So long story short I accidentally used the same hoses for water changes from a quarantine tank and my West African tank, with eels, Paretroplus Madagascar cichlids, and elephant nose fish, as well as some Uaru I'm growing out. The tank got ich. So I cranked the temp up, added some salt to help them heal up (it seems to be an especially nasty ich stain - maybe it more than ich?) and added some Praziquantel in case there was any parasites transferred. Went down a few hours later and my Paretroplus dambabe have big white worms (round worms I believe) hanging out of their butts. They were chasing each other around pulling the worms out from another ones butt and eating them! Gross. Will this re-infect them? I had no idea they had round worms, they weren't skinny really, and I treated them with Levamisole when I got them. I have never dealt with anything like this before ! Should I be worried?
Fish eating white worms from each other's butts
- Thread starter Quo Vadis
- Start date
Still have white worm hanging out their butts this morning. While Im glad through this I found out about the round worms, I am so mad at myself. I just lost one of my baby Uaru and a baby pbass. It took me long time to find baby Uarus at a reasonable price, and they are fast becoming on of my favorite fish. I think I may lose the other Uarus too. Interestingly the only fish in the tank with no symptoms at all are my Elephantnose.
It's funny, when you are new to fish keeping you make lots of mistakes due to ignorance or inexperience, but the further I get in the hobby the more my mistakes end up be just dumb. Usually when I'm in a hurry or tired. Like using the same hose for water changes, forgetting to add water conditioner, adding too big a dose of meds.
It's funny, when you are new to fish keeping you make lots of mistakes due to ignorance or inexperience, but the further I get in the hobby the more my mistakes end up be just dumb. Usually when I'm in a hurry or tired. Like using the same hose for water changes, forgetting to add water conditioner, adding too big a dose of meds.
I've been doing this since 1970. I still find new mistakes to make. Almost sounds comical watching them eat worms like that.
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It would be my guess that those worms are dying due to the prazi, and as such probably aren't going to cause a reoccuring problem when ingested...again. Keep up with the heat, the salt and especially the prazi and I have a feeling the problem will be cleared up, especially if you are seeing the results already (nasty though those results may be)
Nematodes (round worms) if that's what these are, are best treated with Levamisole, not Praziquental. Prazi is most effective against tapeworms.
See post #3 in the following link .......
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?594122-Round-worm-problem
If you don't do a follow up treatment, and/or miss killing any of the eggs, the worms will continue to spread.
See post #3 in the following link .......
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?594122-Round-worm-problem
If you don't do a follow up treatment, and/or miss killing any of the eggs, the worms will continue to spread.
Sorry for your loss and troubles, but I'm sitting on the can at work and literally laughed out loud when I read the title.
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Ok, well maybe they are tapeworms, because these fish have been treated with Levamisole a couple months ago. Whatever the worms are the Praziquantel affected them when the Levamisole did not. It just happened last night so I haven't had a chance to ID the worms yet, I'm just unsure whether the fact that they are eating them as they come will be a problem or not. The Uaru do not appear to have the worms, they seem to be getting some kind of secondary infection from the ich, because the white spots are getting bigger than ich should look. Not sure what I can do about that except salt, heat and water changes. I have never had much luck with antibiotics. Fish always seem too far gone at that point, and water changes and salt seem to work just as well, IME.
Tapeworms are flat, round worms are round. If Prazi is killing the worms causing them to pass, then they are tapeworms.
Figure I post this since I just observed this: I gave my 75 some scrap baby lettuce from a salad yesterday. Just now, I noticed my GG swimming around with a 1"+ piece of half digested lettuce hanging from its anus. Then my chocolate cichlid swooped in and liberated the lettuce from the GG bum and consumed it. I thought about this post and figured I share 
Sorry about all your losses Quo.
Sorry about all your losses Quo.