Out of the several hundred fish I have handled if it had white stringy poop, was eating when symptoms arose and then stopped. They didn't start back up again.
Something is wrong here because I have not seen 100 of SW fish with white stringy poops - I have seen thousands of these occasions during the last 15 years. Newly imported fish from at least 4 countries – including the USA. Never ever threat – never lost a fish that’s eat with these tiny stringy poops. With the freshwater example – I was referred to known outbreak of diplomonad infections and the symptoms there. Honestly – if you have a newcomer that eat but with a tiny white stringy poop under heavy prophylactic treatment and it stops to eat – you never ever have had another possible explanation than internal parasites? Diplomonad infections are stress related – the flagellate is always there – I do not doubt that an infection can arise during the stressful condition that a sterile QT with prophylactic treatment show up. Based on my experiences – a fish that nots eat and have a tiny white stringy poop and that´s not answer to a treatment with a metro bath and die – died of other reasons than a diplomonad infection.
I also used to run into bacterial infections alot during the copper treatment usually in the last two weeks. That is why we adapted the method we use.
And your answer is more drugs because you get a disease because your copper treatment just in case of…….. For me – this is the upside down world – and you are not even in Australia
If you take the time to do a write up
I think that you now touch the real problem. In industry production – manuals, protocols are common. Everyone should be able with help of these manage the process. But running an aquarium (or all other biological systems) is not a single line of cause and effect. It is like running a chaotic system with so many inputs and outputs that the system will change more than once during a short time span. Organisms will answer on your way of handling them – and sometimes in ways that you do not have any idea of. During my active time as fish farmer, researcher, aquarist at public aquariums and other jobs with living creatures and systems - I have many times been asked to give a manual like if this happens – do that. I have always denied because IME it is impossible to do that because the action you should take is highly depended overall, holistic situation. Me and other have lined up many main roads without prophylactic treatment – most of them based on as low stress as possible. Both me and @Lowell Lemon have outlined system for observation QT in other threads. In my posts here at R2R I always try to avoid advises or 100 % sure answers - instead trying to give tools that helps people understand the situation and be able to handle their own situation. Sometimes it works - sometimes not. But I´m sure that the discussion in this thread have get a huge input and understanding of the problem for many people. For me - it has strengthened my opinion that this claim is basically a myth with help of many
scientific articles that have been shown in this thread together with experiences from a lot of people that not have treat the symptom.
But the topic here and now is if a stringy white poop is normally a sign of a disease caused by internal parasites. I will still say that it is a myth.
Sincerely Lasse