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George9
12/03/2014, 08:04 PM
Hi everyone, this post may be long, but I want to share my whole story in hopes someone had the same problem as me and has a solution to my dilemma!!

I believe some of my fish are infected with internal parasites. The suspicion started back last winter with my clowns. They had white poop and I treated with prazipro, and it never went away so I decided to ignore it since they were eating great.

All was fine until late this summer when I noticed my foxface a bit thinner and his stomach was bulging a bit. I knew for sure that the clowns did have parasites and they probably just spread to the foxface.

Now begins my list of failed treatments. The fish eats super well, swims normal, good color, and has maintained his current weight for the past couple months. I've tried over the past 4 months:

Seachem metronidazole with focus.
-made the fish poop browner
-the stomach also bulged more though.
I fed this for a straight month and then stopped, and it got worse once I stopped.

Prazipro
-made the stomach nice and flat and normal but symptoms returned once I removed treatments (I tried 3 total treatments)

Paracide x by NFP
-the fish's stomach was nice and flat, but the poop was not any better.
I soaked the food in the medication and allowed it to dry just as the directions stated, then fed it.

My next endeavor is fenbendazole. I hear it can clear internal parasites when soaked in food. Does anyone have any advice for this type of treatment?

I'm not sure how it's possible that the fish could live this long with an intestinal parasite and show 100% no behavioral symptoms for a whole year.

Are there any other causes of white poop that can last this long?

Any advice would be appreciated, I'm not sure where to go next with this.

tylersarah
12/03/2014, 10:06 PM
Levamisole is an effective, relatively safe internal dewormer - commonly sold as pigeon dewormer online.

George9
12/04/2014, 06:02 AM
Do you know if it can be safely used orally in pellets?

tylersarah
12/04/2014, 06:51 AM
It sells as a tablet or powder - You're going to have to use it in a quarantine tank. I crush the tablets, dissolve them in RO then disperse into the water, I start with 2 tablets which is much lower than the recommended immersion dosage from one of my disease textbooks:

1. Prolonged immersion
a. Add 10 mg levamisole HCL/l (=38mg/gallon)

2. Oral formulations
a. Feed 2.5-10mg levamisole HCL/kg (=1.1-4.5mg/lb) of body weight/day for 7 days

3. Injectable formulations
a. Inject 3.6mg/lb of body weight intracardiac

(Noga, 2013)

George9
12/04/2014, 03:00 PM
Thank you!! Would it be unsafe to use food soaked in lavamisole in my main tank? Its just a FOWLR with a cleaner shrimp

tylersarah
12/04/2014, 05:04 PM
I'm not sure, my concern is the shrimp and how would you ensure each fish ate the correct amt/day?

And for the record, fenbendazole is harsher and would be my last choice.

George9
12/04/2014, 05:43 PM
That's a good point. It will be tricky ensuring that the fish get the right amount of meds even in a qt tank!

I will save the fenbendazole for last in case all else fails!

Thank you for your help!

George9
12/11/2014, 07:11 PM
Quick question- im soaking pellets in the medicine until they are soft, which is around 2-3 mins. Most places are recommending soakig food for around 30 mins-an hour. Is this too little time to soak up the medicine? The fish wont eat it if its too soggy, i figure if they're saturated, then they have some of the meds in them.

SonRK
12/11/2014, 07:56 PM
Let me know what you find out works.

I have a clownfish that suffers from stringy long white poo.

While I haven't seen him get any worse, I did try PraziPro and tried soaking their NLS pellets in Metro+ after making them soggy with Selcon.

My QT is being used up by a Tailspot Blenny so I won't able to use it for another 6 weeks or so

George9
12/11/2014, 07:59 PM
I will, hopefully i find something!

My fish are the same way, im thinking if fed a nutritious diet, they can fight them off better. My clowns have had the poop for over a year.

Have you had any luck with the metro+? I have some laying around from when i had fw fish

SonRK
12/11/2014, 09:32 PM
Nothing. Maybe they had one good poo session a day after a treatment (I tried three days in a row)

I made a frozen food mix, and let it freeze. (It actually didn't re freeze. Just turned the mysis into a slushy like consistency )

And Selcon and Metro and Pellets. Let it soaked for 30 minutes and nothing

George9
12/13/2014, 03:07 PM
I started using fenbendazole since i had already ordered it. I will update with results. The foxface's stomach has been pretty normal the past week or so, but he still poops what looks like sand/ crushed coral

George9
12/16/2014, 06:37 PM
I can see a little bit of improvement in the appearance of the fish from the food, his body just looks more "even", nothing drastic though. Poop is still sandy.

