GT with internal parasites

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As Tom has mentioned it could be bacterial. OR you could have a different strain/type of internal parasites/worms that the particular medication your using isnt effective on. BUT.. I know this particular medication has Metronidazole, Praziquantel, Diflubenzuron. All three are great at treating for internal parasites.

Just to make sure of the basics and simple stuff... Not saying you dont know what your doing but even the most experinced Aquarist can make mistakes

You dont have any carbon or chemical media in the tank or filters? If so then remove all of it as it sucks up the meds.

How many gallons is the tank he currently is in?
How many medication tabs did you use per each dose?
How much Epsom salts are you dosing per 10 gallons of water in the tank? Should be 1 table spoon per 10 gallons.

It may take more dosages. Some cases according to the directions can take up to 3 doasages for things such as anchor worms. They also recommend for tank volumes over 40 gallons to pre dissolve the tablets for optimum effectiveness.

Directions: Remove carbon from filter during use. Add one tablet to each 10 gallons of aquarium water. Note: for tank volumes of 40 gallons or larger, and for soft and/or acid water with low alkalinity, dissolve tablets before adding to tank. Treatment may be repeated up to two times with 48 hours between treatments and a 25% water change. For anchor worms and fish lice, repeat treatment up to three times, using once a week with a 25% water change
 
I removed the carbon from the filter before treatment.
He is in a fourteen gallon tank. I used one and a half tablets for his first treatment and one tablet for the following doses (a total of three doses so far).
I have placed slightly over a table spoon of Epsom Salt per treatment (treated with this twice so far). In between each dose I did approximately a thirty percent water change.

I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to treating illnesses so I'm open to any and all advice.
Is it possible that the size of the tank is slowing down his recovery? It's the only other tank i have aside from a 125 of which he came out of.

Should I wait a week and treat again? Or should I look into another medications at this point?
 
Do a 50% water change. Run the carbon and clear the meds out of the tank and tomorrow do another 50% water change. Fish on Metro sometimes refuse and it has nothing to do with IPs. Once you've run the carbon and changed 100% of the water, wate another 24 hours and offer it a skinned green pea that you crushed between your fingers. Post the results and we start from there.
 
I'm not totaly surprized by the fact he refused it. I thought it was worth trying to see but not a harbinger of doom don't worry. Some fish will not eat on metro. Give it another 2 days no food. Fish can go weeks without eating. Try the pea again in 2 days. Don't panic at this point I don't see anything to be overly worried about at this point, this is not uncommon with GTs.
 
I'm sorry it took me so long to reply.
I've tried another pea, a piece of krill (which he always loved) and even his NLS and he's still refusing it all.

He is still very active but his belly is continuing to sink and his stringy feces is turning more transparent.
 
Allison2012 said:
I'm sorry it took me so long to reply.
I've tried another pea, a piece of krill (which he always loved) and even his NLS and he's still refusing it all.

He is still very active but his belly is continuing to sink and his stringy feces is turning more transparent.
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Have you taken your gt out of the water so you could put the pea into his mouth? For my fish I took him out of the water and shot medication into his mouth(not exactly sure what meds it was my buddy brought it over) and after that I fed him espon salt soaked pellets for a week and no problems since then.

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Are you sure you can force feed fish, and how do you do that. I have never done that and not sure if it works. It will be nice if it works because internal parasitesis or systemic infection is hard to cure because medication doesn't get absorbed easilty through the skin.
 
viejafish said:
Are you sure you can force feed fish, and how do you do that. I have never done that and not sure if it works. It will be nice if it works because internal parasitesis or systemic infection is hard to cure because medication doesn't get absorbed easilty through the skin.
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Yes you can inject food down a fish. Using a syringe and you can take pellets and soak them with epsom salt and then mash it up put it into the syringe and then squirt it into the phish esophagus. Same could be done with medicated food thats been soaked. This would be a last ditch effort is what I feel. Metro is normally pretty effective even taken externally. There may need to be a change eventually in whats used but at this time I dont think so.
 
I haven't tried to force feed him at all but I can try. Would I just take him out of the water, wait for him to open his mouth and then stick the skinned pea in his mouth?
 
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