Parasite sticking out of my IT! Need help1
- Thread starter downsouth
- Start date
Ok. In my humble opinion, that looks like an anchor worm. careful tweezer removal is the usual treatment. Followed by whatever hospital tank procedures you would normally go with. Looks like it's ballz deep in your poor fish. Did you have some dirty feeder fish in your tank? Perhaps some imported frozen food?
Please note that I am not a veteranarian and you should let the others put their two cents in. Any chemical that would kill the anchor worm, would kill your fish, so it's like removing a bullet and then treating the actual wound. I am interested to hear what everyone else thinks.
Please note that I am not a veteranarian and you should let the others put their two cents in. Any chemical that would kill the anchor worm, would kill your fish, so it's like removing a bullet and then treating the actual wound. I am interested to hear what everyone else thinks.
Lernea (Anchor Worm).
This koi parasite is most commonly found on newly imported koi, and should be dealt with by your koi dealer, it is rarely a problem for the koi hobbyist.
It is visible to the naked eye and the adult parasite may reach 12mm in length, with anchor like appendages at the head. It attaches to the koi and the anchor penetrates under the scale and into the muscle of the fish, where it feeds. This parasite reproduces by laying eggs, two egg sacs are produced at the end of the females body, the larvae hatch from these egg sacs and swim freely until they come into contact with a koi, they then commence the cycle again.
The parasite can cause serious damage to the koi where it penetrates the tissue. These wounds sometimes heal very slowly and if untreated become infected with bacteria and fungus, it is these secondary infections that cause the most risk to the koi.
To treat Anchor Worm you must treat the pond to sterilize the adults, this treatment should be repeated after seven days to ensure any eggs that were unhatched at the first treatment are now sterilized after hatching. Now all reproduction has been stopped. The treatment used is Dimilin.
Now the adults must all be removed from the koi. To do this you will need to sedate each koi individually and carefully remove the parasite with tweezers, making sure you remove the entire thing including the anchor part. Each entry wound should then topically treated. Check every koi in the pond to ensure none are missed.
If you have difficulty removing the Anchor worm, try dipping the ends of your tweezers in a potassium permanganate solution, this causes the parasite to release its grip.
It is visible to the naked eye and the adult parasite may reach 12mm in length, with anchor like appendages at the head. It attaches to the koi and the anchor penetrates under the scale and into the muscle of the fish, where it feeds. This parasite reproduces by laying eggs, two egg sacs are produced at the end of the females body, the larvae hatch from these egg sacs and swim freely until they come into contact with a koi, they then commence the cycle again.
The parasite can cause serious damage to the koi where it penetrates the tissue. These wounds sometimes heal very slowly and if untreated become infected with bacteria and fungus, it is these secondary infections that cause the most risk to the koi.
To treat Anchor Worm you must treat the pond to sterilize the adults, this treatment should be repeated after seven days to ensure any eggs that were unhatched at the first treatment are now sterilized after hatching. Now all reproduction has been stopped. The treatment used is Dimilin.
Now the adults must all be removed from the koi. To do this you will need to sedate each koi individually and carefully remove the parasite with tweezers, making sure you remove the entire thing including the anchor part. Each entry wound should then topically treated. Check every koi in the pond to ensure none are missed.
If you have difficulty removing the Anchor worm, try dipping the ends of your tweezers in a potassium permanganate solution, this causes the parasite to release its grip.
Also, once the operation is successfully performed(crosses fingers) please post some pics of the recovery. It would be cool to see the wound heal.