So here is the situation: The day after I bought the fish ( thurs 9/4), there a white thin, short, stringy poo that hung on to the anal area. I try to feed it all kinds of pellets including alife by hai feng, but it wouldn't touch any of the foods. It comes up and looks at the food and then swims away. There is no visible signs of heavy breathing or scratching, but the fish bends its body into a semi-U-shape once or twice I have seen. Also there are visible signs that there are stress bars on its body. The stomach seems a little bloated or big. There is no visible signs of hole in the head. It has not poop anything out since last thursday, but just TODAY there is this white stringy noodle looking poo that hangs out of its anus. I did a 10 % partial water change almost each day with about a tsp. sea salt since last thursday. Its in a 5 gallon hospital tank with a small filter and heater set at 85 degrees. It has not eaten anything since last thursday and I'm really worry about its health. I believe it swims slower today. The seller said it was healthy and eating well when it was at his place, but when it came home to my place it acted differently so I don't know what's wrong. I have sent the seller pics of the sick flowerhorn and he thinks it's still okay and that when stress it could fast for a month right?. Not sure why he thinks that way, but I am not trying to diss the seller in any way, but appreciate his comment. I just want to hear what others have to say about what sickness my precious flowerhorn has.....very leaning towards heximita...please confirm for me....would maracyn two and/or maracyn plus at petsmart work since by the time I get to my lfs they would probably be closed and I can't get metro or should I wait for tomorrow









thanks for the help people

Looks like hexamita,
I would try using some metro+ on that
fast him during treatment for about 5 days
and when you start feeding just feed a little.
until his stomach can take more.

anyone else can confirm that its hexamita so I know to use the right medication for it?

Symptoms of hexamita is stringy white poop.
That looks like it. You better treat it fast because once
the internal is damaged, your fish wont be able to look its best
and will have a hard time eating and etc. Better do it fast or else.

or else his stomach will get bigger and bigger and than pop...dead

This post has been edited by supamanz23: Sep 18 2008, 12:21 AM

Well here's the update: Day 4 of metro treatment...two treatment done already. The white poo has subdue, meaning there's no visible white poo, but now the poo is brownish-clear in color and is thin as a thread of cotton. The stomach seems still bloated. Since it refuse to eat anything for over a week I can't really see any real improvement yet.
Do you think I still have to do another treatment of metro or when should I stop?

So when should I really start to worry about it now eating? Considering my flowerhorn is still young, only about 4 inches, I believe it won't last as long as a larger flowerhorn without food.It just fustrates the hell out of me seeing my flowerhorn not eat anything. I think food is vital for its recovery and so if it doesn't eat anything where is it getting its energy to nourish itself and to fight off the disease? Does anyone have any experience with products that could feed the fish without the fish injesting it?...Should I even try it force feed it with a ground up solution of water and pellets? My flowerhorn has basically fast itself for more than a week now... are there any other ways of inducing it to eat?

Sorry for all those questions. I just want my fish to get better soon and my short patience is getting to me. I have not given up yet. Hope you guys have more patience than me and could offer any help to a fellow hobbiest ...your help is very much apprecitated

again thanks for all who have commented and for future thanks

Dont worry about feeding it yet.
Just keep up the treatment for up to 5 days or 6 days.
you can add some Frozen bloodworms
for him to try. Just give him a little bit to see if he is gaining
his appetite back. also never feed him something after a waterchange.
Usually wait 1 day before doing that so he can recover from waterchange stress.

in my experience, if you dilute metro the best you can is a SMALL amount of water and soak pellet in it, or put metro in a worm, or soak some freeze dried krilli n metro soulution and feed it, it speeds the process. I usually feed the fish the metro 3-4 times if it will eat. Worked like a charm for me. He may not even have hex also. BUt what you describe does sound like hex. When I got my ILC fish from overseas, it had stringy white poo, but went away after a few days of eating again. But he was eating and that is the big difference. I would feed him a few pellets to start and see how he does. May help to get things moving through his system again. Hope he pulls through buddy.

Update: day 6; 4 metro treatment. I guess it's a little bit of improvement since my lastest post on Sunday.It still refuse to eat anything even bloodworm and krill. Stomach still looks swollen a little.
Well it poop more, no more sign of white poo, but still that stringy-thin brownish/yellow thread poo...seen in pics
1. Is this a good sign that the medication is working?








Not sure what it is, but there's this dark spot on the stomach area like two days ago.
2. Can anyone identify what it is and if harmful how to treat it?










All comments/help are welcome...thanks for all the support...lets win this battle:biggrin:

I would suggest not to leave any left over pellets in the water.
That will rotten and make the water bad real fast. Always
remove uneaten pellets or Bloodworms. If he refuse to eat.
Then starve him a bit longer unit he does eat. That poop
looks much better than the white type.
Sometimes the digestive may be damaged to much that it is hard
for them to eat. He might be like that for a very long time.

Quick question, was this fish shipped to you?

and it looks like it needs a water change

No, I actually picked up the fish at the seller's house, from this forum. The thing was that the seller said the fish was healthy and ate everything. I checked it out and it looked normal to me. You wouldn't know it was sick b/c it was swimming around and no visible signs of disease. But maybe it was sick internally. Since I brought it home, it never ate and poop out white poo a week later. Man, it stresses me out so much. I've spent almost $20 on meds. Instead of enjoying the fish before I go back to school, I have to monitor and treat it everyday. I'm trying my very best to treat it and very little results have yet to show up. I hope maybe if the seller is reading this, maybe he could replace or trade in another fish for this one...




well I just changed it yesturday, I tried to feed it during the photo taking and took it out afterwards and the excess white stuff is the metro.


Any more comments anyone... thanks

I would've tried CLOUT it works really fast.

I have had this problem with several types of SA cichlids in the past and they all recovered beautifully. Your fish has internal parasites. I use get tek ultra cure px. It says to add it to the water but I do what everyone else says and soak the food in it. One suggestion is don't give your fish any bloodworms now or ever. Bloodworms are ideal for livebearers not cichlids. Starving your fish is the best first step. Fish can go for weeks without a meal. In the wild cichlids can go for a month without finding a meal. So don't worry if he doesn't eat for a week or two. The best thing you can do for him as far as food goes is finding something vegetable based like spirulina and kelp. He needs the roughage to clear the digestive tract. Finish the parasite treatment or you will have this problem come back every month or so. They will live through it but eventually it just wreaks havoc on their internal organs. After he is back to normal I would make sure to add some form of veggie based food to his regular diet and DON'T overfeed and you should have a happy healthy long lived beautiful fish.