Need help. Internal Parasite?

[JayLin]

This is gonna be my very first thread ... and it is at the fish disease section. Sometimes I see one of clownfish has white stringy poop. Sometime it has more than one string and it has greenish color too, is it because it ate algae in the tank? He is very active, and eat like a pig. I have him for more than 1 year. I have 3 fish in my 29 g tank: a pair of clownfish and green chromis. All of my fish eat well and active. If it is internal parasite, is it contagious to other fish? Do I need to treat all of my 3 fish? What medication should I use? I do have PraziPro and General Cure in my hand, but not sure which one to threat with. I don't even know if it is internal parasite at all. I didn't treat them with PraziPro when I first got all 3 of those fish, which was more than one a year ago. Please help.

 

[KJ]

Internal/intestinal parasites:

Symptoms - Internal parasites are also “worms,” but these target a fish’s intestines. As a result, the main symptom is white stringy poop. It has to be white; brown stringy poop, for example, can just mean intestinal irritation which requires no treatment.

Treatment options - API General Cure (a medication containing both praziquantel and metronidazole). Some species of internal worms are resistant to prazi, while others are resistant to metro, but usually not both. :wink: Seachem MetroPlex can be dosed directly in QT, or soaking fish food with it provides an alternative (and reef safe) treatment option. Two other available options are: Paracide-X (mixed in food) and Paracide-D (in-tank treatment).

 

[melypr1985]

^^^ +1

The white stringy poo is indicative of intestinal worms/parasites. It is contagious if the other fish eat the poop. You can use the general cure you have will work well for you. You can actually feed it to them in their food with the addition of Focus to bind it to the food. Running carbon is a good idea just in case some of the meds leach out of the food.

 

[JayLin]

I am treating them with general cure in QT at the moment. Do I need to fallow a DT for certain amount of time for internal parasite? Can I just put them back to display tank after the treatment. Thanks for the advices, I really appreciate it.

 

[Humblefish]

I am treating them with general cure in QT at the moment. Do I need to fallow a DT for certain amount of time for internal parasite? Can I just put them back to display tank after the treatment. Thanks for the advices, I really appreciate it.

Odds are some of your fish ate the white stringy poo (fish are gross); so I would soak either GC or straight metronidazole (ex. Seachem Metroplex) in their food to eradicate any remaining internal parasites. Use a binder, such as Seachem Focus, to "lock in" the medication to the food, and to prevent it from leaching out & harming your corals.

 

[melypr1985]

I am treating them with general cure in QT at the moment. Do I need to fallow a DT for certain amount of time for internal parasite? Can I just put them back to display tank after the treatment. Thanks for the advices, I really appreciate it.

The DT doesn't need to go fallow for this. But like humble said, the others probably did eat the poop. I never noticed my fish eating each others poop until humble mentioned it. Now I notice every time my purple tang poops all the fish go crazy to eat it! YUCK! Feeding them the General Cure too is a good idea.

 

[Humblefish]

I never noticed my fish eating each others poop until humble mentioned it. Now I notice every time my purple tang poops all the fish go crazy to eat it! YUCK!

Fish are into recycling.

 

[JayLin]

Odds are some of your fish ate the white stringy poo (fish are gross); so I would soak either GC or straight metronidazole (ex. Seachem Metroplex) in their food to eradicate any remaining internal parasites. Use a binder, such as Seachem Focus, to "lock in" the medication to the food, and to prevent it from leaching out & harming your corals.

I didn't know you could feed GC, I already put GC in the water in QT. Can I still soak the GC with food , or would that be too much medication?

 

[Humblefish]

I didn't know you could feed GC, I already put GC in the water in QT. Can I still soak the GC with food , or would that be too much medication?

Yes, but I would only do one (food soak) or the other (dose in water).

 

[JayLin]

Thank you everyone for the help!

 

[Triggreef]

One thing to think about with the food soak, especially with multiple fish, is how much is each fish actually eating? Grabbing a piece and spitting it out doesn't really count. Could be tough to keep track of how much each fish gets.

If you dose the water you know exactly how much everyone gets.

 

[JayLin]

GC says "two doses required for full course of

One thing to think about with the food soak, especially with multiple fish, is how much is each fish actually eating? Grabbing a piece and spitting it out doesn't really count. Could be tough to keep track of how much each fish gets.

If you dose the water you know exactly how much everyone gets.

Good point. My female clownfish doesn't eat a lot compare to my male. Not even sure which one is female any more, lol. The clownfish that I used to think that is male, its length is growing longer. The clownfish that I thought that was female, her growth rate seem very slow, but her body is wider than the other clownfish. Maybe the female one is stubby type.

 

[melypr1985]

Not even sure which one is female any more, lol.

The female will always be larger than the male. If it's short and stubby, then it's probably the male. If they are still juveniles then you have some time before it becomes truly noticeable. You'll also see the male doing the "shimmy" in front of the female more often in the beginning. After a while they stop doing it as much.