The effects of treating

[OohFeeshy]

As above basicly. Is there any effect to puttin some meds in, maybe at a lower dose, just incase the disease is present? I've noticed an awful lot of livebearers I've seen for sale have white stringy poo, so I want to treat the molly and guppies I'm getting just in case. But will it harm them?

 

[dwarfgourami]

I really do not know the answer to this one, but I would have thought that it is similar to humans; giving too much medication is going to interfere with the immune system. and eventually bacteria and other nasties will become immune. (Though then again with parasites, I don't know, you do deworm dogs on the off chance. But not human children- and they can certainly be very prone to it).
I would be inclined to leave it until I knew my fish had parasites though; quarantining would seem a better option if you have the opportunity. White stringy poo is not always a sign of parasites anyway; it can be caused by constipation.

 

[OohFeeshy]

When the entire tank has white stringy poo its probably parasites They should be OK, its mainly the platies that have them.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yep stringy poo is a big indicator of internal bacteria, if you want to lower harmful desease levels in the tank use "Liquisel" by interpet- its good just for the one off use, but too much of it in the long term will start to lower your fish's imune systems as a bit of potentialy harmful deseases in the tank is good as they are always present naturally.
On the other hand i suggest you don't buy these partciular fish as if its a full scale outbreak its probably a very harmful strain of the desease- treating internal bacteria can be a pain the bum too.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sorry, I must have misunderstood the original post.

I understood OOhFeeshy to say that as a lot of (other) livebearers she had seen for sale had signs of internal bacteria, i.e. livebearers in general rather than the ones she bought, or even the ones in the tank she bought from. and that she therefore wondered if she should dose any livebearers she bought (regardless of whether they or their tank mates actually showed any symptoms), just to be on the safe side. Must have got the wrong end of the stick. Dosing unaffected fish, just because this is a problem livebearers are prone to, would seem a dodgy practice to me, if the entire tank they came from was affected, then that's a different matter.

 

[WILDER]

White stringy poo can mean internal parasites, constipation, or a bacteria infection, i would just try them on shelled peas first, though livebearers are very prone to internal parasites, i don't think i have ever bought a livebearer that didn't do long stringy white poo.

 

[OohFeeshy]

OK... to explain....

I want to try a guppy/molly hybridisation. In most shops, there are a few fish in the livebearer tanks with white stringy poo. The amount of affected fish varies, eg. at pets at home nearly all have them. Now, I won't be buying from Pets At Home, but I was wondering whether to treat the ones I get just in case they have caught them from the affected fish and what effect it would have. I also wouldn't mind some white platies. Pets at Home has been getting in some almost entirely white ones. Ususally I wouldn't, but if I run low on stocking ideas for my 'albino' tank, I might get some. Obviously I'll try to get ones without white stringy poo, but again, should I treat them just in case?

 

[boxman]

I have heard people who add meds after adding new fish in - saying that it sounds a bit of a palava taking out the carbon from my 204 every time I get a new fish!

I agree, adding meds will surely make the fish more likely to be immune to hopefully unlikely future treatments.

Just my 2p's worth!!