De-Worming Loaches -- Is It Really Necessary??

[aclockworkorange]

I don't know why people think fish have to appear unhealthy in order to suspect IPs... Parasites LIVE off their host... it is not to their benefit in most cases to kill the host organism, unless their lifecycle is designed around multiple carriers.

As long as your fish is not stressed and kept in good conditions, it can usually handle its parasite load perfectly fine. Many fish in the wild have some sort of parasites.

I would at the very least feed a garlic soaked food, or better yet a garlic enriched food like New Life Spectrum Thera A.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

Well I know that rope fish frequently carry some kinda parasite that pretty much destroys their swim bladder in captivity. I'd love to know how to pre-emptively rid them of this. They don't eat pellets really so getting garlic in their system is hard(Impossible) I don't know if they are treated as scaleless fish, they have visible scales. Once they show the symptoms you have less than 48 hours to treat, typically they die no matter what. I have one success story though. but it was definitely a fluke and not something to be used except in dire circumstances.

 

[Chromobotia]

I would at the very least feed a garlic soaked food, or better yet a garlic enriched food like New Life Spectrum Thera A.

I recently bought some of this but so far no luck, the loaches don't seem to be eating it.

 

[redinfinity]

I don't know why people think fish have to appear unhealthy in order to suspect IPs... Parasites LIVE off their host... it is not to their benefit in most cases to kill the host organism, unless their lifecycle is designed around multiple carriers.

As long as your fish is not stressed and kept in good conditions, it can usually handle its parasite load perfectly fine. Many fish in the wild have some sort of parasites.

I would at the very least feed a garlic soaked food, or better yet a garlic enriched food like New Life Spectrum Thera A.

Yeah a good parasite doesn't wanna kill their host but we don't want to medicate unnecessarily either though. I agree, keep fish in good conditions and they can handle certain things (like ich) on their own.

 

[redinfinity]

I recently bought some of this but so far no luck, the loaches don't seem to be eating it.

My loaches take a while to get used to new foods so just keep trying to feed it to them and see what happens.

 

[aclockworkorange]

If you are having trouble feeding a new food, I would suggest not feeding for a couple days and then trying again... a healthy fish will not refuse food that is suitable for it.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Yeah a good parasite doesn't wanna kill their host but we don't want to medicate unnecessarily either though. I agree, keep fish in good conditions and they can handle certain things (like ich) on their own.

I don't think deworming one time is what I would call "medicating unnecessarily." I understand what you mean though, but I don't think that applies here. Deworming cats and dogs regularly is a normal practice even if they don't show signs or symptoms. The upsides of treating with a safe treatment I think exceeds the downsides. Make sure you do your research if you do this though. Loaches are sensitive.

 

[JakeH]

What is Garlic Xtreme? Is that a brand? I'll have to look into this because if this is something that the Loaches will like then I'm more than willing to give it a try.

Its a 99% Garlic Extract that will send your fish into a feeding frenzy. There are several brands out there, but I use the Ken's Garlic Xtreme cuz it's easy to get locally. You can put a drop or 2 into the water, which attracts the fish VERY quickly, or use it to add significant "garlic power" to any food. It's also supposed to treat external IP's, but that's questionable at best. Either way you use it, a bottle should last a while & you will instantly regret any spillage...


Kamikaze--Swim bladder infections are rarely treatable. However, I think that's a bacteria issue, so again treatment would be easiest in QT so the meds don't kill off the good bacteria in your display tank.

 

[Chromobotia]

Its a 99% Garlic Extract that will send your fish into a feeding frenzy. There are several brands out there, but I use the Ken's Garlic Xtreme cuz it's easy to get locally. You can put a drop or 2 into the water, which attracts the fish VERY quickly, or use it to add significant "garlic power" to any food. It's also supposed to treat external IP's, but that's questionable at best. Either way you use it, a bottle should last a while & you will instantly regret any spillage...

I did a search on the internet and found the Kent brand. So your saying that garlic is used to treat IPs or is it just an appetite enhancer? I may give it a try by adding some to the Thera-A that I bought to see if I can get the loaches to eat it.

 

[aclockworkorange]

I think the Thera A has more than enough garlic in it... I would try the not feeding them for a couple days thing. It has shown good results in treating IPs without meds, but there is no conclusive evidence that it works.