DisVillain
Community Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2018
- Messages
- 35
- Reaction score
- 33
- What state or country do you live in
- Illinois
This is really hard for me to post. 
So I apologize if this is too much to read, but I want to be as detailed as possible. Hubby and I are new to the hobby. I researched and read everything QT related months before we got our first fish. Medications were bought before the fish even came home. I got API General Care, Parazipro, Seachem Metro/Focus, and Paraguard. The initial plan was to prophylactically treat. Never happened. I had to medicate from the very start....
I bought a bonded pair of Frostbite Clownfish from CoralReef TN, (SA), last month. Fish arrived on a Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 pm. (QT already cycled, made with RO/DI water, TDS output 0. Marine Penguin HOB). Floated bag for 15 mins in QT. Observed the fish during this time. They looked very healthy and color was vibrant. We did the plop and drop acclimation as stated in the directions CoralReef sent.
The female had a rough time after getting them in the QT. She stayed in the bottom corner of the tank. Breathing heavily, and just laying there. The male stayed by her side. He was doing well. I added in the air bubbler I bought, and while she stayed at the bottom of the tank for the rest of the night, her breathing improved within a few hours of the bubbler working. With no other visible symptoms, we decided to wait overnight and see if she'd make it overnight.
The next morning, 16 hours after they were delivered, the female was completely normal. Swimming around, breathing is normal. I feed them breakfast of NLS pellets, and they ate. An hour later I notice the female has white stringy poop.
I wasn't overly concerned as I've heard fish can get stressed during shipment. So I dosed the tank with API General Cure. The next morning, Day 3 of QT, I notice the male also has white stringy poop. Continue GC until the full treatment is complete. During this whole time, fish are looking and acting super healthy. Eating well.
Once the treatment was done (and water change), I spent the next day observing, and did notice white stringy poop. I then moved on to dosing with Parazipro. Did the full treatment for that. White stringy poop still there. No other symptoms present. Fish still looking and acting very healthy.
So I moved on mixing metro/focus in food. Did it with frozen, and they loved it! Was able to get in almost 2 weeks of metro, and then female stopped eating. She started hiding behind the pvc, and not swimming her normal laps like she does all day. So that night I started feeding without metro/focus. Male ate. Female still wasn't having it. So I dosed the tank with API GC...(again). Used this 3 weeks ago and it didn't work, but I've got to try something.
The next day I try feeding frozen food. She still won't eat. The male wasn't eating that 2nd day either.
Pause story - For the 4 weeks we've had the fish, water parameters have always been stable. Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0.05 or less, PH 8.0 - 8.2, Nitrates 2ppm or less. Temp is 78 degrees. We do 25% water changes every 3 or 4 days.
So now we're on day 3 of the female not eating. (Which was yesterday.) She looks very pale; eyes, and belly look swollen. She's hanging out in the bottom of pvc since the day before. What's weird is that the male started eating on this day. His coloring looks great, and swims around some, but spends most of his time trying to hide under the pvc.
Yesterday, I spent time looking at pics of brooklynella, velvet....but she doesn't look like she had those at all. Just looked really pale. Maybe because the internal parasite was getting worse. So a fresh water dip had crossed my mind, but read that really only helps with Velvet/Ich. Not sure if it would have helped with internal parasite. I didn't want to stress her out if it wasn't going to help, so I decided against it.
I told my husband I had a feeling she wasn't going to last another day....and I was right. My husband checked in on them at 4am this morning and found the female had passed.
Male is still here. His coloring looks great. He didn't eat this morning, but not sure if the female passing stressed him out or not. His only physical symptom is white stringy poop. He's still hiding around the pvc pipe. His normal behavior was like the female, swimming laps in the front of the tank all day. He hasn't done that in a few days.
Question - Based on the details I gave, does anyone know exactly what is wrong with my fish?
We actually bought enough items to do a 2nd QT setup, so we'll be setting up that new tank tonight, add Biospira and get the male in that tank and in some clean saltwater. Guess we'll be doing daily water changes since it's not cycled. Just not sure what to treat the male with??
The only medicine I have on hand that I haven't tried yet is Paraguard. With no external, physical symptoms on the fish, I can only guess the white stringy poop is a symptom of a parasite or bacteria infection, right? It's extremely frustrating that NONE of the medicines I've used will eradicate the white poop.
