Red thread hanging from fish

Question
QUESTION: Hello, i have a 20 litre tank and 3 red swordtails and they have red thingys
hanging from them , i assumed it was waste, but people think it's a sickness, so
which is it?
thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Monika,
For some reason, livebearers like Swordtails but also guppies, platies, and mollies have that tendency to have strings of waste trailing behind them often. Sometimes its just after they've had a good meal or maybe they need a little more fiber in their diet, which you can provide by giving them good quality algae wafers, as well as some lettuce, peas, or Zucchini.

But otherwise, they aren't sick and its perfectly normal.

Hope this helps!
Karen~

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

QUESTION: Thanks for the help, but i have another question, but for some reason it's totally off topic (but it's still about fish) I applied to be an expert 3 times now, and everytime they pass on it. I got another rejection email because of spelling and grammar errors. Im fed up, what did you do to get accepted? I just like fish, lol.

(by  the way, just another thing, this morning, before tennis camp..one of my bala sharks was dying, it was breathing heavily, but it would jump up and fling and swim for a short period. What gives? a heart attack? a disease? well, anyways, when i came home, we couldnt find the fish my dad swore he didnt take it out and neither did i, i didnt find it until now (it's 9:34 pm) well, um..i have a little ship with a hole and right now, i just spotted the fin, how did it get so well hidden in that teensy hole? luck? the filter's waves pushed it? or was it pecked at by the other fish? well no one knows unless you do, so email me soon!
-Monika

Answer
Hmm... Well at least the rejection email explained why so. I wouldn't give up. Keep trying, explain all your past experiences and think about a really smart way to describe it and tell all you know about fish. I think Allexperts are really really meanie critics when it comes to spelling and grammar errors. :-) But keep trying. I cannot daresay that I'm perfect when it comes to spelling and grammer. That's why there's a spell-check on in my "answering box" But with loads of practice you don't have much trouble like that at all.

I'm sorry to hear about the Bala shark. Poor thing. I've had these surprise deaths with the same symptoms with similar types of fish. This sounds strange but sometimes fish will panic and bump their heads into the decorations of the tank so hard that they have brain damage and they may also head the top of the tank or the sides and have the same type of lethal injury. This sounds really sad but its true and I've seen it first hand when one of my large Tinfoil barbs  (a very similar fish to bala sharks in shape and swimming behavior) hit the top of the tank's cover glass. He loss total equilibrium and floated around with occasional spasms and darts around the tank. There was nothing I could do for the poor guy and he died. This is just something that happens that you can't prevent. I do know that if there are other fish that pick on easily spooked fish then this possibility of injury is very high. But anything from switching the lights on suddenly, sudden loud noises or vibrations, or quick movement that surprises them can send them into a panic.

Your bala shark probably wanted to go into a quiet dark place away from the other fish since he was on his way to going to the big pond in heaven.

Well, I hope to see you on Allexperts soon!!!
Karen~