White stringy poop

Q&A about diseases and their cure

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rizzoy
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:32 pm

White stringy poop

Post by rizzoy »

My baby EBJD's have stated showing sign of illness. lazy, white stringy poop, not as hungry. can someone tell me what the heck is going on?
Pam Chin
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Re: White stringy poop

Post by Pam Chin »

Hi rizzoy,

Generally when cichlids get stringy and white feces this is a symptom of the dreaded bloat. Bloat is usually caused by stress, and so you can medicate, but, if you do not remove or change what was causing the stress it will just come back. So take a look at your set up, is everything appropriate for this type of cichlid. Double check your equipment, heater, what about tankmates? Your issue is compounded with EBJD being harder to keep. They are more delicate, and less hearty then regular Jack Dempsey's.

If you catch it early, you can sometimes get them back on the right track by increasing your water changes, and cutting back on food. If that doesn't work, then you will have to decide how you want to treat them, there are several meds on the market. Bloat can have many definitions, it can a parasite, it could be bacterial, or it could be an actual blockage in the intestinal system. Most people try to correct the problem and increase their water changes because if you are not sure what the issue is, treating with the wrong meds is worse then not treating at all. These meds are nasty and will kill the beneficial bacteria in your tank, so you may want to treat in a hospital tank.

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