Possible Parasite?

[hey_wood1981]

Flowerhorn is about 3”. Only tank mate it a clown pleco.
Tank is fully cycled.
Water parameters are in check.
Weekly water changes of 40%.
Temperature 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lots of Anubis and Java fern with some dragon stone. Will be getting rid of the dragon stone with weekly Sunday water change.
He was possibly stressed out by a 2” flowerhorn tank mate. Within 30 mins of physical aggression the smaller one was removed and taken to LFS.
He is very active, still eating and constantly swims all over the tank.

About 24 hrs ago I noticed white/stringy feces come out along with normal colored feces attached. His stomach is a little plump. It appears that his anus might be protruding, and is white in color. I quit feeding about 24 hrs ago. I went out and purchased epsom salt, distilled water, and eye droppers just in case.

He still seems healthy, greets me as usual when approaching the aquarium.
What should I do?

 

[hey_wood1981]

He’s hard to get pics of.

 

[kno4te]

Could be just prolapse and food causing the poop to be different colors. What are u feeding? Need to dose some epsom salt to the tank at 1 tbsp per 5g and soak the food in some epsom salt solution.

 

[hey_wood1981]

Thanks for the response.

Hikari Blood Red Parrot+ medium pellets is what I’ve been feeding. Possibly too large for him?

I do have smaller pellets - Omega One Super Color Pellets, but after reading threads on here, I decided to not feed him that as the ingredients aren’t that great.

Will dosing the tank harm the clown pleco or plants?

I’ll dose the tank after a water change tomorrow. Will I need to re-treat the tank? Do I stick to my weekly water change schedule?

How many days should I feed him the salt soaked food? What ratio would you recommend?

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

I do have smaller pellets - Omega One Super Color Pellets, but after reading threads on here, I decided to not feed him that as the ingredients aren’t that great.

This is news to me. I feed this to everything even ranchu goldfish. Have never had any problems.
I would definitely stop feeding a large pellet to such a small fish.

 

[hey_wood1981]

Someone was saying that Omega One wasn’t what it used to be. More fillers now? But, that’s good to hear, as I have 2 containers of it.

Perhaps the medium pellets help contribute to the prolapse? I noticed it more so after feeding.

 

[kno4te]

Thanks for the response.

Hikari Blood Red Parrot+ medium pellets is what I’ve been feeding. Possibly too large for him?

I do have smaller pellets - Omega One Super Color Pellets, but after reading threads on here, I decided to not feed him that as the ingredients aren’t that great.

Will dosing the tank harm the clown pleco or plants?

I’ll dose the tank after a water change tomorrow. Will I need to re-treat the tank? Do I stick to my weekly water change schedule?

How many days should I feed him the salt soaked food? What ratio would you recommend?

Shouldn’t effect the clown pleco or plants. If the prolapse continues or something changes then will need to retreat. Feed daily. Once the prolapse has reduced and sometimes it doesn’t then can back off of soaking the pellet. Would try and introduce using nls algae max into the diet. More of the algae max and occasionally use a regular cichlids pellet. Lots of pellets have fillers in it unfortunately.

 

[RD.]

I don’t think it has anything to do with diet, your fish looked dark and sickly in the first pics that you posted here The dark substrate caused the confusion I believe. . My guess is spironucleus vortens. Start feeding the same pellets but pre-soak in epsom salt solution until prolapse retracts. See sticky at top of this section for more info. This is exactly how my FH in that sticky looked shortly after arriving at my doorstep. Good luck

 

[RD.]

Someone was saying that Omega One wasn’t what it used to be. More fillers now?

Yes, that was me, and it does, compared to years ago.

BTW - those Omega "Shrimp Pellets", with the new & improved raw ingredients (wheat, wheat, and more wheat) were recently mysteriously changed to "Catfish Pellets". Same picture on the old & new labels, same exact ingredient list. ( wheat x 3, + pea protein) No mention on their website of the name change.
Noticed this when at a local big box store a few months back, just thought that it was odd, and disappointing, as the old Shrimp pellets had IMO a quality ingredient list.

Shrimp Pellets - Sinking | OmegaSea®

Old Shrimp Pellet ingredient list.

INGREDIENTS: Whole Shrimp, Whole Salmon, Cod, Whole Herring, Seafood Mix (Including Krill, Rockfish, Shrimp, Squid, Slams, Salmon Eggs, and Octopus), Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Natural and Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement,Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Tocopherol (Preservative), Ethoxyquin (Preservative).

New Shrimp Pellet (now changed to Catfish Pellet) ingredient list:

INGREDIENTS:
Salmon, Wheat Germ Meal, Shrimp, Wheat Flour, Pea Protein, Whole Herring, Wheat Gluten, Herring Oil, Dried Kelp, Vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphospate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Inositol, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Citric Acid (Preservative), Vinegar, Mixed Tocopherols (Preservative), Rosemary Extract, Astaxanthin (Color), Canthaxanthin (Color)


Formerly named Shrimp Pellets, formerly contained more fresh shrimp/fish from Alaska. ?

But again, that didn't create your problem. Adding a new fish did, and that stress triggered what now appears to be a case of Spiro that was already lingering in the background.

 

[hey_wood1981]

I don’t think it has anything to do with diet, your fish looked dark and sickly in the first pics that you posted here The dark substrate caused the confusion I believe. . My guess is spironucleus vortens. Start feeding the same pellets but pre-soak in epsom salt solution until prolapse retracts. See sticky at top of this section for more info. This is exactly how my FH in that sticky looked shortly after arriving at my doorstep. Good luck

So dose the tank with epsom salt and continue to feed the medium Hikari pellets soaked in salt/distilled water as well?

I could switch to the small, Omega One pellets as he’ll eat anything thrown into the tank.

Thanks for the replies everyone!