Cause for concern? Stringy poop on clown fish.

[Daasmo]

I noticed my female clown rubbing against the sand this morning. There appears to be stringy poop. I've had her and a male for about 2 weeks from Dr. Reef. Tank is 2 months old. I've added cuc last week from reef Cleaners. She's been eating marine cuisine twice a day. And some pellets from LFS (New Life Spectrum Marine Fish). She's eating and swimming well. I'm guessing mucus from the change in diet. Any suggestions?


Sorry for the cloudy water. I had just scraped my back glass.

 

[Daasmo]

She seems to have knocked it off.

 

[SueAubu]

Springy poop (poop then string, then poop) in freshwater fish is an intestinal issue. (Parasite, protozoa or bacteria, I don't remember). I thought, in my research, it could affect both fresh and marine fish. I had a freshwater tropical tank full of it and started losing fish left and right. (Now I notice all the lfs have it). Hikari Ich-X saved the tank and the description says it treats the problem in marine tanks, too! Good luck! I hope it's nothing major!

 

[Daasmo]

Thanks. I'll continue to monitor.

 

[Daasmo]

The more I watch her today I'm now convinced she's about to spawn. She's picked out an area under an overhang and has been moving sand and pebbles. The male hasn't left her side. I'm kind of shocked she would spawn this soon after getting her. What a ride of emotions today.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I noticed my female clown rubbing against the sand this morning. There appears to be stringy poop. I've had her and a male for about 2 weeks from Dr. Reef. Tank is 2 months old. I've added cuc last week from reef Cleaners. She's been eating marine cuisine twice a day. And some pellets from LFS (New Life Spectrum Marine Fish). She's eating and swimming well. I'm guessing mucus from the change in diet. Any suggestions?


Sorry for the cloudy water. I had just scraped my back glass.

Often if you feed brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, you will get excess mucus in the stomach lining and the feces will look white and stringy mimicking internal issue
Add pellets and LRS fish frenzy to the mix

 

[Wasabiroot]

Springy poop (poop then string, then poop) in freshwater fish is an intestinal issue. (Parasite, protozoa or bacteria, I don't remember). I thought, in my research, it could affect both fresh and marine fish. I had a freshwater tropical tank full of it and started losing fish left and right. (Now I notice all the lfs have it). Hikari Ich-X saved the tank and the description says it treats the problem in marine tanks, too! Good luck! I hope it's nothing major!

Ich-x is stellar for freshwater ich, but despite the statement by Hikari, I would go the route of copper treatment with qt, or chloroquine phosphate rather than ich x in a marine system. Some also advocate for temperature/salinity control and oxygenation rather than formalin/malachite green. In a nutshell, marine ich management and treatment requires a more measured approach. Not trying to hijack. @Jay Hemdal recently wrote an article on this site detailing his thoughts on current best practices with marine ich.

 

[Daasmo]

Often if you feed brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, you will get excess mucus in the stomach lining and the feces will look white and stringy mimicking internal issue
Add pellets and LRS fish frenzy to the mix

Any recommendations for pellet food. I have New Life Spectrum Marine Fish and Benepellet Reef because those were available locally. I'll order something else though if need be.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Any recommendations for pellet food. I have New Life Spectrum Marine Fish and Benepellet Reef because those were available locally. I'll order something else though if need be.

Big fan of TDO Chromaboost by reef nutrition. Even my mandarin likes it

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Mucus in clownfish feces is very common. However, it is a symptom of many possible problems, some serious, some not. Some treatable, some not.

Here is some text that I wrote about it:

Excess mucus in fish feces:

This will present as white or light colored, stringy fecal material that often hangs from the fish’s anus for a longer than normal period. There are a number of different causes for this, some benign, others very serious. Without access to a microscope, there is little that can be done to diagnose this issue effectively.

Idiopathic mucus feces: this fancy term is just to describe white mucoid bulky feces of no serious consequence, but of an unknown cause. Some suspicion is that this can be caused by changes in diet or diets high in fats.

