Internal Parasites?

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MattyV55

MattyV55

Polypterus
MFK Member
Apr 27, 2016
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Kingston MA
So I have 180 gallon South American community. Chocolates, Severums, plecos, geophagus Pellegrini. The tank has been running for 2 years and up until a few weeks ago I have never lost a fish. But starting about a month ago I noticed many of my fish to be flashing, flicking, twitching, etc. against the sand and driftwood. Then last week my chocolate got a wound on its side that was white. It got bigger and bigger as the day went on and I noticed some heavy breathing. The next morning he was dead. The day before the white spot I saw him flash and then twitch and have some sort of spasm it was strange. since then no other fish has gotten very sick but I still see some flashing and flicking (even more than before and from fish who haven't done it in the past). I feel like it has to be some type of internal parasite or something. I do not have a hospital tank nor can I get one. So what should I do? I would like to treat the entire tank and wipe out whatever is there however i can.

Please Help!
 
Poop has seemed normal to me. Haven't noticed any white stringy. The fish are acting and eating normal as well
 
I do change about 70% of water per week. I did recently clean out both of my FX5 filters. They are plumbed into the tank. I thought my beneficial bacteria would be okay because I have 2 XL sponges that have been in there since June
 
Doubt it's internal parasite then. But I can't be 100% sure. Levamisole is a pretty safe option that can treat a variety of internal parasites. It's a 24 hour dose of 2ppm. You can try that and if it's internal parasites you will see the fish improve quite quickly.
 
MattyV55 said:
So then what could it be?
Click to expand...

Have you tested ammonia or nitrite using a liquid test?

Without a scrape of the infected area or sample of the feces to be examined under a micrscope, it will be hard to tell. Since levamisole is not readily available, you could try prazipro (praziquental) if you haven't already.
 
Do you ever feed live foods (blood worms, etc from a LFS)? or introduced a new fish in the last few months?
Some of those foods carry bacteria.
And sometimes it takes months (up to 6) for a bacterial or other disease to come to an infective population after introducing a new fish, or some live food.
Then all it takes is some added stress to set it off.
 
Yes there have been new fish. And if that is the case (which it probably is), what is the best way to fix it?
 
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