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My little albino bushynose, named Shop Vac (hubby named him) has been, in typical pleco fashion, quite poo prolific.. my question though is about color.. (ick, I know.. Im sorry)... I know that clear, um, output is usually indicative of parasites.. but his (he's only 1.25 inches long so Im only guessing its male at this point) his poo is sort of the same color he is.. yellowish and opaque not clear. His diet is mainly whatever he finds on the glass and decorations and zucchini. I don't know if he eats any of the algae wafers I put in and I don't see him sucking on the wood that often, but it is there next to where we put his zucchini each time he gets some, and he has scraped on it some.

He's active, seems happy, and is almost always on the move.. frisky even.. He "acts" ok.. I'm I worried over nothing?

Gina

Courgette poo definitely looks white (sometimes with green bits in it). As long as the poo is "courgette sausages" (for want of a better way of describing it), I'd say it's fine. If the poo starts looking stringy and "thin", then that's a sign of problem.

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Mats

yes agreed, mine poo what they eat.

Papaya = orange poo
cuke = white
romaine = greenish white

etc

long as the consistency stays the same as Mats said and doesnt appear to be strange.

Maybe my comment would be better posted in tank talk or speak easy but I am puzzled and a bit disconcerted by the almost morbid fascination over fish feces among Discus and Pleco keepers.

Your common Bushy Nose would thrive on a diet of earth worm and Spirulina sticks. It would excrete perfectly normal feces, grow well and become a prolific breeder if fed only these two foods.
Between them they form a rather well balanced diet for common Bushy Noses.
It can only be beneficial to add some fresh frozen blood worms, an occasional snack of zucchini and any number of other sinking fish foods but their dietary requirements are easily satisfied and simplified. They even enjoy an occasional feeding of live black worms.
A garden vegetable diet is one which is inherently high in water content and low in nutrients so the fish require a very large amount of these foods to get enough essential nutrients. Common bushy Noses are true omnivores and should be fed more than garden vegetables.

Hi..

Well not to be argumentative, the reason I have not been giving Shop Vac meaty foods is because of what it says here on PC

There it states vegetable matter and wood for diet.. If I am reading this incorrectly, please please tell me, I want him to grow as healthy as possible, of course.

Gina

Mine eat a variety of foods including earthworm sticks and spirulina sticks and bloodworms, shrimp etc. But I do give them some fruit & or veggies every nite.

I don't think I'm obsessed with their poo, however I do think if it looks a certain way it can be an indicator of a problem.

worried over nothing

ok I'll start varying his diet...

as far as poo obsession, its not that really.... I think its just more that they produce SO MUCH of it, you can't help but notice it

Gina

Well, it's a bit like sausage machine - whatever you put in one end, pretty much comes out the other end!

I feed mine a mix of algae wafers, vegetables and some other types pellet food.

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Mats

I know a proper diet is required for any living thing but there is a point of over analysis. Dietary change based on poo color is insane if you ask me. Could you immagine if your doctor said that to you? Sorry miss you don't have enough yellow in your poo please start eating more corn.

Your fish is doing fine? It is growing and shows all signs of being healthy? You have stated that you have a variety of offerings in your tank. Then there is nothing to worry about, you are a good fish keeper and obviously doing the right thing. I would suggest you cancel the poo patrol and just enjoy your fish's other aspects.

Well, like everything, when looking after fish (or any other animal that isn't able to say "I don't feel well"), you need to examine the whole behaviour of the animal, including what the poo looks like. And there are plenty of sites stating that fish poo that is "white and stringy" is a bad sign. When feeding courgette to plecos, white poo is almost inevitable. But it's not a sign of ill health.

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Mats

ok guys,

thank you for all the responses.. I am now offically off the poo patrol.. I just mentioned it because, well, its everywhere and you can't help but notice it.. He's like a goose in that respect.. Goes in and almost goes through almost as quickly

Gina

Yes I agree with MatsP -sausage machine
I've seen mine "resting" IN his zucchini at the top of the tank (i don't bother cooking at all anymore, to slow him as much as I can) with a string coasting down from bum to a new coil down below...
But mine steals fish flake too- so none of you mentioned bright red poo

Why don't you try some floating pond pellets .I give them to my hoplo's and my two albinos love them.They will dance around until they trap one against the glass and take it to the bottom to feed.the albinos also like white and sweet potatos raw I stick a chunk on the end of a skewer
my two corys even eat the sweet potato.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... ts+what%3F

who eats what link ^^^^

wait i have a question on this thread it said ancistrus are omnivorous but on the who eats what it says vegetarian. which is it?

Yes, they are mainly vegetarian in their natural diet. They are not obligate vegetarians, so they CAN eat other things. And suitable prepared foods, such as algae wafers do contain a fair amount of protein, so additional food should be rich in fibre, so that their gut is kept "moving".

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Mats

Shop Vac doesn't seem to be interested in the algae wafers per se.. I have the Hikari ones, so I know they are high quality. He's been diligently tending to the entire tank though... so active and cute, even during the day.. It might be my imagination but I'm thinking I'm seeing the Otos out a bit more during the day too, so maybe he is giving them courage.

What I am going to try tomorrow is, I'm going to do what... darn can't remember who suggested this, but I will stick an algae wafer into his beloved zucchini and see if he will accept it then..

Silly pleco.. he does make me smile.. can't wait until he's bigger so I know for sure if he's a he or a she for certain.

thank you all for understanding,

Gina

I wouldn't fret over the fish not wanting algae wafers. It's fine to not eat them. If you have young children, you wouldn't worry if they don't eat chocolate, right? I see algae wafers as somewhere akin to sweet breakfast cereals.

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Mats

Fish tend to focus on the most abundant food and in nature they can take awhile to switch to the next. The same thing happens in aquariums. This is a good reason to offer fish a broad variety of foods in some kind of rotation as you go through daily to weekly feedings.
Trout fly fisherman such as my self are acutely aware of this phenomenon.