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Hey Folks,

Recently I had a Demasoni die on me. Before he died he stopped eating, sluggish, "tired", recluse and breathing very heavy towards the end. I also noticed a long stringy-like, clear/whiteish discharge instead of the usual feces. He died about 10 days after I noticed the change in behavior.

I am stating to see similar changes in behavior with 2 of my other Cichlids. They seem to have hard time breathing but not nearly as bad as the Demasoni. They are far more active though, compared to the Demasoni, and they keep up with the rest of the tankmates. Also still eating like little monsters. What concerns me is that I'm starting to see the same long clear discharge.

Any words on this?

The white stringy faeces is due to intestinal worms.
I would get down to your LFS and describe the symptoms so that you can get hold of a decent de-wormer.
Good luck

Thanks man...

I thought that's what it was. Now is this contagious? Also how do intestinal worms get in my tank? Were they present in the fish before I bought them? Lastly...could it be Malawi Bloat?

Thanks for your advice...

if it is a bloat try feeding shelled peas (if they are carnivorous soak them with blood woarms to get the smell and taste on them)... but it is most likely an intestinal worms problem. look in the diseases profiles area to see if you can narrow it down and also search in the hospital threads for key words like "clear poo" or if you think it is malawi blaot search for that and see what other people's bloat looked like...

sorry for your loss, and it is a good thng that you posted for help, but yo probably should have done the same before you lost the other fish... (everyone makes mistakes lik that... no worries)

good luck and the worms could have been in the fish initially or they could have come on a plant or in the water supply...

i dont have a medicine to recommend as i have never dealt with this first hand, but PM longairedgit or frank or just wait and see wha tothers recommend...

good luck!
brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Being in the us you should be able to get jungle labs antiparasite formula feed, and since it handles worms and protozoa (protozoa being my first choice diagnosis incidentally) it s a good all in one cure for intestinal parasites.

Also worth checking your water quality and o2 levels, sometimes the breathing efficiency of the fish (so easily affected by the presence of ammonia or nitrite) can be causing gastrointestinal issues and maldigestion. O2 levels and the metabolism it affects are a fundamental part of efficient digestion.

WOW...thanks! I will check tomorrow with my LFS and see if I can find the food you recommended.

About the water conditions. I am running 2 BIO-Wheels (Penguin 170 & 200). Eriation enough for 80 gallons in a 54 gallon bow front corner tank. I had my water tested over the weekend at the LFS where I bought my Demasoni and ammonia levels were at 0ppm, pH was 8.0, Chlorine and Chloramines were at 0ppm. My problem was the Nitrites which were around 2.0PPM. The cause for this spike is unknown.

I have done 2 water changes since, added Stability and Aqua Safe and finally my Nitrite count is slowly going down. Last test I did was this afternon and results were .50ppm and lowering.

Thanks for your help...