- Messages
- 116
My juvinile keyhole is swimming very slowly with clamped fins. He has white stringy feces. Im assuming an intestinal infection? what do i do? would Melafix help?
-
Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!
Sick Keyhole
- Thread starter crimsonrain
- Start date
- Messages
- 1,164
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
Sick Cleithracara maronii
Hello Crimsonrain,
White stringy feces, slow movement and clamped fins are consistant with intestinal protozoa, probably Spironucleus. The treatment is metronidazole. Aquatronics makes a brand called Hex-a-mit that contains the drug. Please start treatment immediately! Spironucleus infection is lethal in many dwarf cichlids and is contagious.
Good luck.
Randall Kohn
Hello Crimsonrain,
White stringy feces, slow movement and clamped fins are consistant with intestinal protozoa, probably Spironucleus. The treatment is metronidazole. Aquatronics makes a brand called Hex-a-mit that contains the drug. Please start treatment immediately! Spironucleus infection is lethal in many dwarf cichlids and is contagious.
Good luck.
Randall Kohn
I am not as experienced as randall with this problem and would only add that metronidazol is much more effective if given orally and is generally fat soluble
i try to get mine mixed with food so the fish eat it
I have no experience with the product listed , and it maybe alterd to be more water soluble
In case's where the fish is not eating in water medication can still be effective
All the best
Andrew
i try to get mine mixed with food so the fish eat it
I have no experience with the product listed , and it maybe alterd to be more water soluble
In case's where the fish is not eating in water medication can still be effective
All the best
Andrew
- Messages
- 116
could it also be stress? i have a somewhat bossy gold ram and these fish are new to my tank. my lfs told me it could be stress from being pushed around and the feces could be white because of that also. my other keyhole displays the same behavior and is sometimes fine.Also, my lfs recommended i put salt as a stress reliver because they were in salt at the lfs...ive heard salt id bad for dwarfs...what is true?
- Messages
- 1,164
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
Spironucleus
Hello Crimsonrain,
As far as I know, long white stringy feces are not associated with stress. If your fish exhibit this symptom, I highly recommend that you start treatment straight away while you still can. If your fish are infected with intestinal protazoa, salt will not hurt, but it won't help much either. Microgeophagus ramirezi are extremely suseptable as well.
Good luck to you.
Randall Kohn
Hello Crimsonrain,
As far as I know, long white stringy feces are not associated with stress. If your fish exhibit this symptom, I highly recommend that you start treatment straight away while you still can. If your fish are infected with intestinal protazoa, salt will not hurt, but it won't help much either. Microgeophagus ramirezi are extremely suseptable as well.
Good luck to you.
Randall Kohn
- Messages
- 116
my guppy also has string white feces and looks bloated...would this be the same thing?what will salt do?
- Messages
- 1,164
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
Intestinal protozoa
Hello Crimsonrain,
I don't think Poecilia spp. are suseptable to intestinal protozoa. Many cichlids, on the other hand, are. Adding salt to the water will make it salty. Past that, I know of no benefit where intestinal parasites are concerned. Salt can be of value to stressed fish in that it changes the osmotic pressure of water, enabling the fish's body not to have to work so hard to intake mineral salts and trace elements. The added salt, in a way, gives the fish a little rest. Salt is also of benefit with ectoparasitic infections like Ich. The added salt iritates the fish's skin causing its immune system to produce more slime coat. This added layer helps to protect the fish from external parasites. None of these salt induced benefits, however, have anything to do with intestinal parasites.
Perhaps you'd like to pick up a copy of Dr. Gottfried Schubert's Fish Diseases-A Complete Introduction, TFH Publications, Inc., 1995. This book is a paperback, is inexpensive and will help you to diagnose and treat fish diseases.
Good luck!
Randall Kohn
Hello Crimsonrain,
I don't think Poecilia spp. are suseptable to intestinal protozoa. Many cichlids, on the other hand, are. Adding salt to the water will make it salty. Past that, I know of no benefit where intestinal parasites are concerned. Salt can be of value to stressed fish in that it changes the osmotic pressure of water, enabling the fish's body not to have to work so hard to intake mineral salts and trace elements. The added salt, in a way, gives the fish a little rest. Salt is also of benefit with ectoparasitic infections like Ich. The added salt iritates the fish's skin causing its immune system to produce more slime coat. This added layer helps to protect the fish from external parasites. None of these salt induced benefits, however, have anything to do with intestinal parasites.
