Never seen this before

[Darbex]

This morning I saw one of my discus pooping out MTS. Not sure if this is bad or not. I dont know if he tried eating them or how they got into his system but not sure what to do. Has anyone seen this before?

[Complexity]

MTS as in Malaysian Trumpet Snails (hard to tell from the pic)?

[wvgdiscus]

Never seen a discus poop MTS before.
Is this the mean one we had talked about last night.
I would have to say its not good.

[Darbex]

yeah to complexity. No its one of the small ones Walter

[Darbex]

They appear to be dead as I didnt see any movement. I have seen the discus attack my nerites once in a while so maybe they do the same with the MTS or they might have eaten them when they were picking up food of the sand.

[specialone0812]

thats weird to me.

[Mzungu]

Are you sure it's MTS? I know this sounds yucky, but did you happen to look at the poop up-close? Like, net it out of the tank and grind it up in some water? It could be just a weird poop.

But, if it is MTS, I'd be curious to see if they're still alive. They seem to be able to survive anything!

Edit: I just saw that you said they appeared to be dead. Oh well.

[Complexity]

Are you sure it's MTS? I know this sounds yucky, but did you happen to look at the poop up-close? Like, net it out of the tank and grind it up in some water? It could be just a weird poop.

+1

I think it's probably just weird poop (which in itself is a sign of disease) unless it was actually investigated to ensure that those were indeed MTS shells.

[Zulaab]

I would imagine since Discus are bottom feeders that they would live in nature off crustations and larva in the substrate. I imagine they are just simply picking up what is natural for them in life.
The belly digest the internals of the snail while the snail shells has to be expelled... this is what you are seeing I am sure

[Darbex]

I would imagine since Discus are bottom feeders that they would live in nature off crustations and larva in the substrate. I imagine they are just simply picking up what is natural for them in life.
The belly digest the internals of the snail while the snail shells has to be expelled... this is what you are seeing I am sure

I am thinking the same Jesper. I did inspect it through the glass but the are clearly MTS shells. You can see the spiral and point on one end.

[imagirlgeek]

I googled and came across a paper on the survival through gut-passage of pea clams and snails in whitefish (which is a bottom-feeding fish). So I would say it's common enough for a study to be done and a paper written.