white stringy poop, what to use, and where to get it

[TOURKID]

Hi all

I picked up a wild caught baby maroon yesterday and put him quatrentine.

Hes eating like a champ, cyclopeze, flakes and chopped mysis so far.

Ive been looking for poop and I finally see some... unfortunatly, its white.. I wouldent say stringy just yet, its still hanging from him though.

Just need to know where to get and what product to get.

for some reson I thought maracyn would do this, but the directions dont say anything about it.

TIA
Maggie

New guy in the house

[TOURKID]

is this right? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113017

he finished pooping.. pretty stringy id say...

[leebca]

The peculiar excrement is usually a sign of an intestinal/internal problem.

There are three (3) basic possibilities when it comes to an intestinal problem. This reference outlines the three nicely:
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...nfections.html

Sometimes an internally infected fish (bacteria or worms or parasites) will stop eating or slow its intake. But usually there are other signs, like loss of weight, ravenous eating but no weight gain, and/or strange excrement. Consider the possibilities by reading that article.

Whatever the internal problem, the fish needs the best water quality and the best diet AND supplements added to its diet.

For diet and supplement help, check this out:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=785228

Don't forget that your anemonefish needs to have greens in its diet. You can't just feed it meat. Check out the above reference.

The drug Praziquantel (a.k.a. droncit) will treat intestinal worms, Maracyn Two for Saltwater fish will treat an internal bacterial infection and Metronidazole will treat dinoflagellate infections.

I think you can see from this reply so far that Metronidazole is one treatment for one of the three possibles. I usually start with Praziquantel which is best administered orally. So, the eating fish should do well with this. If no luck with that, then I switch to Metronidazole. I have no issue with reversing the treatment. It is just that so many fish have worms, which the Praziquantel deals with nicely, that it is the greatest possibility when it comes to a problem. The bacterial infection, is the least likely.

If you can get the one or other med faster than the other, use it, while the other is on its way. National Fish Pharmaceuticals is a reliable and usually fast shipping source for meds. They are at: http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/

Good luck!

[TOURKID]

hi lee, i was hoping you would chime in my other maroon is doing very well.

this lil guy.. I went to feed him tonight, first with marine cusine, he noticed it and then smelled it, but dident eat. i sucked it all out and tried the flakes that he loved earlier. no luck there either.

he might be to small and I might have over fed earlier, but I was under the assumtion they are pigs and will always eat.

i got him at 11am yesterday, and his first poop was today around 1:00. since then no eatting. only tried once. I have selcon, he got a dose of that yesterday with the mysis.

i ordred the Metronidazole, and im going to look into ordering the Praziquantel and read the articles after this post. It seemed like he had a hard time pooping.

swimming more than yesterday. he seems skinny, but hard to tell. so small.

thanks for the imput. im guessing it'll take at least 4 days for me to get the meds. hopfully he stays ok till then.

[TOURKID]

arg. 25 dollar minimum, praztastic only 14.00 i hate that. lol

If i wait on ordering the praziquantel until i see that the metronidazole is working or not... and it is the praz. that he needs would i be putting him in danger? Im just being tight about money, so I wont be if i should get the praz. in the house asap.

seems like an odd drug to need for fish, yet i hear so much about stringy poop and what not... glad to see i could get the met. easily enough...

[leebca]

Basically it's okay to go one at a time. Go ahead and get, and then use the Metronidazole, and see if it works.

Generally, worms aren't life threatening unless the fish is run down, stressed, and/or not eating.

I would just be very sure the fish is getting the right foods, vitamin and fat supplements, including beta glucan.

[TOURKID]

i found one of your threads about the 21 day regimine and the threads off that about stringy poop. Im going to concentrate on his diet while waiting for the meds. He has only been 'caught' for a very short time though, so i dont really think its foods, rather stress, or parasites/bacterial/worms that would sem more logical since he was feeding himself in the wild probley less than a week ago... I got him the day after he came in at the lsf...

will update if anything changes before the meds get here

thanks agian

[TOURKID]

hiya!

I wanted to update.. and ask another question

I havent seen any white poop since I posted this. and am using the garlic extreame stuff, had it already anyway. I got the Metronidazole today, but wanted to ask you..

If i dont really think theres a problem, should I just hold onto it and not use it unless I notice somthing later, or use it as a precaution.

And...

Ive been reading an awful lot about brook, and I know you advocate doing a formilin bath just for precautions..

Im wondering what you think about doing a precationary bath on this fish considering his size, Ive heard its stressul for the fish. Although he seems quite active and healthy right now

1 more thing. You are a great asset to RC and I wanted to thank you for helping so many people

Maggie

[leebca]

That's a very kind and thoughtful thing to say Maggie. I appreciate it.

It is possible that the single excrement was not representative of a true condition. I've not seen this before, but I can imagine it is possible.

If you're feeding the right foods and the fish is improving in color and weight, then I wouldn't use any medication EXCEPT the Praziquantel. It's just too easy to administer this and it's like insurance.

Size should not be a consideration with regards to treatment. So, don't let that guide you. These fishes are really not as fragile and we sometimes think.

The formalin treatment is stressful. The person (Terry D. Bartelme) who wrote the article below believes that a properly administered formalin bath is less stressful than a freshwater dip. I'm not in agreement with this, but there are such opinions about the stress concern and, in the worse case scenario where formalin is more stressful than FW, it isn't that much more IF the formalin bath is administered properly.

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/...nd_or_foe.html

Having said all this, if the fish looks good, gather the equipment and meds necessary to do the formalin bath and do a series of baths.

[TOURKID]

So I drove around columbus yesterday looking for Praziquantel. I ended up finding some, but I wanted to ask you a few questions.

The form I found it in is a product from gel tek
called ultra cure PX 'treats internal parasites'

ingredients..
Praziquantel 0.0057%
flubenol 0.03%
metronidazole 0.30%

is that enough prazquantel?

the directions say.. Dont feed the fish for 24 hours
Add 5 drops of gel to tank twice a day
for 3 days.

They dont want me to feed the fish any food. Now I thought this was maybe because the fish wouldent eat it if it was getting regular food. Yesterday I put some on some flake and fed him

BUT... then I was in the shower today, and i was thinking... Maybe Im not supposed to give it any food so the parasites will eat this gel instead and kill em.

So I tried to give him just drops today, he 'ate' one, then caught on and that was that. He gets pretty hungry between feeding times so I can get it to eat them eventually. But whats your thought on just soaking the food in this gel?

[leebca]

Assuming you copied the directions correctly, it sounds like this medication is meant to be added to the tank water.

If that's the case, I would not use it on the food. If however it gave directions to add it to the food, then that should be okay.

You don't want to re-write the manufacturer's instructions.

I've always used straight Praziquantel. Where I buy it from:
National Fish Pharmaceuticals http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/
I think has a minimum order requirement, but you can find other meds there, too. You might sure the Web on that word to see who else might carry it AND if it is a part of some other product that recommends feeding it to the fish.

I only know for sure that Praziquantel powder, mixed with wet food, fed directly to the fish in the quantity that matches the fish's weight (not necessary to miss any meals) works with one single dose, repeated 6 weeks later.