Not Sure If Fish Has Parasites

Hello I've been reading a lot of posts about white poop meaning internal parasites. So, my rice fish had white stringy poop today. And now I'm not sure whether I'm being paranoid.

Yesterday I moved them to their new second-hand tank, with half of the gravel being also second-hand - they are digging in the gravel quiet much eating stuff of it, though, I scrubbed it in hot water for 30 minuted before putting in aquarium. Today I bought 4 more plants and 5 diamond tetras. (I wanted to buy more rice fish to get their school back, but they don't have them anymore in neither of my pet shops, so I got the tetras - kinda impulse shopping, but I checked their requirements).

- Does white stringy poop always mean parasites?
- Could it be it just poops white because of stress from all these changes? I feed them their usual food and none of the fish seems odd. He also acts normal and east well.
- Can I do anything to help it? Maybe to try feed it peas? I feed them garlic-soaked food 1x a week.

Thank you ahead for

 

Garlic. So you are doing good here. Nice.
Try fasting them for a day. And if you are feeding worms then give it a pause.
If it continues then go for medication.
Normally white poop is sure telltale sign of internal parasites. So better be on guard.
What are they ating in gravel?
Always QT new fish and plants before adding to your healthy main tank.

 

I keep an eye out for it. Typically when I have a fish that I have to QT I would put it in a bare bottom tank. This way I can see if it's pooping white or brown. When you have substrate in a QT you can't see whether it's still has it or not.

Fish with internal parasite will act normal. They'll eat but as time goes they'll start eating less and less and when they do try to eat they'll spit it out, almost like barfing in a way. Some times they'll just hide.

If you do decide to treat look for medication that deals with parasites. I've used API General Cure, others here have used other medication.

 

Garlic. So you are doing good here. Nice.
Try fasting them for a day. And if you are feeding worms then give it a pause.
If it continues then go for medication.
Normally white poop is sure telltale sign of internal parasites. So better be on guard.
What are they ating in gravel?
Always QT new fish and plants before adding to your healthy main tank.

I am glad I'm doing something good here, thank you for you reply
- The gravel came from a gold fish tank and was sitting dry for weeks, but had visible green spots, like dried algea. So I soaked it in hot water and scrubbed and rinsed and repeated this for half an hour. But I think it still must have some things on it. All my fishes like to dig in the gravel and eat stuff constantly, but they used to do it in the old tank too. I vacuum it 1-2x a week though because snails do lot of mess from driftwood and coconuts.
- I don't have any other tank set up at the moment to quarantine them. But I washed each leaf of the new plants with a sponge in de-chlorinated water to prevent snails.
- I think I should also mention this: I started with 6 rice fishes, now I have 3. They died one by one in a week span but like a month ago. It seemed as if the other were bullying them because they were smaller. But they looked weak, and I think in one case one of them had white poop. But no fish died in over a months now so I did not thought much of it.
- Can parasites live inside the fish for longer time and not cause problems and then suddenly they do?
- Can I start feeding them garlic-soaked food more often? How often would be ok?

I keep an eye out for it. Typically when I have a fish that I have to QT I would put it in a bare bottom tank. This way I can see if it's pooping white or brown. When you have substrate in a QT you can't see whether it's still has it or not.

Fish with internal parasite will act normal. They'll eat but as time goes they'll start eating less and less and when they do try to eat they'll spit it out, almost like barfing in a way. Some times they'll just hide.

If you do decide to treat look for medication that deals with parasites. I've used API General Cure, others here have used other medication.

Thank you for reply I am going to start up my older small tank for the guy and see what happens in couple of days. They are also very tiiiny fishes, so I guess if the tank has parasites it would show on them first. If he gets worse, do you think it would be a good idea to treat the whole tank just to be sure?

 

Yes, that seems a good idea. One dose will be enough in the main tank as a preventive measure.
And in future when you buy anything like plants or fish, always qt them. It is worth it. And also tell your fellow mates about the imp of qt. I have seen people do Qt for 4 weeks before adding them to main tanks!

 

Yes, that seems a good idea. One dose will be enough in the main tank as a preventive measure.
And in future when you buy anything like plants or fish, always qt them. It is worth it. And also tell your fellow mates about the imp of qt. I have seen people do Qt for 4 weeks before adding them to main tanks!

