Questions About Fish Poo Ugh

I lost a clownfish, a baby black and white. I do not know what killed him and I'm super sad but I really suspect internal parasites. I treated him in a hospital tank but I was way too late. I'm watching my other fish and I have been doing big water changes and running a uv in my wet/dry filter below because I have this ugly orange/brown algae... Anyway the poo that floats around is white.. it's not white coming out.. it's a light brown. Here are pics.. my cam sucks. Should I treat my whole tank? The Midas is a baby .. so are my other two clowns. I have an adult starry Blenny that hates me and only eats algae from rocks.. thank God I have a lot. The Midas has brown poo. I'm scared to harm my fish with that prazi..

(please no lectures) I know my tank is too young but I got it for free and it's still alive after a month and fat... I have a rbbt anemone. I don't want it to kill everything. I don't have seachem focus to bind food.. so if u guys have any other ideas on how to deal with this if it is parasitic poo, let me know. Thank you so much!!!

 

I am a freshwater tank owner and the exact same thing happens to me. I went to the store I got my fish from and they said this is probably the poop rotting. If you want it gone I would syphon your tank.

HAPPY FISH OWNING!!!

 

Yeah I hope it is just old. I'm keeping a close eye on them and working in the living room instead of at my desk today. I have a protein skimmer and it does a good job. I have high flow today... Both wavemakers are on. The boy clown Cletus is so cute when he swims against the current.

 

All fish are cute! But he is probably ADORABLE!

 

Aw, I'm sorry you're having troubles. Let's see if we can get this worked out... and I'll try my best not to sound lecture-ey. I do have some questions, but only to help me help you.

Okay, so it sounds like you've already tried treatment with PraziPro, is this correct? If yes, I'll assume you completed one full dose/round or prazi. This med is very gentle on fish, (safe for your babies), but the concern is actually for your nem or any corals you might have in the tank. I certainly understand not wanting to put meds in the water with these sensitive creatures.

Did you see anything other than the white poo in the net that would lead you to believe this is internal parasites? White stringy waste is the classic sign, but you've said that it wasn't white until later. So, you haven't white stringy stuff hanging from the fish? Are they thin? Anyhow, if you suspect one fish had internal parasites, you can be assured that they are all at risk.

I have good news though! Internal parasites are better taken care of by feeding medication to the fish. If so, you can mix up some medicated food and start a better treatment that is targeted to the fish, and should have little effect on the tank overall. Medicated food should be added carefully to the tank so it is eaten very quickly before the med leaches out into the water, where its effects are drastically reduced, and it may affect your nem or other sensitive creatures like inverts and corals.

It's very good that you already have Focus on hand. Without knowing what med you're currently using to deliver praziquantel, I'm really unsure how to tell you to proceed. You can use prazI togother with another med that I believe is more effective, especially when used together with prazi. What we're looking for is Metronidazole and Praziquantel. You could achieve this by mixing PraziPro, Seachem's Metroplex, Focus, and perhaps some garlic to increase palatability, as the meds don't taste any better to fish than they do to us. If it were me, and I wanted to use both meds, I'd pick up General Cure by API. It has both and can be added to food along with Focus and garlic before being fed to fish.

I'm really unsure how you want to proceed, and understand that diagnosing is often the hardest part. I can truly sympathize. Please keep watching, share anything you see, and let me know how you'd like to move forward. I'll do my best to help.

Edit: Oops, I misread! I thought you did have Focus!!! Sorry, but it's kinda important when medicating fish in a reef tank. Can you get some?

 

The best solution for fish poop is to get a detritus eater. A conch snail is a good all around sand bed cleaner for your tank and they will eat it. Hermit crabs are debatable, but a couple of small ones might work.

 

Also, I wish I could give you an alternative to medicating food... since you asked for an alternative in the first place. However, I haven't found a better source for marine fish disease than a user going by Humblefish (Dr. Fish) on R2R, and I would try to stick to his advice in any disease situation. Metro is the go-to for internal parasites, and it is most effective when bound to food with Focus.



(You'll see here that none of the other treatments are recommended for internal pathogens.)



I have used this advice to successfully treat internal parasites in a clown and a goby. White stringy waste was present in this case.