Pleco with stringy, clear poo

E

elpmet

AC Members
Sep 7, 2009
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Mankato, MN
I moved home from school last Thursday, and I brought my fish home with me. The fish were moved from a 29g tank in my apartment to a newly set up 20h at my parents house. I brought some old filter media home to help establish the biological filter, as well as a good amount of plants and driftwood from their old tank, and I added a bottle of safestart to the tank as soon as I got home. I've been keeping a close eye on the water conditions, and there have been no problems getting the bacteria colonies established. I did 25% water changes on Saturday and on Monday, and the current ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are 0-0-5. All of the fish have acclimated beautifully, except for one.

I'm very worried about my bristlenose pleco. For the past four days, he has been pooping long, clear stringy strands almost constantly, and he hasn't been touching his food.

I know that these are common symptoms of internal parasites, and I'm worried that the stress of the move may have caused his immune system to crash, allowing a previously unnoticed problem to come forward. I've had him since February, and he has been very happy and healthy. He eats Hikari algae wafers and I give him zucchini once or twice a week. He's never given me any cause to worry until now.

On Monday, I started treating with api general cure anti-parasitic medication, and I added the second dose today. It was the only med that my lfs carries for parasites. The box indicates effective treatment against external parasites, but the components are metronidazole, praziquantel, and sodium chloride, so it should be effective against internal parasites too, right? Since starting treatment, he hasn't shown much sign of improvement. Being nocturnal, it's hard to say how active he has been, but he leaves stringy poo wherever he goes, and I can see accumulations around the tank. Should I be vacuuming the poo out? I don't I've continued to offer him his wafers, which I soak in garlic guard. I haven't seen him eating, but the white clouds and honey gouramis have been picking at them. At the moment, he is hanging out behind the heater. Overall, he looks pretty normal. His stomach may be a little more rounded than normal, but that might just be me. I'll try to get a pic of it if he comes out later.

What should I do if he shows no improvement by the end of the medicating period? Should I repeat the treatment a second time, or is there something else i should be doing to help him? The fact that he's showing these symptoms after a stressful event worries me. Is it possible that I jumped into treatment too early, and his problems are the result of stress from the move? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
It could be internal problems or many other possible reasons.
I dont think it was good idea to medicate, especially for internal pasitic infestations as you presumed, without definitive symptoms of diseases?
I would not medicate further unless you can visualize improvements (started to eat, etc).

Although plecos do tolerate extreme pH better than others, what is pH of water?

Pics possible?

btw, saw 8 beautiful albino BNP (4") at lfs the other day and it went for wopping $80. Wow! I thought it was pretty high for this specimen!
 
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You might try feeding just before bedtime as they are somewhat nocturnal. Some will eat regardless of the amount of light and then there's others like mine that won't eat until well after dark. The other one eats anytime he sees food.
 
Thanks for your input. I suppose it wasn't a good idea to start medicating right away, before establishing a good diagnosis. The "fish guy" at my lfs advised me to start using the general cure. I guess I should know better than to listen to fish store employees who are looking to sell something.

The pH of the tank's water is 7.8~8, KH of 13, GH of 14
From the tap pH 7.8, KH of 13, GH of 15
High levels, but very similar to the water at my apartment. I haven't worried about it, as the fish seemed happy. I tested the water that the pleco came home in from the store, and it too was pretty hard. I guess I've never worried too much about pH, other than avoiding swings.

I didn't mention before, but I have moved the fish before without issue, when I moved into my apartment last summer. I didn't have the pleco at the time, however.

excuzzzeme- He's always been a voracious eater, bulldozing through a pile of snails to get to his veggies. I feed him in the evening, about 7pm, an hour before the lights go off. It's quite unlike him to be shy while the light is on, and he usually comes right out as soon as I drop his wafer in.

I haven't been able to get a good picture of him yet. I turned the light off early to try to draw him out, but so far he hasn't budged from the heater. I'll update as soon as he comes out.
 
Sometimes stress can cause them to have poo like that, and maybe the move this time was stressful to him. However, long stringy white or clear poo can certainly be a sign of internal parasites.

This has been going on longer than it should if it were just stress.

