Is it parasites?

[cichlidcichlid]

One of my cichids poop was coming out and it looked kind of stringy but wasn't clear is it parasites?

If so should i get some melifix?

Thankyou for your time!

[RISK2123]

thats how dookie looks. color mostly depends on what you feed them but for the most part its red. wait, is this a serious question =/ anyways, yeah its poo

[star_rider]

generally white stringy poo (slimey??)
is what you see when parasites are involved.

keep an eye out tho if the poo doesn't look normal for the fish.

and melafix will do nothing to parasites.if you suspect parasites get some anti parasite food if the fish is still eating. other wise you can treat the water..

[liv2padl]

there's little point in treating the fish for a parasite condition unless you first fix the cause of the problem. have you checked your water quality? what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? what size is the tank? how many and what kind of cichlids are in this tank?

as star has suggested, Melafix is useless as a parasite remedy.

[cichlidcichlid]

there's little point in treating the fish for a parasite condition unless you first fix the cause of the problem. have you checked your water quality? what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? what size is the tank? how many and what kind of cichlids are in this tank?

as star has suggested, Melafix is useless as a parasite remedy.

I have 11 cichlids in the tank.
one electric lab cichlid
one jewel cichlid
a couple mubanas
i forget the rest
the water is clean

I said the poop was stringy but still had a dark color/ not white.

[liv2padl]

the water is clean looking clean tells nothing about the quality.
I have 11 cichlids in the tank. what size tank.

answer the questions asked if you want help.

[star_rider]

liv2padl has a good point. parasites can co-exist in the tank with the inhabitants and never get the upperhand on the inhabitants of the tank. generally something has happened to upset the balance and possibly stress the fish to be more suseptible to parasitic infestation.


getting those parameters may help you in your battle.

[cichlidcichlid]

I was first asking you if you thought that it was parasites or if it is nothing from the description i gave.
I have a 29gal.

[JulieC]

The stringy poop sounds like its nothing to worry about.

However, you have bigger problems on your hands right now. Your fish are going to have some major health issues down the line if you don't get a bigger tank or get rid of some of your fish soon. Your tank is really overstocked. With what you have in it now you should be changing the water every 3 days to keep the ammonia down in there. Are you? Have you noticed any of your other fish acting sickly? You may pretty soon...

Also the combination of fish in the tank that you have require different requirements to be happy. Mbunas need very hard water to be healthy while the jewel does not.

Everybody keeps fish differently and I respect that, but in my opinion your fish are not in the right environment if you want them to be and stay healthy.

I hope that this helps.

[Nikki J]

stringy white poop can also be a sign of Malawi bloat.....Is the fish getting fatter and less active? If it IS malawi bloat, unfortunately there is nothing that you can really do about it.
But anti-parasite food wouldn't hurt, and I do agree that your tank is way too small for all those fish.

[cichlidcichlid]

My ammonia is very low and i did lose a fish a day ago could this be the cause?

Overstocking!

[star_rider]

Ammonia should be 0 ..anything more than that and something is either amiss or you have a false positive from a dechlorinator and chloramines.

[cichlidcichlid]

the ammonia is zero and it is not stringy white poop it is dark colored but stringy.

[losthere]

Are your affected fish sucked up, or skinny? Normally an affected fish will still eat (unless it is really sick and usually too late), but the parasites take the nutients from the food eaten and not allowing them to abosorb the nutrients and they start getting skinny. I have also found that i.p. will often times allow for a secondary infection, like cloud eye. Now if your fish is sucked up and has a secondary infection you very well could have i.p. if that is the case i can recomend some meds. and effective ways of administering them, just let me know. Just keep an eye on them white stringy crap is not a definate idicator of i.p. but is a sign.

[JulieC]

Not to be nit picking, but cichlidcichlid has said several times that the poop is not white just stringy. Not white, though.

[cichlidcichlid]

Thank you finally someone is paying attention! ;)

The fish i am refering to is big and not sinny has alot of mass.