# Oscar pooping marshmellows



## fishy_q (Jan 29, 2009)

Hi today I noticed my baby 5'' yellow oscar wasn't pooping all the way, it was coming out in roundish balls being held together by some tiny string. Also there was a white marshmellow thing on the very bottom of his poop and it seemed to get slightly bigger/expand as the poop sat in the water!! What in the world could this be?? I just successfully treated my parrot fish for parasites as he had white/clear poop when he could poop but this is totally different. The poop is normal in color- a light brown, but normal fish poop shouldn't include growing marshmellows. Theres been no change in diet and his food is brown. Anyone have a clue? Thanks


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

My fish had tape worms. It looked like a little round ball of paper, but turned into a wiggling white thread when touched with a tweezers (I wanted a sample for the microscope), and when I yanked it, i got only a single 2 mm long piece. I'm sure there could be a non-parasite explanation, but in your place I would play it safe. Treat the tank with prazipro and the food with metronidazole.


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## fishy_q (Jan 29, 2009)

*more marshmellows and new worm throughout poop*

I treated with Prazipro for the second time 3 days ago and now I notice some poop with what I will assume to be a worm going right through the middle of the poop and sticking out on both ends on the bottom of the tank. I also see some more poop with marshmellow things at the end of the poop, but they kind of look harder and more formed today, like tiny funny shaped stirofoam(sp?) balls. I don't know which fish pooped what and when since I've been gone all day I haven't had a chance to observe, but my parrot fish seems not to have an appetite. I wonder if he is stressed about the Prazipro in the water, but he didn't stress like this with the first dose and I have done a water change to be safe before the second dose. It has been 3 days since I put the 2nd dose in the water so most of it should have dispersed by now anyways. My yellow baby oscar now has some type of fungus it seems. Goodness, help! Is the Prazipro working and causing everyone to poop out the parasites they were harboring? I am amazed at all the stuff I have been finding since starting it and hoping that the Prazipro works but it seems like theres different kinds of parasites and alot of them in my tank. Can certain processed pellets harbor parasites? I feed them HPH shrimp pellets. What does metronidazole do if you put it in the food? Sorry so long but I'm really worried-Thanks.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

metronidazole aka flagyl kills worms. Sometimes meds in the water don't kill all the things in the gut and the fish get reinfected after the meds are out of the water. Jungles sells a medicated pellet food with metronidazole in it and SeaChem makes a yellow powder that you can sprinkle on frozen brine shrimp and get the fish to eat it that way. Prazi-pro claims to handle things by itself, but I like to be sure. I got the prazipro because some of the sick fish weren't eating.

I haven't heard of parasites coming in pellet food, but I've heard of them hitching a ride in live and frozen food. Some brands of frozen foods now specifically claim to be parasite-free. The thing is, you only need one fish to have one when you get it and it will infect the whole tank. These things have a dormant form and it can be months before you see symptoms. Parasites are the best argument against feeding live fish to your fish.


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## fishy_q (Jan 29, 2009)

Wow thanks so much for the advice I will surely try feeding them some meds. I can't believe that the parasites can lay dormant for months! There are so many different symptoms going on it would make me feel better to just feed them some meds and kill everything. I think I will raise my own guppies from now on as well, or maybe just try crickets. Thanks for the heads up on the parasite free food as well. Wow fish are alot of work most people think you just put 'em in a bowl and thats it! I've got news for those people lol! I appreciate all the help, and I'll let you know how it all works out


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