Internal parasites

[Showtimekev]

Hello MFK family. I’ve been away for a while because my fish have been struggling with internal parasites and I’m trying to get them healthy. I’ve tried everything and they’re still reoccurring. General cure, metroplex,
aquarium salt etc. and they get healthy for a few weeks, then get sick all over again. They get sunken belly and stop eating and get white stringy poop and become very lethargic. I vacuum the gravel weekly and try to do everything I can, but it keeps coming back. I have so many beautiful red points and they’re going to die if this isn’t solved

 

[aroijuana]

Hello MFK family. I’ve been away for a while because my fish have been struggling with internal parasites and I’m trying to get them healthy. I’ve tried everything and they’re still reoccurring. General cure, metroplex,
aquarium salt etc. and they get healthy for a few weeks, then get sick all over again. They get sunken belly and stop eating and get white stringy poop and become very lethargic. I vacuum the gravel weekly and try to do everything I can, but it keeps coming back. I have so many beautiful red points and they’re going to die if this isn’t solved

Tried levamisole?

 

[Showtimekev]

Tried levamisole?

Nope, I’ve heard of it tho, and I heard it can be hard on the fish

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

PraziPro?

 

[phreeflow]

Prazipro is similar to General Cure but without the metrondazinole.

Try levamisole…I have ordered some from a small vendor and it was hard on fish. But the one Fritz Aquatics makes has been very gentle. It’s call Fritz Expel P.

Levamisole treats different types of internal parasites then praziquantel and metrondazinole.

If that doesn’t work, it could be that your fish are suffering from Mycobacteria. If so, it can look like internal parasites but there is no cure.

Post pics

 

[kzimmerman]

I treated my pao cambodgiensis and Tetraodon miuris with levamisole with no problems. They are puffers, and scaleless, and would have a problem with it if it was really bad. If you dose with it and your fish are reacting badly, just do a water change. You can also try different ways of dosing, in food, baths, etc.

 

[duanes]

If a fish dies, it may be a good idea to dissect it to find (if possible) what the parasite is.
After dissection do you see nematode like worms in the digestive tract?
do you see crustaceans on gill membrane?, or..
do you see nothing (meaning possibly bacteria, (and would need a microscope), (same for some protozoa)
Meds that treat worms, do not necessarily kill bacteria.
Antibiotics that kill bacteria, do not necessarily kill worms, or protozoal copepod like crustaceans (where a chitin inhibitor may be required.
Antibiotics that kill gram negative bacteria may not be totally effective on gram + bacteria, and visa-versa.

Could it even be a water parameter issue. Recurring infections may be a clue.
Do you have fish that require hard, mineral rich water, or....fish that require soft, mineral free water?
Often times when infections recur, this is the case in aquariums.
Are nitrates too high?
although high nitrate often manifests as HITH in fish like large cichlids, it can also be the cause of chronic intestinal disease, or provides the soup that allows certain phages to constantly reinfect.
If your nitrate is between 10-20ppm, this can cause chronic disease in some species that require more pristine conditions, like nitrate concentrations under 5ppm.

 

[Showtimekev]

Honestly, I think I seen babies in a breeder box trying to eat a little worm. Because the babies ended up getting it too. I was able to see the worm because the sun hit the breeder box and everything became so much more clear/vivid. I wonder if that was one of the parasites. I’ve never fed my fish worms, and that worm was wiggling very slowly. It was tiny of course. But maybe they could’ve been the culprit

 

[Hybridfish7]

Honestly, I think I seen babies in a breeder box trying to eat a little worm. Because the babies ended up getting it too. I was able to see the worm because the sun hit the breeder box and everything became so much more clear/vivid. I wonder if that was one of the parasites. I’ve never fed my fish worms, and that worm was wiggling very slowly. It was tiny of course. But maybe they could’ve been the culprit

If it was a small white worm wiggling in an s curve motion, I would assume that's just a generic (harmless) detritus worm. Mine eat those too. How are you getting the medication to them? When my acara had the sunken belly and white poop, I mixed the metroplex with her food. Treatment took a little over a month of feeding her metroplex soaked frozen food. Have you introduced anything new to your system recently, and what filtration do you use?

 

[Trouser Cough]

I would also consider installing a UV sterilizer. They won't cure the fish of anything but properly installed they can kill anything that runs through your filter system and that's likely to be a major hangout for any parasites that have been expelled from the fish during prior treatments.