New fish wont eat and has white poop?

[keeley146]

We got our new betta last Thursday. The first day he seemed fine and was swimming around and active, but since he has been lethargic, hiding and hanging out at the bottom of his tank. He has been ignoring food since the first day as well. Today I noticed he has what i think is white poop hanging off him. Not sure how to treat it if he has internal parasites. Advice?

Tank info:
5 gallon filtered tank (not cycled) with 4 live plants and a light.
heated to 78 degrees
Water prams:
PH: 7.0
Amonia: less than .25
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0

I previously used Stress coat to condition the water, but just switched today to Prime because our tap has ammonia in it. Just did a 50% water change this morning.

Trying to feed him NLS pellets, but he ignores them. Picked up some flakes to try but he ignored those too. Not sure what other info you might want/need. Thank you for the help!

[keeley146]

Here are two photos so you can see the white poop? I'm talking about.

[techstud85]

White poop is normally a sign of internal parasites. I would recommend getting some anti parasitic medication at your local fish store and see if he doesn't improve.

[Oldfishlady]

White poop can also mean stress-I would hold off on adding any pesticides to the tank and try reducing stress first.

How did you acclimate him to the tank when you first got him. Did he eat for you on the first day.

To reduce stress-turn off the filter and light for 24-48h-make a 25% water only change and add a tannin source if you have one-Either IAL (Indian almond leaf) or naturally dried and fallen from the tree Oak leaf and tan the water a light tea color.

Be sure and rinse the filter media and dump the water from the filter box before you re-start the filter. With that said, IMO/E filters are optional for this species and especially with live plants-as long as you have the proper color temp lights to support plant growth-Depending on number and species of plants-they may function as the filter when in active growth.

There are a few internal parasites that will cause white fecal matter, however, lots more internal parasites that don't cause a color change.

Usually with internal parasite-you will see bloated tummy, thin top line, fish that eats non-stop and never gains weight. As it progress, you can see-lethargic, clamp fins, hiding and going off food.

Fish normally will have internal parasites that they will shed on a regular base and not problematic for the fish. However, once the immune response is compromised or they can't expel excessive amounts due to constipation, too long of a fast-then they might become symptomatic.