tangs poo looks like a bunch of little worms

[willie]

I will try to get a pic but the last couple of days I am seeing my yellow tang poo out these clusters of what looks like tiny little worms. They look like tubifex worms and they come out in bunches. I have been feeding him nori sheets, krill, danichi and mysis. He appears healthy and happy but I wanted to make sure that I don't have a problem on my hands. What do you guys think? on a side note, I have the little orange worms on my sand bed and I think he sometimes eats them possible inadvertently on the nori sheets.

 

[travelerjp98]

Parasite?

 

[willie]

here are a few pictures. I don't know if it is parasite or just stringy poop. I appreciate you guys taking a look

 

[btldreef]

Sounds and looks like he's got a parasite. Time to set up a QT if you don't already have one.

 

[willie]

I was thinking about gut loading brine shrimp with prazipro and feeding them to the tang. My question is: Can I do this in my display? I really don't want to remove him from the reef, I am not totally convinced that he has a parasite and he still looks perfect and acts fine. He really only makes funky dumps when he eats nori and the rest of the time has pretty standard tang turds. I have been searching the site for different ways to do this but haven't come up with much. On a side note where might I get my hands on this medicine? is this something I have to order or will the lfs usually carry it?

 

[jerthunter]

I don't think your tang has parasites or any issue with its wastes being 'stringy' In my observations, what a tang eats greatly impacts what it passes, and something like Nori has a lot of fibers that probably wouldn't be digusted completely and might give you what you see..
Of course, if you want to be sure, try to collect some of the waste and investigate.