Why Does My Platy Poop Sooooo Much?

[trojannemo]

hey guys.

this will be a rather odd post, but i'm here to talk about my Red Wag Platy's poop. click on link in my sig for a picture of her (not the poop!).

i feed my fish in the morning, and at night. due to finances i haven't been able to get anything other Tetra Tropical granules, which i've mixed with crushed algae wafers.
She and all my other fish eat equally when i feed. However, she spends the entire day pooping. and I dont mean little strings, i'm talking about poops that trail behind her 2-3x her body length...just today i made a point to keep track of it while i wrote a paper for school. in the process of 2-3 hours she had 4 4"+ poops back to back, without a break!
i noticed most of it was green, so i can only assume she's snacking on algae off my plants throughout the day?

is this normal pooping behavior for platies? she's my oldest fish, got her the first time i got any fish in my life!!!! exactly 11 months and 7 days today, and i dont recall her pooping as much earlier in the year.

/ disgusting poop conversation over...sorry!

thanks for any help!

 

[LauraFrog]

Well quite a few of mine do exactly the same thing... personally I would prefer that to seeing the long, stringy mucus strands that are the telltale sign of livebearers with parasites or fish TB, and usually result in weeks of work and eventual heartbreak. Believe me, you should be HAPPY it's green. (Since you've gone to the trouble to notice it, and all.)

LOL!

 

[vinylman]

That's what they do. That's partly the reason I gave up keeping them along with Swordtails a few years ago. If you think Platies dump a lot, you should see what several fully grown Swordtails can do.

 

[trojannemo]

That's what they do. That's partly the reason I gave up keeping them along with Swordtails a few years ago. If you think Platies dump a lot, you should see what several fully grown Swordtails can do.

so far she's been my second most-pooping fish, after a Clown Pleco that I had for about 2 weeks before I realized he was pooping way more WOOD than he was eating algae

well i guess i have no reason to worry. she's the healthiest i can imagine a platy to be. plump, active, with great colors and a bitching attitude