If in a week, the fish doesn't show any improvement I will probably bite the bullet and move then all to QT. I have Clout on hand, does anyone else have any other chemicals that can be used in a hospital tank to deworm these fish?

Im just hoping I dont jinx myself by moving them, and then they stop eating in qt or something.

Whiterabbitrage
12/16/2014, 08:26 PM
Following.

Deinonych
12/16/2014, 08:41 PM
I started using fenbendazole since i had already ordered it. I will update with results. The foxface's stomach has been pretty normal the past week or so, but he still poops what looks like sand/ crushed coral

This might seem like a silly question, but are you sure the foxface isn't actually pooping out sand? I know mine will pass sand grains from time to time; he picks at the sandbed every now and then and ingests sand along with whatever else he finds. Also, what kind of diet are you feeding the foxface?

George9
12/16/2014, 09:02 PM
I thought about that, it is possible I guess. In the past he's pooped sand, but it was probably once a week. Now, its nearly 100% of the time, along with stomach swelling (which is gone now)

I feed nori daily and alternate NLS thera A, NLS Marine pellets, Formula one, Formula two, and on occasion mysis shrimp or rods food.


Edit: what does your foxface's poop look like? I can't remember if mine's normal poop looked like small turds or just a cloud of poop.

Deinonych
12/16/2014, 11:56 PM
OK...likely something else is going on, as your feeding regimen is similar to mine (nori daily, along with NLS pellets, Rod's, Mysis, and some flake food now and then). My foxface's poop is fairly typical for the species - a diffuse cloud of poop that looks mostly like partially digested nori. :)

George9
12/17/2014, 06:50 AM
agh, this so frustrating! Hopefully I will get to the bottom of this

George9
12/18/2014, 08:02 AM
I read a forum post about soaking food in epsom salt for internal parasites, i know its a laxative for freshwatwer fish, i wonder if it would work in saltwater fish too. Maybe itll clean him out and help him poop out some worms

His poop is a little better, it has a bit more brown in it lately.

George9
12/20/2014, 08:27 PM
Thought it was time for a little update, this thread might be helpful to someone in the future!

The fenbendazole seems to be helping the foxface's belly a lot, he looks fantastic. He's never bloated now. It is doing nothing for the white poop though :( I'll keep going though.

I was thinking. What would happen if i just left the fish go? The clownfish have had white poop for over a year and they are the fattest they've ever been. I first noticed my foxface's poop like 5 months ago as well. Maybe they can live with it with good nutrition?

George9
12/21/2014, 06:04 PM
I apologize for posting three times in a row. But today i saw the fox poop three times...all three were big brown turds full of nori. It appears he is getting better!! I will continue what I am doing for a few more weeks.

DasCamel
12/21/2014, 11:52 PM
After treatment give the fish some time to heal. Probably why its better after a few days.

cngreg
12/22/2014, 08:33 AM
lifecycle of worms may be longer than you previously treated for. Consider if they layed eggs and those babies hatched in the tank to reinfect weeks to months later. In most animals (dogs/cows) vets deworm in pulses. Praziquantel is very different from levamisole/albendazole/fenbendazole but these drugs are all dosed similar (usually onvce a weeks every other week or every week depending on parasite) in order to kill new babies which reinfect. I say extend treatment of dewormer but you dont need to do it at every feeding or every day.

George9
12/22/2014, 08:39 AM
How often would it be good to feed the dewormer?

George9
12/28/2014, 07:08 PM
I took a few pictures of the rocky/sandy poop, which doesn't happen as often now. But, today he popped out a small rock shaped like a cylinder. It was rounded and hard, I couldn't break it with my fingers. This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about, it's mostly sand and hard discs, but weird shapes like this happen too. They're rocks!! It's making me think it's unrelated to parasites, but I don't have rocks these shapes.

Here it is
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/12/28/01d8170ab54e56660111d2e8e79c7202.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/12/28/42e31dbc0443eaa1e3b63ab84accedf1.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/12/28/dfbe660d9b467721801acbd015a16608.jpg

SonRK
03/10/2015, 03:43 PM
How is the stringy white poop coming along?

My clownfish still has it, and they don't look sickly or skinny....