Perhaps you'd like to pick up a copy of Dr. Gottfried Schubert's Fish Diseases-A Complete Introduction, TFH Publications, Inc., 1995. This book is a paperback, is inexpensive and will help you to diagnose and treat fish diseases.
Good luck!
Randall Kohn
- Messages
- 116
Randall, you sure are a handy guy to have around, thank you so much. Ill go to Petco tomorrow and get Hex-a-mit. Would you still recommend salt? and how much? i heard anything from 1tbsp per gallon to one heaping tablespoon per 5 gallons. what do you recommend?
- Messages
- 1,164
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
Salt
Hello again,
If you want to add salt to your water, most packaging recommends 1 rounded tablespoon per five gallons. I don't know that in this case it will be of any benefit, however. Before administering medication, a water change should be done, and carbon should be removed from the filter.
Good luck!
RK
Hello again,
If you want to add salt to your water, most packaging recommends 1 rounded tablespoon per five gallons. I don't know that in this case it will be of any benefit, however. Before administering medication, a water change should be done, and carbon should be removed from the filter.
Good luck!
RK
- Messages
- 116
would u recommend I use the salt then medicate or vice versa?
- Messages
- 116
My lfs says i shouldnt medicate because its stress...i havent seen any more white feces. plus the lfs didnt have any internal medication whatsoever. 
the white stringy feaces, as Randall has already pointed out, occurs when parasites irritate the mucosal lining of the intestine's
this leads to mucus being secreted into the digestive tract and a paler sticky feaces will form
Parasites that may cause this are protozoan, coccidian and also cestodes, with the fomer being more pathogenic in fish and requiring prompt attention
Are the fish still feeding?
Andrew
this leads to mucus being secreted into the digestive tract and a paler sticky feaces will form
Parasites that may cause this are protozoan, coccidian and also cestodes, with the fomer being more pathogenic in fish and requiring prompt attention
Are the fish still feeding?
Andrew
- Messages
- 116
they were,but i havent seen them eat today...no lfs has meds! so i cant do anything anyways, all I have is melafix and all the lfs has is similar medications, no internal meds. does anyone know of a website that would deliver hex-a-mit fast and relitively cheap?(I only need enough to treat 20 gallons.) or does anyone want to send me some?i really dont want to loose these fish. I added some salt to ease the stress, but it sounds like you guys know more than my lfs, so please help if you can. thanks for all the information you have given me.
- Messages
- 116
***UPDATE***
I was watching them today, they seem to be more active and thier stress colors dissapear in the presense of food, they are foraging like they normally do, although a bit slower. they no longer have stringy white feces, they are darker in color, but have small white dots, which I am sure is still infection. Also there are tiny white wormy looking things crawling up from the gravel...could these be the culprits? what are they?
ive been doing frequent water changes.(they occour in my betta bowl when i havent changed the water for a while)I still want to medicate. do these sound like improving conditions? thanks so much for all the help.
I was watching them today, they seem to be more active and thier stress colors dissapear in the presense of food, they are foraging like they normally do, although a bit slower. they no longer have stringy white feces, they are darker in color, but have small white dots, which I am sure is still infection. Also there are tiny white wormy looking things crawling up from the gravel...could these be the culprits? what are they?
ive been doing frequent water changes.(they occour in my betta bowl when i havent changed the water for a while)I still want to medicate. do these sound like improving conditions? thanks so much for all the help.
- Messages
- 1,164
- Location
- New Jersey, USA
Hello?
Dear Crimsonrain,
What is your name, please?
Please tell us about these little white dots. Are the fins clamped due to Ich?
Randall Kohn
Dear Crimsonrain,
What is your name, please?
Please tell us about these little white dots. Are the fins clamped due to Ich?
Randall Kohn
- Messages
- 116
My name is Rachel,
no, there is no ich in my tank. the white dots were in the feces.
no, there is no ich in my tank. the white dots were in the feces.
- Messages
- 116
one is dying, he will definetly not make it. My other one still has hope. he is showing stress colors, but have not seen the white feced from him and his fins arent clamped. sometimes he swims like nothing is wrong, other times he lies on the bottom.
- Messages
- 116
ok the one died, the other is still alive, but swims rather erratically and is rubing on rocks and stuff in the tank. he seems as though he will die too...i just feel bad for him he looks misrable.
- Messages
- 116
the one left is what i could only call "shimmying"(sp) he satys in one spot moving his body back and forth really fast and spastically. am I dealing with some other disease here or is this almost the end of him?
