Internal Parasites in Young Bowfins

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the asian
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Mar 29, 2005
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I just got 4 baby bowfins, not more than 1" in length.

These were collected from the wild, which I suspect may carry internal parasites.

Although they've been feeding voraciously on live blackworms for the past 15 hours, I'm not sure if the effects of tapeworms will begin to show just yet, or the fact that it may infect my other fishes.

As of now, they're all being housed in a single tank, by themselves.

I'd appreciate any tips or help or assurance about this issue.
 
Wild bowfin have been shown to carry a very heavy parasite load. If the fish have been collected out of the wild and maintained for some time, though, they should be okay. Most of the time, if there are sufficient tapeworms, etc., the fish will die shortly after capture as the fish succumbs to the parasites mixed with the stress from being taken from the wild.
 
Very common for them to carry either tapeworms or round worms and sometimes both, if they are eating pellets the anti-parasite food by Jungle will work, if not dose first with praziquantel then follow with an anti-nematode dewormer like dyzol, piperazine, mebendazole, or something similar. I saw an article that said in one area of Fla. over 80% carried tapeworms.
 
Jungle Labs Anti-Parasite Food contains both anti-tapeworm and anti-nematode meds, they also make a fizz tab called parasite clear with the same meds. Other than that you need to read each package.
 
If feeding your own mix, add fresh garlic. Do it for six weeks. Drawback, some fishes will only consume the food but reject the garlic.
 
Although extremely hardy and resistant as adults, young bowfin can be rather sensitive to medications. I treat my small wild caught 'fins with medications at 1/2 to 3/4 strength, depending on age/size.




Good luck



Bootzy
 
I believe one article has overstated the problems of internal prasites in Bowfin. Since Bowfin come from water that commonly have "problems" it should be understood that some water is full of parasite problems and these fish may have parasites. It should be noted that many waters are pretty clean of major "bugs".

In this case I know the waters very well where these fish came from. I would not blanket treat them for internal parasites. If you see signs of problems I would advise the use of praziquantel per instruction. I've never used praziquantel on bowfin but I have used it on countless other natives with great success (including scaless fish).

I can warn you of one problem "bug" from that water though. I've had about 10% of the fish from water close by (less than one mile) that have anchor worms. This can be treated with dimilin but tends to be a bit harsh on the fish. This medication is also difficult since it has a long medication period. I would not treat for anchor worms unless you see them. They can be seen easily with the naked eye and removed with tweazers. Removing them will not solve the problem but will slow reproduction. Only adults can be seen and only adults carry eggs. Salt (@ 1-2 TBS per 5 gallons) will also slow the rate of growth or in some cases eliminate the problem all together.

Oh, I should mention while I took care of these guys I saw no parasitic problems of any kind. I also used salt to rid them of the easy stuff with every daily water change. They should be pretty darn clean.
 
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