fahaka pooping white bubble string

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

the issue with the water is the tap water' s ph is 8.1 and i have been having him in 7.1 due to the planted tank and co2 injection. i didnt want to shock him with the ph inbalance of the 2 waters. this way the co2 leaves slowly and he acclimates to tap water ph while in his hospital tank.

he didnt eat even when soaked in garlic guard. i dosed the water just cause he isnt eating and i read that the metronidazole will soak into his system through his gills slowly. i am doing this so he atleast gets some contact with the medication until i can get a food he will ingest. my girl is gonna get lamisole hydrochloride from our local feed store so i can deworm him also.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yeah, I always use about 1/4-1/2 of the old water, to prevent any kind of pH shock.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by RTR »

Clarification: Nitrification bacteria (aka 'cycle" bacteria) require a surface to grow on. There are many, many forms of bacteria, lots of them can and do live in the water column
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

Okay... he still has the white string stuck at his anus, its just poking out and hasnt moved much if at all. I have read that people add epsom salt to the water to help things pass through to make it easier for fish. Could i and should i add some epsom salt to help him push it out? I didnt want to add any if it would harm him but it looks like the little guy is uncomfortable.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by bertie 83 »

If he is having trouble passing it by all means add some epsom salt to help him pass it
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by purplecandle »

boosted23 wrote:He is in a planted tank. I have 120lbs of eco-complete in my 150 gallon. Its about 2 inches thick.
I drained all the water out of the 10 gallon and transfer water from his 150 into it. That way i could put him right in and he wont get stressed from different parameters. I am soaking bloodworms in garlic guard and med right now. I will see if he eats it. He is small enough that he has a decent amount of space in the tank. He is still expelling white string from him. Hopefully he eats and this works.
ok, just my eyes playing tricks on me. lol little fish, big tank....
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

purplecandle wrote:
boosted23 wrote:He is in a planted tank. I have 120lbs of eco-complete in my 150 gallon. Its about 2 inches thick.
I drained all the water out of the 10 gallon and transfer water from his 150 into it. That way i could put him right in and he wont get stressed from different parameters. I am soaking bloodworms in garlic guard and med right now. I will see if he eats it. He is small enough that he has a decent amount of space in the tank. He is still expelling white string from him. Hopefully he eats and this works.
ok, just my eyes playing tricks on me. lol little fish, big tank....
Lol, yes, he is only about 2" himself. now i am getting worried. My girl says he is just laying there, not moving and he is thinning in the middle with a lump next to his anus with what looks to be a worm stuck or slowly coming out. Should i try to help push it out and then try to pull it out? Or should i try epsom salt bath? I dont want the little guy dying on me......
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

ok. he still has what looks to be a worm or something still trying to come out. he has these bumps on his belly also. are these bumps from air or the parasite? should i be worried?

i have dosed the water with 250mg of metronidazole cause he wont eat nothing. also dosed cephalexin as per l.f.s. and put epsom salt in there too tohelp him pass the parasite cause it looks stuck.

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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

he is still alive. white belly, he still wont eat. i got api general cure that has praziquantal and metronidazole in it. his stomach lumps have gotten less, i seen him poopa little white string. he moves around at times but mostly lays there. i have added epsom salt to help him pass it. i am waiting for the levimasole hydrochloride to come in the mail and dose him with that. hopefully he passes whatever this is and gets back to his normal self. his tank misses him. he has a good amount of snails to eat now when he returns.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

i got my prohibit levamisole hcl dewormer in the mail today. I dosed it to 4.5 mg/l in the tank. it has been about an hour and a half now and he is swimming around and he is finally eating snails again!!!!! i guess nematodes is what he has and he is on the road to recovery. i gotta dose it for 24hours every 7 days for a month to make sure it kills it in all its life cycles.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by Pufferpunk »

Woo-Hoo!!! Try earthworms injected with the meds.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

He will touch earthworms.i got some from walmart and its a no go. He has def. perked up. He wont pluck snails off the glass but he hunts them in the substrate and plants now. i also got him some small crabs and he tries to eat them but he cant break the shell yet. lol. I am gonna keep trying earthworms too.
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by defool89 »

This may sound cruel but crush those crabs a bit and expose some meat. I used to do it for a baby f8...i leav the crabs/crawfish partially alive so they still twitch and move while meat and organs stand out...puffers go nuts for em
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Re: fahaka pooping white bubble string

Post by boosted23 »

i was about doing that but now i have to try and find them.. i havent seen them in days now. they are either under the wood i used to make his cave or he ate them finally? i pulled the claw off the bigger one cause it pinched him and he didnt like it. but when i put the claw in there, he tore it up. that really kick started his eating again cause he wouldnt eat the snails but now he is alway on the hunt for them now.
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