I'm at my wits ends trying to rid of their internal parasites

George9
03/10/2015, 04:20 PM
They still have it! I just gave up and kept up with feeding a healthy diet and everything has been good. Its been nearly impossible to get rid of completely, but they are thriving and happy now :)

SonRK
03/10/2015, 05:02 PM
They still have it! I just gave up and kept up with feeding a healthy diet and everything has been good. Its been nearly impossible to get rid of completely, but they are thriving and happy now :)


Glad to hear our 'sick' fish are doing good. Mine are super healthy (at least they look like it)


BUT

I just found that New Life Spectrum sells medicated pellet food called "HEX Shield" for internal parasites. Other forums said it contains Metro as the main ingredient (which I tried to personally make, but I don't think I binded it correctly)


http://www.reef2rainforest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/10495080_568762693228851_659367993539521107_o.jpg

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+7927+28128+30015&pcatid=30015

But according to this link, I don't see Metro as part of the ingredient list. I'm gonna place an order tonight, and open another topic in a moment to both talk about my experience once it arrives + ask if anyone else here has tried it

George9
03/10/2015, 06:28 PM
YES! Great find, this must be brand new because I would have found it already if it wasn't! How exciting, I think I will order some too.

I did see on drs foster and smith that one of the ingredients was " IH-Imidazole." I'm guessing it just might be the metro, just written differently.

I don't think my metro is binding right either, I'm sure these pellets will deliver a lot more medication without all the fuss of soaking pellets


Edit- just ordered some on amazon. I have really high hopes for this!!

Worm864
03/11/2015, 08:39 AM
Let us know how how this new food goes

George9
03/12/2015, 06:25 PM
Will do :) it's due to arrive Wednesday.

George9
03/18/2015, 06:34 PM
Today was day one of the NLS medicated food. Everyone ate it just like any other pellet. It had a heavy garlic smell to it, but I don't think the fish have any idea its medicated, which is good!!

I will update with my results in time

George9
03/20/2015, 03:12 PM
The instructions state to only feed for three days, so today was my last day. The foxfaces poop does look better than it was before, and I think this food did do something. I will be away for about 4 days and the fish won't get fed, so I'm a little worried they will lose weight or something will happen during that time. But when I come home, I may feed the medicated food for three more days and then see over the next few weeks if the fish gains weight.

So far though, this food looks promising!! I'm surprised everyone eats it like CRAZY!

George9
03/25/2015, 05:23 PM
After 4 days of not eating while I was away, the foxface is the thinnest he has been so far. Do you think by just resuming feeding I can get that weight back on him? I hope he's not a lost cause now, but he still loves to eat and he had a normal poop right before I left so I'm hoping all will be well.

George9
04/08/2015, 04:59 PM
I'm happy to report that this food DOES work!! It's been a couple weeks now and it's obvious the fox has put a little weight on. I've been feeding normal pellets again soaked in selcon and his stomach is nice and flat and he's looking thicker. Im also getting a better response during feeding time. It's become an everyday thing for him to splash water out of the tank while eating.

Hopefully the improvement continues, but so far it looks like Hex Shield is a win

Deinonych
04/08/2015, 09:35 PM
Excellent news. I'm going to pick up some of this food to have on hand for new acquisitions in QT.

ThRoewer
04/09/2015, 01:15 AM
Hmmm, I may need to try that on my percula. They are a bit itchy and had some stringy poop. I know something is going on with them but so far couldn't see anything on them (and I look at them so often with my magnifying glass that my wife started complaining :D)

ThRoewer
04/12/2015, 06:12 PM
Well, tried it and my fish don't like the HEX Shield pellets.

kelp47
06/15/2015, 03:41 PM
I was going to start a new thread, but it might be better just to wake this one up... I'm wondering what you all decided with your fish.

I have had two b/w ocellaris clowns in QT for 4 weeks now. They have had white stringy poop off and on for most of the time. But they eat well and look health otherwise.

I first treated them with a few weeks ago with a couple of doses of metronidazole. I had to put that on hold when one of my fish was injured. A few days later, I restarted the metro and treated on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but the white poop did not disappear. The following week I gave them two doses (one treatment) of API General Cure, which is a combination of Prazi and Metro. I dosed on Wednesday and Friday, and did 25% a water change on Sunday as instructed. I tried to give it to them with frozen mysis the first time, but they weren't interested, so the next time, I just put it in the water (which the directions actually state should be done). Each pack treats 10 gallons. I have a 10 gallon QT, but I only have about 7 gallons of water in it, so I had to kind of guess at how much to put in.

What would you all recommend as a next step? ThRoewer, I know you mentioned on another thread that General Cure worked well for you. Was that after everything in this thread? Do you think I should try another round of treatment? ... is that safe? Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Aside from the white poop, I feel like the fish look, act and eat very well. So it's really hard to keep thinking about treating them. But I would like to get them into my display in the near future!

Could it be that healthy fish sometimes have white poop? Might stress cause white poop? I don't feel like my fish are overly stressed, but they are stuck in small QT with nothing but a flower pot and a couple pieces of PVC. And they don't like it too much when I clean out the uneaten food and waste twice a day.