White stringy poop, clown fish.

[Izzy925]

Hello everyone so I recently got these two clown fish in my new (fully cycled) saltwater tank and one of them seems to be eating less and I've noticed it also has been having white stringy poop just sticking out of his butt. Is this an intestinal parasite? I also noticed it has a smaller or pinched stomach compared to the other one. How should I treat him, I've been reading that prazipro might work or I can do the seachem metroplex and focus combo with their food. My tank has no corrals in it and I've had these clowns for about 13 days now. Started noticing the white stringy poop about 4 days ago. I was feeding them some frozen brine and mysis shrimp in the beginning but I stopped because they weren't eating them anymore and to see if the white poop stoped and it hasn't cause I've read that also may cause white stringy poop. The other clown fish seems to be fine and eats a-lot when fed small pellets. The "sick" one eats one or two small ones tops. What should I do? I have a video of the two fish but haven't gotten the white stringy poop on video yet. Im trying to focus on the sick one in the videos the stomach looks sort concave a bit compare to other one.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone so I recently got these two clown fish in my new (fully cycled) saltwater tank and one of them seems to be eating less and I've noticed it also has been having white stringy poop just sticking out of his butt. Is this an intestinal parasite? I also noticed it has a smaller or pinched stomach compared to the other one. How should I treat him, I've been reading that prazipro might work or I can do the seachem metroplex and focus combo with their food. My tank has no corrals in it and I've had these clowns for about 13 days now. Started noticing the white stringy poop about 4 days ago. I was feeding them some frozen brine and mysis shrimp in the beginning but I stopped because they weren't eating them anymore and to see if the white poop stoped and it hasn't cause I've read that also may cause white stringy poop. The other clown fish seems to be fine and eats a-lot when fed small pellets. The "sick" one eats one or two small ones tops. What should I do? I have a video of the two fish but haven't gotten the white stringy poop on video yet. Im trying to focus on the sick one in the videos the stomach looks sort concave a bit compare to other one.

Often when feeding brine and mysis, the fish will get excess mucus in the stomach lining which mimics an internal issue, however a pinched stomach may notate otherwise. Often, metroplex will help but it must be added precisely by weight which is .5gm - a very tiny amount

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello everyone so I recently got these two clown fish in my new (fully cycled) saltwater tank and one of them seems to be eating less and I've noticed it also has been having white stringy poop just sticking out of his butt. Is this an intestinal parasite? I also noticed it has a smaller or pinched stomach compared to the other one. How should I treat him, I've been reading that prazipro might work or I can do the seachem metroplex and focus combo with their food. My tank has no corrals in it and I've had these clowns for about 13 days now. Started noticing the white stringy poop about 4 days ago. I was feeding them some frozen brine and mysis shrimp in the beginning but I stopped because they weren't eating them anymore and to see if the white poop stoped and it hasn't cause I've read that also may cause white stringy poop. The other clown fish seems to be fine and eats a-lot when fed small pellets. The "sick" one eats one or two small ones tops. What should I do? I have a video of the two fish but haven't gotten the white stringy poop on video yet. Im trying to focus on the sick one in the videos the stomach looks sort concave a bit compare to other one.

White stringy feces is common in clownfish. Some causes are dietary and not serious, but in other cases, this indicates an internal infection. There is no way to tell the difference except if the fish develops other symptoms. In your case, the affected fish is eating less, so that's not a good sign. I couldn't tell from the videos, but rapid breathing is also an issue that can be seen with white feces if there is an internal infection.

Prazipro only works against flukes (external) or internal tapeworms. Tapeworms do not cause white feces, nor do they cause a decrease in appetite.

Mixing Metroplex and Focus is also a mistake unless you have a gram scale. If you mix Metro and Focus and food, so that the Metro is exactly 1% of the mix by weight, it will work, but you need to have an accurate gram scale to do that. Too little metro and it won't work, too much is bitter and the stop eating it.

Depending on what other animals you have in the tank, you can add metroplex to the water. Marine fish drink seawater, so will ingest a small amount that way.

 

[Izzy925]

Here's a picture with some of the white stringy stuff sticking out, it was longer but some of it fell off. They are usually pretty long.

 

[Izzy925]

White stringy feces is common in clownfish. Some causes are dietary and not serious, but in other cases, this indicates an internal infection. There is no way to tell the difference except if the fish develops other symptoms. In your case, the affected fish is eating less, so that's not a good sign. I couldn't tell from the videos, but rapid breathing is also an issue that can be seen with white feces if there is an internal infection.

Prazipro only works against flukes (external) or internal tapeworms. Tapeworms do not cause white feces, nor do they cause a decrease in appetite.

Mixing Metroplex and Focus is also a mistake unless you have a gram scale. If you mix Metro and Focus and food, so that the Metro is exactly 1% of the mix by weight, it will work, but you need to have an accurate gram scale to do that. Too little metro and it won't work, too much is bitter and the stop eating it.

Depending on what other animals you have in the tank, you can add metroplex to the water. Marine fish drink seawater, so will ingest a small amount that way.

I only have these two clown fish and no corals. They both seem normal and do not do any heavy breathing.