Evelyn1919

hi!!!

well last night i got a present from my dad once again (he had gotten me CAE's before and i had to bring them to my LFS because i couldn't have them in my tank). this time he got me 2 long fin rosy barbs which i was going to put in my tank anyways but after my cycle was finally completed. i don't have another tank to put them in anyways so i just had to put them in with my fish (in my 75gal tank). now these fish have the stringy poo and i think they might have parasites? i'm not 100% sure though. it seems that they pooped in the bag where they came in and i look at it and it was stringy but not white, it was dark poo.

is that i defenite sign of parasites or maybe not? they look pretty healty but if they have internal parasites i might have to give them some med soon.

i have the parasite clear tablets at home just in case. if they don't have parasites would it be bad to put the tablets in the tank anyways? would they really harm the fish?

my tank is still going through the cycle. at the moment i have these readings:
ammonia: .25
pH: 7
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 10-20
temperature: 78f.

now i was reading the instructions on the back of the box and it says 1 tablet/10 gals. if my tank is still going through the cycle and i'm doing about 40% water changes everyday how can i put the tablets in?
should i first do a water change and then put the tablets in the tank? what about tomorrow's water change? would i take the med out if i do another water change? should i not do a water change then?

i'm so confused!

PLEASE HELP!!!

ps: i took the carbon our of my filter 2 days ago and everything is doing fine. i replaed it with the marine land blue pad things.

Red_Rose

My betta had internal parasites before and his poop was not only stringy but white. Normally if the poop is white then you either have internal parasites or an internal bacterial infection. I don't think you'll have to worry about anything if it's just stringy looking.

I'd just keep an eye on them for the next couple of days. If their poop doesn't look white then I wouldn't medicate. Aside from the stringy poop, are they acting okay?

COBettaCouple

You'll want to treat the water daily with Prime and just do water changes as directed while dosing with the Parasite Clear tablets. The Prime should help keep them protected from water toxins.

Red_Rose

You may also want to try medicated food as well, if it turns out they have internal parasites. I fed my boy Jungle Pepso Food for four days(it says only three on the bottle but I gave it to him for an extra day) and it cleared up the parasites very quickly and it didn't put any stress on him.

You could try your fish with the food first to see how things go and if they refuse to eat it then I'd try the tabs. The only reason I'm suggesting the food first is because I had to treat my betta with those tabs before and it reacted to them even though I didn't use the full dose for his tank size.

Evelyn1919

i didn't read anything on the directions about water changes. do you mean use the tablet and do my usual water changes?

may be i'll use the food first and then i'll see if i do the parasite clear tablets.

thanks so much.

COBettaCouple

I believe you can change 25% of the water before adding the next dose with Parasite Clear.

lalynya

I've battled internal parasites and I have found through trying various medications that clout is the best one for myself anyways.

Fishies-for-me

I have had good luck ( so far ) with camallanus worms using jungle anti parasite food....good.luck

COBettaCouple

I believe both clout and parasite clear are good meds, but parasite clear tends to be easier to find and has always worked so far for us.

Red_Rose

Do people not like trying the medicated foods? I find that unlike the meds that go into the water, they are much less stressful for the fish and it tends to clear up the parasites quickly. I've never used the Jungle Anti-Parasitic food that sqrlyshrly1 has tried but I have had success with Jungle's Pepso food.

angelfish220

I've never had to use it, but I have in my fishy medicine kit, some of the Jungle Pepso food and it looks less stressful.

COBettaCouple

I like the medicated foods, but often sick fish, especially with parasites, don't want to eat.

Red_Rose

I've heard that some fish won't eat when they have parasites(either internal or external). I guess my boy is a little piggy then. When he has internal parasites, he was quick to gobble up the medicated food even though he had a bad case of SBD from the parasites and could barely swim around.

lalynya

my fish will eat when they have a parasite...But not the medicated food and when I FINALLY GOT Them to..it didn't help at all