White Poop This Morning

[Fishy Mom]

This morning when I fed & checked on my fishies I noticed that one of my girls in my sorority tank had a white half stringy, half plump thing attached to her belly. I watched until it fell off & confirmed it was poop. It was completely white. I scooped it out, but because I was leaving for work & already running late I couldn't do anything right away. I will be home this afternoon & can stop by the store for meds after work if need be.

A quick background on her, the other girls & the tank. I've had her for about 3-4 weeks. Her & another girl I bought at the same time were qt for a week. Neither of them showed any signs of illness at that point & have been in the sorority tank for 2-3 weeks. The girls who were already in the tank showed no signs of illness (I've had each of them for about 2-4 months) & still don't. All the girls, including the one with white poo, are eating, swimming, & show no signs of color loss.

What should my next step be? Should I wait or start treatment right away? If I should start a treatment immediately what would your reccomendations be? I can qt her for treatment or I can qt my lives plants & treat the whole tank if need be. I don't want to take any chances with their health since I am very attached to my fish.

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 78-80
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 5 female bettas all together

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? hakari pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner to remove clorine, chloramines, & heavy metals

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: low (can't remember exactly since I'm at work, but in a safe range)
pH: 7
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? it hasn't changed
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? it hasn't changed
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 3 hours ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? don't know

[Oldfishlady]

Its not uncommon for females to have a change in color with their poop-due to either eating her eggs or absorbing them. It should resolve in a day or so on its own.

[Fishy Mom]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Its not uncommon for females to have a change in color with their poop-due to either eating her eggs or absorbing them. It should resolve in a day or so on its own.

Thank you. Since this was a new girl I was worried. I'll keep an eye on her for the next few days & update this thread if anything changes.

[Fishy Mom]

There was more white poo yesterday & today there is a translucent poo hanging out. I got some pics which hopefully are good enough to show what I'm seeing. I could just be worrying over nothing, but since I have no experience with internal parasites I'm hoping someone can tell me for sure what it is in the pics. She's still eating though.

[Fishy Mom]

Here's another pic. I hope it's clear enough.

[Oldfishlady]

What a pretty girl.....I can't really see the white/clear poop....

I am not saying she has or doesn't have internal parasites, however, all fish will have some degree of internal parasites to start with and they will not be problematic/symptomatic-they shed the excessive parasites on a regular bases-as well as keep them in check with the immune response itself.

There are more internal parasites that don't have S/S of fecal matter color change than do have the S/S of typical white poop. Color changes in fecal matter can be due to diet, stress, bacterial infection and with females it can be due to eggs.

Usually with severe infestation of internal parasites-S/S will be-but not limited to-Enlarged abdomen, thin top line, appears to be wasting but still eating, lethargy, clamp fins, hiding with head in the corner at the bottom or surface, may or may not have color changes in fecal matter and parasites protruding from the vent- to name a few common S/S.
Advanced stages-appears to be wasting and not eating, bent spine due to nutritional deficiency, lethargy, clamp fins, may or may not have color change in fecal matter, protruding parasites, bloat, buoyancy issues to name a few.

If she is otherwise acting her normal self, eating, swimming and responding to you-I would observe for now-Usually if it is egg related it will resolve on its own within a few days.

Keep us posted....

[Fishy Mom]

Thanks OFL. In the first pic there a tiny whitish spot on her belly that's her ovi spot & just next to it is a very faint white line behind her ventral fin. That's what I'm seeing & it been attached to her all day. I'm going to monitor her & probably keep stressing until I see normal poop, lol. At least your response calmed my nerves a bit.

[Fishy Mom]

Just a quick update & a huge thank you to OFL for calming me down. I figured out what was going on & I was definately jumping to the worst case scenerio too quickly. OFL you were exactly right in your first response. I did a water change for the girls tank last night & when I took the lid off I found a small bubble nest on the side & behind the filter. My first thought was I had a male in there, but after looking at my girls & trying to figure out what was going on it clicked. I have a baby betta who is living with me temporarily & will be going to my sister's house this weekend. He started coloring up nicely, growth spurt of his fins, & blew a couple of bubble nests confirming he's a boy. I was keeping him in a qt tank next to the girls for right now. Well, now I know why my white poop girl staked out some territory in the back corner where she could see her neighbor in the qt tank. They've been flirting apparently even though the baby boy is half her size, lol. She must have put some eggs in her bubble nest & then ate them.

Thank you OFL for keeping me calm! Now I want to know how without seeing my fish you knew exactly what was going on, lol. I'm glad you were right & it made me feel much better knowing I can trust the people here with the health of my fish.