If you don't see any other signs of a bacterial infection, such as: redness at the base of the fins, red streaks in the fins or on the body, fuzz or cottony lesions on the body, then I would lean towards internal parasites.

As Jeff suggested, his immune system may have taken a bit of a hit from the stress of the move. He may have been healthy enough, up to this point, to be dealing with, and somewhat suppressing, some subclinical level of parasitic infestation in the gut.

I would be inclined to try to get some Metronidazole inside him. You could mix up some really tasty food, set with gelatin, and with Metro mixed in. (I would add fresh garlic juice to make it really tasty) There's a recipe and formula for that in another thread at this link.

You could try to watch for a few more days to see if he improves on his own, but it's worrisome that this has been going on for a week now.

Here's the link with the Metro medicated food recipe:

Nevermind, I decided to copy and paste the link and the the recipe here.

***************************************************************

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225437&page=4



Here's an excerpt from a paper by by a professer at the University of Florida, regarding treating with Metronidazole medicated food. I've included her dosing information and a food recipe that can be prepared with Metro and frozen. (This article was pertaining to fish infected with Hexamita specifically, but I thought the information regarding the dosing and preparation of medicated food with Metronidazole could be helpful here.)

Here's the excerpt:

"Metronidazole can be administered orally at a dosage of 50 mg/kg body weight (or 10 mg/gm food) for 5 consecutive days. A recipe for a gelatinized food is shown in Table 1 . The medication can also be mixed with dry food using fish oil as a binding agent. One teaspoon of metronidazole weighs approximately 2.25 gm; therefore 2 tsp. should be added to each pound of food. The drug should be added when the gelatinized mixture has cooled, but has not yet set. The medicated food can then be frozen for storage. During the 5 day treatment regime feed only the medicated food to the fish."


Table 1.


Table 1. Recipe for gelatinized food which can be used to deliver oral medication to ornamental fish.​



Ingredients:​



6 oz​



Can of shrimp​



2 oz​



Frozen spinach​



1 oz​



Grated carrots​



3 tbsp​



Baby cereal (dry)​



2 tbsp​



Brewer's yeast​



2 oz​



Unflavored gelatin​



15 oz​



Water​



Optional ingredient:​



1 tsp​



Liquid vitamins​



Procedure:​



1.Blend 5 oz of water with shrimp, spinach, carrots, baby cereal, brewer's yeast and vitamins.​



2.Boil remaining 10 oz of water.​



3.Add boiling water to gelatin in a bowl.​



4.Cool until gelatin mixture is hot but doesn't burn.​



5.Add contents of blender to partially cooled gelatin mixture, mix thoroughly.​



6.Add medication to cooled mixture.​



7.Pour into flat pan and refrigerate.​



8.Cut gelatinized mixture into cubes for feeding and store in freezer.​




Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd, assistant professor of aquaculture and fisheries; Peggy Reed, biological scientist; Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences and Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture; Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611.
 
Thank you very much for the recipe. I'll have to see if I can find pure metro, but if not, can I substitute the general cure, which has metro as a main component?
 
I don't know enough about General Cure to advise that you put it in his food. An easy and inexpensive option would be to get some Jungle Labs Anti-Parasite Medicated fish food.

You can find it everywhere. I think I bought my bottle from WalMart.

It has Metronidazole -- 1.0%; praziquantel -- 0.5%; and levamisole -- 0.4%.
It's tiny little pellets.

I would crush the pellets and add them to your food mixture. Regarding dosage, the instructions say to feed 3 consecutive days a week for 4 weeks. Do not use other food during these 3 day periods. Feed 1 or 2 times a day, as much as the fish will eat.... so I don't think you need to worry too much about an overdose.

It would be fine for everyone in the tank to eat this. If he has parasites they most likely do as well.
 
The General Cure has copper sulphate, and Trichlorfon, and I don't think those things would be good to ingest, so I would try to find straight Metro. Jungle Labs AntiParasite food has a nice combination of anti-parasitic ingredients.... I think I'd go with that if you can't find straight Metro.
 
One thing to keep in mind when you mix the food into the gelatin mixture. Stir slowly... you want to avoid getting bubbles or air into the mixture, because this will make the food float.

Another thing, put the crushed medication in the mixture when it has cooled or it will may have an adverse effect on the medication.
 
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