I will do that. Fortunately, the girl that works in the shop has herself 20 of the same tetras at home and she said she bought 5 couple days ago and they are all heathy. So I think I got lucky this time

 

I am glad I'm doing something good here, thank you for you reply
- The gravel came from a gold fish tank and was sitting dry for weeks, but had visible green spots, like dried algea. So I soaked it in hot water and scrubbed and rinsed and repeated this for half an hour. But I think it still must have some things on it. All my fishes like to dig in the gravel and eat stuff constantly, but they used to do it in the old tank too. I vacuum it 1-2x a week though because snails do lot of mess from driftwood and coconuts.
- I don't have any other tank set up at the moment to quarantine them. But I washed each leaf of the new plants with a sponge in de-chlorinated water to prevent snails.
- I think I should also mention this: I started with 6 rice fishes, now I have 3. They died one by one in a week span but like a month ago. It seemed as if the other were bullying them because they were smaller. But they looked weak, and I think in one case one of them had white poop. But no fish died in over a months now so I did not thought much of it.
- Can parasites live inside the fish for longer time and not cause problems and then suddenly they do?
- Can I start feeding them garlic-soaked food more often? How often would be ok?

I cannot say so for parasites as there are many and each is different in some way. For eg. Ich shows itself around 4-6 days later, tummy poopy kind of parasites will show in about a day or short, etc etc.
You MAY increase the garlic to 2-3 times a week. Or better go with some medication just to be sure.
Also note that some medications will kill the BB from your bio-sponge filter, so move the fish to other container OR remove the sponge in other container, add some dechlorinated water and couole of pellets as source of ammonia daily.

Also add a pic. May be I can suggest something once I see the tank, to reduce stress.

 

Also add a pic. May be I can suggest something once I see the tank, to reduce stress.

I am adding the water day by day, because I don’t have much space for aging large quantity at once also it has lot of coconuts, drift wood and lots of plants ^^ I think the fishes love to explore the tank. The ugly box on the right is my improvised fry box with one two weeks old gourami I also ordered almond leaves online but did not get them yet. I am thinking about adding some ceramic tubes. But I want big enough so Gouramis wouldn’t get stuck or something

I cannot say so for parasites as there are many and each is different in some way. For eg. Ich shows itself around 4-6 days later, tummy poopy kind of parasites will show in about a day or short, etc etc.
You MAY increase the garlic to 2-3 times a week. Or better go with some medication just to be sure.
Also note that some medications will kill the BB from your bio-sponge filter, so move the fish to other container OR remove the sponge in other container, add some dechlorinated water and couole of pellets as source of ammonia daily.

Ah . I did not know about the incubation periods of the parasites. I will increase garlic and if it continues in s day or two I will act with medications thank you about the information about the filter media! once I use the medication, will it be enough to do water change or should I use carbon (to get rid of meds after the treatment is over)? I just threw away old carbon and thought to exist without it. But I have some filter pads which have carbon on one side. Maybe I could just slip it into my filter even though it is not designed for it?

 

Poop update ompous:

So today the fish had half white with one bright white dot in it and then half normal orange poop (their food is orange mostly). Could it be it has white poop from eating garlic? I have crushed garlic which I put in hot water. I usually just soak the food in bit of the water but I gave them whole pieces of soaked garlic today and everyone, mainly diamond tetras were going straight for it. All the fish including the patient are active and normal and ate like if they did not see food in a week. I gave them 24h without food but I fed them now because I wanted to check the poop. I even gave them spinach leaves which they bite from all the time. I don't have pea at home but I will get some tomorrow and try that I will wait with the meds and see tomorrow

 

#1: I do not have any experience with carbon, but many people use it to remove the meds from tank when its not needed anymore. You can use any carbon-filter/ or a bag of activated carbon that you have for that purpose.
#2: now when you mention it, lots of garlic may be reason for the white poop. Eat white, pooo white.
#3: pea works as laxative!

And a nice tank. Your fish will be happy once its filled up. And you are making them healthy as we speak now. All the Best
What substrate are you using along with tht gravel.

 

#1: I do not have any experience with carbon, but many people use it to remove the meds from tank when its not needed anymore. You can use any carbon-filter/ or a bag of activated carbon that you have for that purpose.
#2: now when you mention it, lots of garlic may be reason for the white poop. Eat white, pooo white.
#3: pea works as laxative!

And a nice tank. Your fish will be happy once its filled up. And you are making them healthy as we speak now. All the Best
What substrate are you using along with tht gravel.

Thank you for your help!!! I also just thought of the garlic being the cause when I seen my fish poop green after eating spinach for the first time