In the last 2 days, I have noticed that 1 of my orandas is having various problems. I thought Inky was a he, but I am starting to wonder if maybe Inky is in fact and she, and this is the problem. I checked the page on goldfish poop, but none of it fits quite right.

They eat a gel food I make -- peas, tuna, other veggies, from a receipe I got here. They get straight peas from time to time too, and have not had flakes in a very long time.

On Sunday night, I came home, and went to check on the fish. Inky had this long -- and I mean, ____________________________ like long trail of poop. I managed to catch it and break it off without too much effort -- it was that long and trailing. The middle was funny shaped -- like little bubbles, and clear, and I couldn't really cut it in half with a fork, like I thought I would. The thing that makes this odd is that on either side of the clear bubbly stuff, was normal green [the color of their food], and normal consistency [I checked with the fork, didn't actually touch it.]

Did not feed them that night, fed them yesterday. Inky has been sleeping a lot, and every so often, I look and see a more stressed looking gill function -- like if the fish could say, I don't feel good, it would. But no problems swimming, no abnormal floating, none of that.

I checked around in their tank when I came home. Found 2 long, crimped-looking strings... one was several [like 2-3] inches long, the other was maybe 1. The shorter was the normal, darker green, the longer was lighter, almost yellow-green at the end. There are a few clear bubble like things at semi-regular intervals, so I don't know what's going on here.

I can post the tank params later tonight, but does anybody think they know what's the problem? Do I feed peas? Nothing? How long should I expect this to last? And does it mean my fish is a girl? I keep the tank at a fairly constant temperature -- over the course of the year, it goes from say, 76ish to about 82 when it's been hot -- because I don't want my fish breeding, so could that be related to this?

Sorry the post is so long... but any help would be great!
Thanks,
Mav

How is your fish behaving now? I sometimes find long poop in my tanks, also with bubbles (which I think is gas). I also have had females bottom sit, then pass eggs.

Also, it would be great if you could post the water parameters.

I am going to test the water and post the params... yesterday evening they seemed to be good -- calm and no real signs of problems, so I just didn't want to bother them, y'know?

At any rate, I snapped this pic with my cell-cam, so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. This is darker green than the previous stuff, but it's still green, so I am unsure.
[attachmentid=7166]

Params to follow...

--Mav

As for params...

this is a 20-gal long tank, been running in one form or another for 3 years... did move it maybe a month ago, but have been using tap water from my parents' house [where it was before] for water changes, rather than the tap water here -- there's a difference in the hardness level of the water, and I haven't figured out yet how big of a deal that is.

They've got 2 Bio-Wheels running, 1 170 and 1 Mini, so the proper 200 gph filtration. Last water change was Saturday, about 4 gallons [so 20%]. I use Cycle, and sometimes aquarium salt. 2 Oranda goldfish, same as it's been for the last 2 years.

Ammnoia is 0 ppm, NitrIte is 0 ppm, and NitrAte is about 20, +/- about 5, because let's face it, telling 10 from 20 or 20 from 40 on the Aquarium Pharm cards can be difficult.

So these are all within standard water params for this tank.

The behavior has more or less been normal -- maybe resting on the tank bottom a bit more, sometimes looking somewhat stressed, and the occasional darting around the tank. If this is because I have startled the fish [this is my neurotic fish we are dealing with], or due to the stress of whatever, hard to say. The other fish is fine.

--Mav

When a fish does not eat for a length of time, it STILL defacates. But it will come out clearish. This is because of the way their digestive tract functions. You know the skin that covers sausage links? Its the same with goldfish. They do not have muscles to contract the digestive tract to pass food through. So, food sits in them till it is either fully absorbed or the next meal. When they have no food going into their tummy, there is no force at the front to push the previos meal out the back. but, they still put out a slime coating that consists of digestive tract cells. Once you begin to fed the fish again, this pushes food through their tract and pushes the previous meal out the back in the process.


Did that help explain a bit? I can elaborate if you like......


Paul

Well, Inky has generally been interested in food when it is offered. He never eats as fast as Sir Talks-A-Lot, but STL is often called "fishieus vaccumus" by my family, so that's not much of a fair comparision.

So if he/she/whatever gender my fish is eats regularly, and hasn't had this kind of problem before, you can see why I am thinking there might be something going on of which I am unaware. I don't see anything unusual in the tank at the moment, and Inky appears to be behaving normally, so...

I think I am a bit less worried now, but confused still... just want to have an idea as to what caused this so we can avoid this again in the future.

--Mav

Well, because of the lack of anything strange or any kind of symptoms to accompany the strange looking poo, I think everything should be fine. Fish poo is strange once you start actually looking at it with interest (did I just say that???). You can be assured that this wont be the only strange looking poo you see. I have seen some strange stuff myself. Heh, even a 12 inch long one once......


I agree though, this is worth watching very closely. Just in case.

good luck!

Paul