Please check your poop level now and then to see if the current diet is still efficient. Poop should be short and as thick as spaghetti or a big thicker with larger goldfishes with nothing else trailing, the color should corespond to the food in the diet.

With all the new fishfood people are trying I think this is one of the most important tip people should keep in mind.

I agree, it's important to review a new food during the first few days and weeks of using it

i think my gel food could be making my fish's poop white and stringy. I know that's a sign of bacterial infection, but i really think its the food not the fish.
It doent happen with any other food, they usually have thickish food coloured poop.
what should i do?? the gel food was meant to be my main food, due to the amount i have and the ingredients i used, but now i am looking into getting some high quality goldie flakes instead (my fish like flakes coz they're easy to catch and eat with their little mouths)
Should i give up on the gel food entirely?????

When you say gel food, do you mean meaty stuuf like Tetra Delicia? I feed this stuff as treats and yes it does seem to alter the poo colour a bit, I think thats normal

no i mean home made gelatine food.

Oh I see, well it really depends exactly what you put into it and in what quantities as to what the nutritional value of it is.

I'm not really sure why it causes white and stringy poon though, it depends what the main bulk of it is made out of. It doesn't sound like a reason to stop giving it, as long as you are happy with the contents and the fish enjoy it.

I've always given high quality pellets andflakes as a staple and then added in other stuff, I've not really gone down the gel food route, but many people on here do make there own - I wonder if they have noticed the same thing?

apart from the gelatine (unflavoured) the ingredients were salmon, peas, broccoli, carrot and red pepper, and some garlic. i dont know why it causes the white poop, but i suspect it may be because it is frozen and then defrosted in the tank it has high water content as well. i really dont know tho.
anyone else make their own gel food and notice poop differences?????

try feeding algae pellets or the likes to see if there's a saMe occurence when using that.

yeh i feed algae wafers (wardley, main ingredient is spirulina) and the poop is usually normal. I think the algea is good for their digestive tract isnt it???
I also feed daphnia, bloodworm, flakes and peas, and the gel food is the only food that seems to affect their poop.
Could it be the water content?? or the result of the freezing/defrosting process breaking down the structure of the gelatine?

i have typed the word poop too many times today!!!!!

You are pooped!!!

hehe yeah!!!

Well i'm off on holiday after this weekend, so they'll only be getting flakes and peas for the next wk and a half, as my housemate is feeding them under strict instructions!!

When i'm back im going to try out the new food i've ordered, by DeicaSea, and if all is normal 'poop-wise' for a week or so i'll give the gel food another go to see if it still has the same effect. if it does i might have to bin it but i'd rather waste the food than screw up my fishies' digestive systems!!!

perhaps your gel food is highly concentrated and is causing constipation. Try making a bit with a bit more water to see if it helps.

that could be true. i wasnt really sure on how much the food:gel ratio should be, i just did a bit of trial and error til it set nicely.

Glad this came up because I noticed the same thing with one of my fish today. I just bought my first fancy goldfish a few weeks ago and joined this forum last week. Boy, have I learned a lot in a week!

LaurieP taught me about gel foods. I had been feeding mostly floating pellets, along with some crumbles and flakes. But when I learned about the potential problems with feeding dry foods and floating foods I decided to look over the homemade gel food info posted on this site. After reading everything I could find, I came up with a couple of recipes of my own. My fish seem to approve and I've been feeding the gel food for about 4 days now. This evening I noticed that the black moore was swimming around with a long, string of white poop trailing behind. I checked Koko's info about poop but it didn't seem to describe exactly what I was seeing. The white poop was mostly long and very thin, but with a large clump at the end. Now that I see this post, I'm suspicious of my new gel food. Although, my two small Orandas are fine. Being as gel food is chilled, not cooked, could there be bacteria in the food that could be causing a problem? I lost one fish last week in spite of trying to give them all the best of care. I do hope I haven't caused more harm than good with the gel food. On the other hand, the anacharis they are eating can't possibly be sterile.

My gel food has a mixture of vegetables and fruits and includes shrimp, as well as my store bought food. I used 2 1/2 cups of the food mixture with 3 packets of gelatin in 3/4 cup of water. Maybe I also have too much food per gelatin? Maybe I'd better go to peas for a couple of days and see what happens?

Laurie had me treat my entire tank this week with Parasite Clear. Any chance there's a connection there?

There is a connection with white trails and internal parasite.

There could possibly be a connection there,but also realize that most times when you start changing a fish's diet,their poop will sometimes change color's depending on the foods. My best advice for something like this would be to keep an eye out on the fish--look for any other unusual or odd changes/symptoms etc.,and go from there.
As for "overkill" on the Gelatin,all I know is that you need enough for the food to set. I work my way through until I get it right. I start small and add as I need to.I guess also depending on what foods/how much etc.,will have you needing different amounts to bind it together.Maybe someone with a little more Gel Food experience can answer that.

Since I've already started it, I think I'll go ahead and do one final round of parasite clear, just to be sure I'm covered there. Then I'll just wait and watch. I'm not seeing anything else suspicious. I thought about it after making my last post and wondered if the sudden change in diet could have had anything to do with it. That could be the answer, right there.

What about you, katmad... was the gel food a new addition to you fish's diet?

yeh sort of. I only feed it now and then. I have noticed the exact same thing as you, long stringy white poop but with a normal poopy clump on the end. Weird.

I think it is because, as maniacholic suggested, the food is highly concentrated and may be causing constipation. I'm thinking about just not feeding them it anymore, it's not worth the worry. Else i'll feed it alongside extra peas or something else with more fibre, to avoid constipation.

I guess it's the food, and not an illness, as we r both finding the same results for the same situation! My fish have never had poop problems except with this food, so i'm sure it's the food, not them.
Seems a shame to waste the food, but i've bought some new food with high quality ingredients, so i'll probably replace the gel food with the new stuff.

I'm more inclined to believe that it's because of the sudden diet change than because of the concentration. I'm just learning, so I may not know what I'm talking about, but it seems to me if it was the concentration of the gel food the fish would be having trouble with constipation anytime we fed any solid food. Peas are certainly more solid than gel food.

I'm not ready to give up on my gel food yet. I understand a lot of people feed gel food all the time. I have made some modifications to my recipe, however. I've increased the fiber and the protein. I'm hoping I'll have it made by the end of the weekend so I can give it a try. In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and feed what I have. I think they just may need a little more time to adjust to the new diet. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen any strange poop since yesterday.

You know, a month ago I didn't much care for cooking and I'd never been involved with an internet forum. Now I've become a fish chef and I'm on the web talking about fish poop!!! Who knew buying a few goldfish would be such a life changing event!

Hey Katmad, how are your fish? Just thought I should let you know, I ended up loosing one of mine over the weekend.

It wasn't the one that had the white poop (Squishy), but then again, I hadn't actually seen the sick fish poop, so I don't know what it looked like. Anyway, it made me wonder about Squishy, so as a precaution, I put my remaining two fish on anti-bacteria food. Now Squishy's poop is a normal brown. Don't know if it's because I quit the gel food or because the medication is clearing up an infection. I'll probaby test the gel food again later and see what it looks like then.

I sure hope nothing happens to the remaining fish!

I always check my fish's poop to make sure they are healthy.

sorry about your fish

by the way I have stopped feeding gel food and poop has been normal ever since.