how to tell if a fish is constipated?

[Shorgasm III]

is there a simple sign such as this:

my pleco has had a long turd (for lack of a better word) dangling from him, that wont seem to break away. i mean long, like 7". hes been going "potty" like this for the last few days (long ones anyways), seems like it started when i started feeding him aldgea wafers. he seem normal and is still eating normal, but i cant stand looking at it. it doesnt seem to bother him. not only is the one on him annoying, the other long ones hes "dropped" have caught on some of the artifical plants and aint pretty to look at. ill be removing those tomorrow.... but what about the one on him??? it seems these last few days he has constantly had a turd of some lenght dangling.

no change in my feeding. once every other day for all fish, plus a wafer for him at night that he loves.

any ideas?

 

[sky.eyes.woman]

Plecos are notorious 'poop machines' as you have just discovered! Usually a 'poop string' on a sick fish will be clear or with very little color, sometimes a clear string with bits of color here and there or even bubbles of gas (I guess that means fish DO fart and it floats!) will be seen on a fish that has an illness. If your pleco has a string of normal colored poop, it's not anything to worry about.
The poop strings all over the plants are the #1 reason I absotively posilutely HATE cleaning the pleco tank at work. If you think the poop festooning your tank is bad with 1 pleco, imagine having 20 in one tank! Ewwwww!!!

 

[TipStylez]

yeah try feeding him less...fish dont know when their full and will just keep eating even if they get fat.

 

[Rock]

Plecos are notorious 'poop machines' as you have just discovered! Usually a 'poop string' on a sick fish will be clear or with very little color, sometimes a clear string with bits of color here and there or even bubbles of gas (I guess that means fish DO fart and it floats!) will be seen on a fish that has an illness. If your pleco has a string of normal colored poop, it's not anything to worry about.
The poop strings all over the plants are the #1 reason I absotively posilutely HATE cleaning the pleco tank at work. If you think the poop festooning your tank is bad with 1 pleco, imagine having 20 in one tank! Ewwwww!!!

Haha, outspoken for a girl.

Edit: She's 100% right.

 

[MrAquarium]

Feedling less is correct, but not fix the trouble with them, Yes sky.eyes.woman is very correct, they are the worse poop machines of the fish world i think,
What I do with my fish "i have a Bristle nose pleco is all" is purge them once a week, Not feed them is what that means if you don;t know.
This helps them digest some of the food they have in their system, and yes it helps, some people think it;s mean, but it helps your fish clean out a bit better.

I won;t buy a common pleco ever again, they get to **** big for one " 2' ina 75g and 5' in the wild" I use to have two 2' ones. once they was gone, never again, i'll stick to the smaller breeds....
IMHO, i think they are Way worse then oscars ever would be.

 

[flyfly]

I dont feed my fish every sunday, and my old pleco would still poo all over everything.

Hey rock, nice avatar!

 

[besyboom]

A Turkey Baster works wonders for the aquarium, good for feeding live foods, collecting fry and small snails from the tank and is wonderful for getting those unsightly poo's from the tank. much easier than using the siphion every time.