill look into those spirulina flakes, i think my LFS stocks them
here's a photo of the little dude (he says thanks )