Stringy Poo - Not Eating

Question
QUESTION: Hi there,

I have a Pearl scale and a Moore fish. The pearl scale i have had for a month or two and has been absolutely fine. Now all of a sudden he's not eating, and his poo is white / see through and really stringy. The Moore fish is OK but again not that keen at feeding time. The gravel is vacuumed with a siphon every two weeks in turn changing 10 - 20% of the water. I De-chlorinate the water and put easy balance in to help with PH levels etc. They have blood work / daphnea pellets one night and flakes another (alternate). The water is carbon / sponge filtered and has adequate aeration.
Please could you help, i don't know what I'm doing wrong?

Kind regards, Simon

ANSWER: Hi Simon,

Have you checked the water paramters?  99% of issues with fish are directly a result of the water quality.  Get a liquid drop test kit (strips are horribly inaccurate) and look for ammonia and nitrites (should be 0) and nitrates (should be 5-20 ppm).

It's possible that they do not have enough variety in their diet.  All fish do best on a varied diet and goldfish do best on a diet of flakes and pellets but also fresh veges and fruits with some protein foods like brine shrimp and bloodworms as well.  I would try and hold off on all foods for 3 days to purge the system and then try a fresh, thawed, skinned pea or a raw fresh spinach leaf.  This will help relieve any constipation.  When you do feed flake or pellet or any dried foods try pre-soaking them as this helps them take in less air.  You can also add 1 tsp. per 5 gallons of water of aquarium salt as this helps reduce stress.

Also, make sure the tank is of adequate size and properly filtered.  Two fancy goldfish would require a 30 gallon tank with a filter rated for a 60 gallon tank.  A sponge filter is not going to cut it in a goldfish tank.  These are weak and are generally used for fry tanks.  It is quite possible that if the tank is too small and the filtration not strong enough that the waste is backing up and causing ammonia and nitrite problems.  Again, this is why the water needs to be tested asap.

Once you know the results of your water tests and can rule that out try the food hold off and vege diet for a few days and you should see a marked improvement.

Good luck : ) April M.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: 1.  The size of your tank (how many gallons)? 15 Gallons

2.  The size of your filtration (how many gallons, is it a hang on filter or canister)? Filter can handle anything up to 200 Liters apparently

3.  How long the tank has been established or how long cycling? One month

4.  What kind of fish and how many you have in the tank?
The pearl scale just died :-( so just one moore fish (seems happy) and one hill stream loach (again happy but only seems to eat lichen, not interested in pellets / flakes / peas etc. Is this normal?).

5.  Your last ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and temp readings?  ammonia @ 0, nitrate @ <0.3mg/l, pH @ 7 - 7.5
and temperature @ 18 deg C.

6.  If your fish is sick, please give me all symptoms, including behavioral issues and appearance issues and for how long? The pearl scale was very lethargic and gradually began to eat less and less, and produce almost transparent poo. He then disappeared into an ornament for 2 days where i found him dead this evening.

Hope this info is of use.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Simon.

Answer
Hi Simon,

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your poor fish.  I lost a betta a few days ago that I had for quite some time, he was my favorite fish in my tropical community tank and it really bummed me out.

The first problem is that your tank really isn't sufficient for 2 fancy goldfish.  They would really need 30 gallons together.  The other problem is the sponge filter.  They do much better with canister filtration of double the size of the tank and do not do well with weak filters such as a sponge or undergravel system.  Now if you have a hang on filter with a sponge in it that is different and at a 50 gallon rated capacity should be okay.

Plus, the tank is not finished cycling likely.  I didn't see a nitrite reading on there (it is different than nitrAte) but it's likely that while you have 0 ammonia you may be at the stage where you have nitrite and this is still extremely toxic, just like ammonia, and will kill fish.

It's also possible that you just got bad stock.  This can happen occassionally.

Be careful with your temp.  While golfish do like cooler temps, 64-72F, the hillstream loach's bottom out temp is about 68 F.  The 18C might be a little chilly for him but if he's not acting stressed don't worry about it, just keep an eye on him.  He is a herbivore, but will also accept meaty foods.  Diatoms (brown algae) in the tank as well as algae wafers as a treat are good algae foods, but for the meaty foods, mysis shrimp and bloodworms are good foods.  You can also try spirulina algae crisps too.

I would just keep what you have for the 15 gallon tank.  If and when you upgrade you could try another goldfish.

Good luck : ) April M.