Goldfish tend to eat their own waste when they become particularly hungry and cannot find edible foods in the tank, although this practice should be discouraged as it could pose other serious health hazards for the fish.
Goldfish should produce dark colored feces; otherwise, constipation could occur and must be corrected by either fasting them or feeding deshelled peas to them.
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White feces
Goldfish are natural scavengers and will sometimes pick at waste produced by other fish in their tank. If the waste appears white in color, this could indicate that your goldfish is suffering from an infection; fish antibiotics could provide relief.
White poop may also be a telltale sign of poor diet for goldfish. A balanced diet consisting of live food, vegetation and tropical flakes will ensure they get all of the essential vitamins and nutrients they require to stay healthy.
Poop with air bubbles indicates dehydration in goldfish. This could be caused by overcrowded tanks or warm temperatures resulting in too little oxygen reaching their cells, so try transitioning your fish to a larger one or adding an air bubbler to increase oxygen levels in their environment. Constipation is another possibility, so make sure that you feed and clean out your tank regularly to stay on the right side of things.
Brown or red feces
Goldfish who feed on other fish’s waste or their own waste may exhibit symptoms of internal parasite or bacterial infections, exhibiting long, stringy feces that they don’t defecate as frequently, which could result in nutritional deficiencies and disease.
Flies that have brown or red feces may also indicate that goldfish aren’t getting enough oxygen in their tank; this could happen if their tank is overcrowded, the temperature too warm, or the tank water too acidic. To maximize oxygen levels in their environment, consider switching up your tank water or installing an air bubbler to increase oxygen levels in their aquarium.
Goldfish that eat only pellets or flakes tend to produce white poop, so for optimal health it is necessary to provide them with live food, vegetables, tropical flakes and supplements to meet all their nutrient requirements.
Long or stringy feces
Goldfish poop can vary in color, shape, and consistency to indicate when their fish is sick or suffering from internal parasites such as tapeworms or Hexamita. White and stringy feces should be particularly concerning since these could be symptoms of internal infections like tapeworms.
Long and stringy goldfish poop could be due to an unbalanced diet which contains too much vegetation while lacking adequate meat proteins or animal proteins. To address this issue, feeding more balanced diet that includes both meat and flakes while decreasing plant matter intake could be the solution.
Low oxygen levels could also contribute to stringy waste accumulation. If this is the case for you, improving tank hygiene through removal of algae and regular substrate cleaning should help. Increasing surface area while adding an air bubbler could also provide extra ventilation in the tank environment.
Pale feces
Goldfish use their anuses (teleost gills) to filter ammonia and nitrates out of their environment before excreting waste in poop form, often of similar color to their food with chunky texture. Pale colored poop may indicate your fish isn’t getting enough nutrition in its diet while white-colored poop could indicate internal bacteria infections which require antibiotic treatment for best results.
Observe whether or not your fish has long, stringy poop; other symptoms of constipation could include abdominal bloating and decreased appetite. You can help avoid constipation by keeping your tank clean, providing them with a diet consisting of live food, tropical flakes and vegetation, as well as performing weekly 10% to 15% water changes. If bubbles appear in their poop this indicates low oxygen levels in your tank which could be due to overstocking or higher water temperatures; in which case an air bubbler might help or increasing freshwater content will improve things considerably – try it and see!
