Gourami- White Poop, Staying Near Surface

hI everyone

Last night I noticed my Opaline Gourami was excreting a long white/clear stringy substance. From what I’ve gathered it seemed to be a worm situation, so I vacuumed the substrate & did a 50% water change immediately.

Since this morning he has been lingering near the surface. Not gasping for air or anything like that, he’s acting normally other than this new behavior. Still eating but I haven’t noticed any poop or other white substance again today.

I did another vacuum and small water change this afternoon to clear out anything that may have come out while I wasn’t home today but I’m just trying to figure out where to go with this at this point.

I looked for a de-worming type medication today and couldn’t really find anything I was looking for. I’ll check out a better aquarium store tomorrow but I’m wondering if this is even the case.

The fish isn’t bloated or too thin, and like I said is eating normally so I’m just kinda confused at this point.

The tank is cycled and I just replaced the carbon and zeolite in my filter with some ammonia absorbing sponges to help reduce the traces I have in the tank and hopefully relieve some stress.

This is my favorite fish and I’d hate to lose him over something I can fix. I just don’t know what to do. I’ve never had this experience in any of my tanks before.

 

Sorry I have to clarify something.... traces of ammonia? I’m afraid to tell you but after your tank has cycled there should be NO traces of ammonia
And the white poop can be an indicator of so many things... don’t rush to medication until you can narrow it down some... start will a blanched de shelled pea... mush it up a bit and see if he will eat some... just to rule it out

If you have a quarantine tank I’d get him in that

 

Yep. It’s been a constant issue in all of my tanks because of my tap water quality. I am working on finding a solution but it’s proven difficult.

I’ve managed to get it to a manageable 0.25. The fish haven’t shown signs of stress, but the frogs unfortunately have obviously had problems.

I had a major spike about a week ago after others in the house were feeding the tank without my knowledge and I lost a frog because of it.

I am testing a tank full of freshwater I can buy by the gal at my local aquarium store and that tank is doing very well. I’ve moved the last frog and my shrimps to that tank to help them out and they’ve shown a major improvement.

Part of the water change I did today in the *problem tank* was using the purchased freshwater, partially to not shock them with too drastic of a water quality change and hopefully help cycle through all of the issues with this tank.

 

Ok much easier than that what you need to do (for now anyway) is dose your tank with prime every 24 hours... do it at the same time everyday so you don’t forget... this will turn the free ammonia to ammonium.... if you use the apI kit the tube will still show .25 but it will be bound and harmless....my next suggestion would be to get a non silicate test... I use the one by seachem.... this test can differentiate between ammonium and free ammonia.... then you will get your true ammonia reading... it’s not crazy expensive and is reusable... it’s little yellow dots that you put in a solution with your water ina tray.... if the dot stays completely yellow then you know all your ammonia is in the form of ammonium (not harmful) until you get a solution like to water or something....

As for your gourami... how long has this been happening? I had a platy that did it (not quite that extreme but he was also smaller (he didn’t look bloated either) but I did the blanched de shelled pea and sure enough the next morning he was pooping out the biggest strand of very thick “normal” poop color and has been fine since... before dumping in a bunch of meds I would try that.... even if it may not help it’s fat better than rushing to meds.... then see where you land... but don’t waste time get it fed to him right away so you can see if it’s the problem... I think new life spectrum makes a food also that helps them expel the worms (ifbthat's what it is) but I can’t remember the exact name of it.... then if that doesn’t work I would try some de worming meds.... but check for the food first... maybe try googling it.... new life spectrum makes tons of good quality foods that can help boost immune systems and everything

 

Perfect. I’ll get that non silicate test tomorrow.

He’s only been doing this for a little over 24 hours. I first noticed the strand at around 930 last night. I fed the tank tonight and he waited a while but eventually took a few bites of food and started moving around the tank more.

Now that you mention the pea method, I did that with a fish a few years ago... completely forgot about it! thank you!! I’m hoping he can pass this and be back to normal soon.

 

Hope it helps! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

Seems like good news over here!! Back to normal colored poops, eating a ton, and swimming all over the tank.
Just checked the levels and the bottled water change actually seems to have made a big difference. I think I’ll keep up with that until I can find a non silicate test. My local stores didn’t have any.

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully he’s past this and we can move on.