That’s a good point so far his feces seem normal and he is not experiencing any symptoms as of now he is still his normal self but I will keep an eye out.
Green Terror stopped eating randomly
- Thread starter Cichlids186
- Start date
Could you look at his feces with a microscope? Fish only start having stringy white poop when the parasite infestation has gotten really bad, but they can still have parasites for a long time before that.
My GT has not been eating for a month, hide most of the time, but still show good color and no wasting yet. It has white stingy poop so the parasite infestation is deep. The parasites are ubiquitous, normally harmless and not contagious, and affect vulnerable fish only. There is no easy treatment, so I don’t plan to do anything and just let nature takes its course and hope it will recover on its own, but likely a goner.
Wow I still haven’t seen his poop but he acts the same and colors still fine just like yours. Hopefully they overcome it and get better.
Most parasites are extremely contagious actually. When you find parasites in the feces of one of the fishes in an aquarium, you can usually safely assume that all the fishes in that tank have been infected even if you don't see stringy white poop yet and the whole tank should be treated. Treatment can be lenghty, but most parasites are treatable (especially if you correctly identify the parasites using a microscope first), so I would attempt treatment. It is very unlikely that he will recover on his own, those parasites are happy and thriving, they're not gonna just die on their own. And if you keep other fishes with him, unless he has a parasite that requires an intermediate host such as a bird, the parasites will spread to all the other fishes. Some of them might survive for some time with parasites, some of them might not.
When my green terror had capillaria worms, he started spitting out his food, but he never lost his amazing colors and he was still very active, always shaking his head at his reflection like he wanted to breed. But when I examined his feces with a microscope, he had THOUSANDS of capillaria eggs in them. So apparently they might not start losing their colors or behaving differently until the infestation is so bad that they are about to die.
So what exactly am I looking for if I examine his feces with a microscope how do I know what type of parasite it is and how do you treat most of them?
You compare the slide to pictures on the internet and then you will have the name of the parasite. Or get a fish book that provides pictures of common fish parasite.
**I hope it’s ok to post this link**
This is where I go to identify parasites. I have found it to be very helpful.
They not only identify them, but tell you what magnification to use and treatment options.
Parasite Pictures And Information
This is an in the works so please double check me before using. I'm learning with you. *An incredible video on parasites* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAPVLd4w4xE No using proform and salt together. Here's a nice print out to go in your first aid kit, bugs at a glance...
www.koiphen.com
This is where I go to identify parasites. I have found it to be very helpful.
They not only identify them, but tell you what magnification to use and treatment options.
