White Stringy Poop

ecas12

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One of my two clowns (the smaller one) has had white, stringy poop for the past few days, and I just wanted to ask if this is an indicator of something that I should be paying more attention to. Both of them are captive bred, and I did an observational quarantine for three weeks before adding them to my display (they are the only fish in there at the moment), and they both ate, and continue to eat normally, with no weird behavior. Both have been in my display for two weeks now. They get a variety of frozen mysis, pellets, and flake food (and I will soon be adding nori to their diet as well), and there are no signs of abnormal breathing and the small one just swims normally (i.e. no periods of exhaustion). Should I be waiting for changes in behavior before I assume anything bad is going on? My display tank parameters are all normal as well, with 0.04 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, and hovering around 15 ppm nitrate, with RODI water I use for mixing saltwater. I also see some darker spots on the inside of the small one's body, not sure if that is also a sign of anything.
 

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White stringy poop is generally a sign of parasites. I’m afraid the dark spots just confirms that theory.
 

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One of my two clowns (the smaller one) has had white, stringy poop for the past few days, and I just wanted to ask if this is an indicator of something that I should be paying more attention to. Both of them are captive bred, and I did an observational quarantine for three weeks before adding them to my display (they are the only fish in there at the moment), and they both ate, and continue to eat normally, with no weird behavior. Both have been in my display for two weeks now. They get a variety of frozen mysis, pellets, and flake food (and I will soon be adding nori to their diet as well), and there are no signs of abnormal breathing and the small one just swims normally (i.e. no periods of exhaustion). Should I be waiting for changes in behavior before I assume anything bad is going on? My display tank parameters are all normal as well, with 0.04 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, and hovering around 15 ppm nitrate, with RODI water I use for mixing saltwater. I also see some darker spots on the inside of the small one's body, not sure if that is also a sign of anything.
Please post pics under white lighting but also realize Feeding them both mysis and brine shrimp will mimic internal issues. Some signs of internal issues is refusal to eat, lethargic behavior, belly having a pinched effect and heavy breathing. Im suspecting its what is being fed
 
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ecas12

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Please post pics under white lighting but also realize Feeding them both mysis and brine shrimp will mimic internal issues. Some signs of internal issues is refusal to eat, lethargic behavior, belly having a pinched effect and heavy breathing. Im suspecting its what is being fed
Here were the best pictures I can get. It is easier to see the dark spot on the inside in the second picture. He has a similar spot on the inside of one of his pectoral fins. Like I already mentioned, he eats, will chase after whatever food I put in the tank (both mysis and flake food), and has not started acting lethargic, and is breathing normally. That dark discoloration he has had for awhile so I sort of dismissed it as there was no strange behavior, but I do want to be better safe than sorry.
 

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vetteguy53081

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Here were the best pictures I can get. It is easier to see the dark spot on the inside in the second picture. He has a similar spot on the inside of one of his pectoral fins. Like I already mentioned, he eats, will chase after whatever food I put in the tank (both mysis and flake food), and has not started acting lethargic, and is breathing normally. That dark discoloration he has had for awhile so I sort of dismissed it as there was no strange behavior, but I do want to be better safe than sorry.
Dark spot looks like remnants of either hyper-melanization or injury
 
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ecas12

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Dark spot looks like remnants of either hyper-melanization or injury
The injury narrative makes the most sense to me as during QT, where both of the clowns were in the same 20gal tank, the larger one became so aggressive toward the smaller one that I noticed a torn tail and pectoral fin. The side where the dark spot is under the pectoral fin was where the smaller one took the most damage. I transferred the smaller one to a specimen container to help him heal, and now there hasn't been that level of aggression in my display tank (and his tail and fin have been healing properly from what I have seen). Should I just keep an eye out for any abnormal behavior in the next few days? Seems like other symptoms of larger issues have yet to crop up, and I am not sure if doing something super preemptive is worth it.
 

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The injury narrative makes the most sense to me as during QT, where both of the clowns were in the same 20gal tank, the larger one became so aggressive toward the smaller one that I noticed a torn tail and pectoral fin. The side where the dark spot is under the pectoral fin was where the smaller one took the most damage. I transferred the smaller one to a specimen container to help him heal, and now there hasn't been that level of aggression in my display tank (and his tail and fin have been healing properly from what I have seen). Should I just keep an eye out for any abnormal behavior in the next few days? Seems like other symptoms of larger issues have yet to crop up, and I am not sure if doing something super preemptive is worth it.
Yes, keep an eye on it. You may see that blemish for a while but should not get worse
 

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