Starvation: Fish that have no food moving through their bowels may excrete white mucoid feces with little bulk to them. The primary diagnostic for this issue is evident in that the fish won’t been seen to be eating. Resolving the anorexia is of course the prime focus to resolve this issue.

Bacterial infection: internal bacterial infections can cause stringy feces as well. While some of these may resolve on their own, medicated foods containing a broad spectrum, gram negative oral antibiotic may be required.

Metazoan infections: multicellular worms are often blamed for mucoid feces, but in reality, they are almost never the root cause for this, and really, can only be diagnosed through looking for their ova in fecal samples. Fish can harbor tapeworms and nematodes without producing mucoid feces.

Protozoan infection: Hexamita and related diplomonad flagellate protozoans very frequently cause white stringy feces, especially in newly acquired clownfish. Metronidazole is the most frequent treatment for this issue. It can be dosed orally at 25 mg per kg of fish body weight, or 5 g in a kg of food. However, it is a very bitter medication, and some fish will refuse to feed on food containing it. It can be dosed in the water at 25 mg/l, but this is more effective in treating marine fishes, as freshwater fish do not “drink” aquarium water.

Coccidia: These microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled parasites are common diseases in dogs and cats. In fish, they cause epithelial necrosis of the gut, enteritis and the copious production of mucus (Noga 2010). These cannot be diagnosed without microscopic examination, and there is no well researched cure for this in fishes, although Toltrazuril has been tested.

Constipation: This malady is often given as a cause for stringy feces, but it is not as common as one would think. When it is seen, the feces are usually dark, not light in color. Often touted as a “cure for constipation”, many aquarists add Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to the aquarium’s water – do not do this in marine aquariums, its use is primarily as a tonic/dip for freshwater fish. Seawater formulas already contain between 7 and 19 grams of magnesium sulfate per gallon (depending on the recipe). NSW magnesium level is around 1200 ppm and sulfur is around 840 ppm. Some benefit might be seen using it as a dip in additional concentrations, but adding a small amount to a marine aquarium itself has no benefit. Epsom salts do have some possible benefit when mixed into the food as a 3% by weight adjunct. Another commonly heard remedy for constipation is; “feed fresh peas”. This is an effective cure for fancy goldfish and Malawi cichlids that develop constipation and bloating. Again, overextrapolation has marine aquarists trying to feed peas to carnivorous fish, etc. The best method to enhance gut motility in fish is to feed frozen adult brine shrimp – not as a permanent diet, just long enough to get the constipation resolved.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Any recommendations for pellet food. I have New Life Spectrum Marine Fish and Benepellet Reef because those were available locally. I'll order something else though if need be.

I have a Darwin clown that has been exclusively NLS marine pellets for 2+ years and never has mucus feces and is doing very well. At first, I fed it just as a matter of convenience, dropping mysids from the diet over time. Then, as more time went on, I just kept feeding it to the fish as a sole food, just to see what would happen - it has been doing great!

 

[Wasabiroot]

I have a Darwin clown that has been exclusively NLS marine pellets for 2+ years and never has mucus feces and is doing very well. At first, I fed it just as a matter of convenience, dropping mysids from the diet over time. Then, as more time went on, I just kept feeding it to the fish as a sole food, just to see what would happen - it has been doing great!

I like NLS as well. I use it in my freshwater systems too and use the algae grazer pellet version in my marine system, which my Hector goby and tang both seem to appreciate.

 

[Daasmo]

I have a Darwin clown that has been exclusively NLS marine pellets for 2+ years and never has mucus feces and is doing very well. At first, I fed it just as a matter of convenience, dropping mysids from the diet over time. Then, as more time went on, I just kept feeding it to the fish as a sole food, just to see what would happen - it has been doing great!

Thanks for the feedback. I'll shift to more NLS pellets and cut back on the frozen shrimp.