# common pleco with super long feces pictures attached



## Jenn31

My 5 year old pleco has always had normal feces until last week. He is constantly pooping out long strings of feces. Was white with clear spots and hairlike a few days ago and now it's back to normal colour but still crazy long. The third picture shows the amount of stool from the pleco in less than 12 hours. I also have a weather loach in the same tank that has been acting a lot less active lately and pale in color. They are the only 2 fish in s 30 gallon tank with all normal water readings except the ph is higher side st 8.0 from well water. I have been treating the tank with Malfex for the last week but don't see much difference in fish. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## WildForFish

Hello Jenn31,

Does the plecos belly look full or sunken or concave?

What have you been feeding?

Do you have driftwood in the tank? 

Can you post the actual readings of the tank parameters?

I would stop the melaflx as it is used for bacterial infections and you may be dealing with a Internal parasite (which is normally indicated by thin white or clear stringy poop)

To post pictures, please use a service like photobucket.


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## Jenn31

Ammonia 0,nitrites and nitrates 0,and ph 8

His belly could be a little swollen, and the loaches nose area looks kind of swollen as well. I was suspecting bacteria possibly because my oranda goldfish passed away last fall and the pet store worker thought it was a bacterial infection( tumor on weft , lethargic, loss of color), and when I had my well water tested the results showed Coliform bacteria along with high iron and magnese. When i do a Google search regarding the long poop it says it could be either internal parasites or bacterial infection but it's so hard to tell which one. I feed him algae wafers daily and cucumber or zucchini once or twice a week.


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## Jenn31

And no drift wood in tank, just artificial log and artificial plants and a Aqua tech 20-40 filter


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## WildForFish

Which specie of pleco?


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## Jenn31

I think he's a common pleco but not positive. He's 5 or 6 years old and about 6" long


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## Jenn31

Have never seen him poop so much it's almost constant which isn't normal for him to do.


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## WildForFish

ok, Please post a picture of the pleco using a photo service if you can,

Your water parameters indicate the tank is not cycled, how long has it been running?
Normal numbers for a cycled tank will be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes and a positive reading for nitrAtes.

In general, plecos need a varied diet and require driftwood in order to properly digest,


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## Jenn31

Oh no, I rinsed both filter sponges last week because they were so dirty and did 2 50% water changes in the last 10 days trying to save the fish. Can't imagine them surviving through the cycling process being already sick. I tried to make an album with photbucket, hope it works here is the link. 

http://s1036.photobucket.com/user/rebeccabussey1/library/fish


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## Jenn31

The pictures were taken ar different times during the day. If you look closely in the first 4 pictures you can see if very thin clear line of poop coming out of the pleco that reaches to the top of the tank and baxk down. Some of his poops must be 1.5' feet long


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## lohachata

plecos do excrete a lot but i think yours has internal parasites so you will need to get a medication specifically for that issue......he also needs some driftwood to eat to aid in digestion..


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## Jenn31

I'll pick up some drift wood st the pet store today, would you guys recommend med for internal parasite only or something like general cure? Really hoping it's not parasites because inhaled a big mouth full of fish tank water a couple months ago when sucking on the hose trying to clean the fish tank. It gave me a really sore throat for about a week then s few weeks later I developed a sore on my hand that was treated with oral antibiotics for 2 weeks and cleared up. Was worried it was micro bacterium marinium but never thought about parasites yuck. Maybe I should treat myself too so gross.


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## LizStreithorst

I would use metro at the rate of 400 mg per 10 gallons for 12 days. Treat all the fish in the tank and if possible treat in a bare bottom tank. You can get the metro from Jehmco. The larger daily WC you can do during treatment, the better.


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