Very frustrated new hobbyist,
Chelle
So I apologize if this is too much to read, but I want to be as detailed as possible. Hubby and I are new to the hobby. I researched and read everything QT related months before we got our first fish. Medications were bought before the fish even came home. I got API General Care, Parazipro, Seachem Metro/Focus, and Paraguard. The initial plan was to prophylactically treat. Never happened. I had to medicate from the very start....I bought a bonded pair of Frostbite Clownfish from CoralReef TN, (SA), last month. Fish arrived on a Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 pm. (QT already cycled, made with RO/DI water, TDS output 0. Marine Penguin HOB). Floated bag for 15 mins in QT. Observed the fish during this time. They looked very healthy and color was vibrant. We did the plop and drop acclimation as stated in the directions CoralReef sent.
The female had a rough time after getting them in the QT. She stayed in the bottom corner of the tank. Breathing heavily, and just laying there. The male stayed by her side. He was doing well. I added in the air bubbler I bought, and while she stayed at the bottom of the tank for the rest of the night, her breathing improved within a few hours of the bubbler working. With no other visible symptoms, we decided to wait overnight and see if she'd make it overnight.
The next morning, 16 hours after they were delivered, the female was completely normal. Swimming around, breathing is normal. I feed them breakfast of NLS pellets, and they ate. An hour later I notice the female has white stringy poop.
I wasn't overly concerned as I've heard fish can get stressed during shipment. So I dosed the tank with API General Cure. The next morning, Day 3 of QT, I notice the male also has white stringy poop. Continue GC until the full treatment is complete. During this whole time, fish are looking and acting super healthy. Eating well.
Once the treatment was done (and water change), I spent the next day observing, and did notice white stringy poop. I then moved on to dosing with Parazipro. Did the full treatment for that. White stringy poop still there. No other symptoms present. Fish still looking and acting very healthy.
So I moved on mixing metro/focus in food. Did it with frozen, and they loved it! Was able to get in almost 2 weeks of metro, and then female stopped eating. She started hiding behind the pvc, and not swimming her normal laps like she does all day. So that night I started feeding without metro/focus. Male ate. Female still wasn't having it. So I dosed the tank with API GC...(again). Used this 3 weeks ago and it didn't work, but I've got to try something.
The next day I try feeding frozen food. She still won't eat. The male wasn't eating that 2nd day either.
Pause story - For the 4 weeks we've had the fish, water parameters have always been stable. Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0.05 or less, PH 8.0 - 8.2, Nitrates 2ppm or less. Temp is 78 degrees. We do 25% water changes every 3 or 4 days.
So now we're on day 3 of the female not eating. (Which was yesterday.) She looks very pale; eyes, and belly look swollen. She's hanging out in the bottom of pvc since the day before. What's weird is that the male started eating on this day. His coloring looks great, and swims around some, but spends most of his time trying to hide under the pvc.
Yesterday, I spent time looking at pics of brooklynella, velvet....but she doesn't look like she had those at all. Just looked really pale. Maybe because the internal parasite was getting worse. So a fresh water dip had crossed my mind, but read that really only helps with Velvet/Ich. Not sure if it would have helped with internal parasite. I didn't want to stress her out if it wasn't going to help, so I decided against it.
I told my husband I had a feeling she wasn't going to last another day....and I was right. My husband checked in on them at 4am this morning and found the female had passed.
Male is still here. His coloring looks great. He didn't eat this morning, but not sure if the female passing stressed him out or not. His only physical symptom is white stringy poop. He's still hiding around the pvc pipe. His normal behavior was like the female, swimming laps in the front of the tank all day. He hasn't done that in a few days.
Question - Based on the details I gave, does anyone know exactly what is wrong with my fish?
We actually bought enough items to do a 2nd QT setup, so we'll be setting up that new tank tonight, add Biospira and get the male in that tank and in some clean saltwater. Guess we'll be doing daily water changes since it's not cycled. Just not sure what to treat the male with??
The only medicine I have on hand that I haven't tried yet is Paraguard. With no external, physical symptoms on the fish, I can only guess the white stringy poop is a symptom of a parasite or bacteria infection, right? It's extremely frustrating that NONE of the medicines I've used will eradicate the white poop.
Very frustrated new hobbyist,
Chelle
