Possible fluke/trematoda infection

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wyldKard

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 2, 2006
338
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Pavia, Philippines
www.aquageek.me
Saw one of my guppy fry with a fluke attached to it's side today. So far he's the only one who visibly has one. This is the first time this has happened in my 20+ years of keeping fish in aquariums.

Any suggestions on how to treat this? Little thing won't stay still so I couldn't take a picture. Parents of this guy were caught in the wild around 5 months ago and he's the 4th batch of fry for the breeders.
 
How did you figure out this is fluke? Do you have photos, particularly magnification images from a microscope? Normally, flukes are not visible by the naked eyes and there are various kinds of flukes, most of which can be seen only under a microscope when you do a skin or gill scrape.

I am under the impression what you may have seen is either anchorworm or fish leech. Could you please confirm this via a sticky thread entitled Freshwater Disease Guide? If it is either of the two, what you can do is get forceps or tweezers and remove the parasite out of the fish carefully. Get a swab of cotton and soak it in iodine solution to apply to the wound of the fish. Dose the tank with either trichlorfon or dimilin. Be sure to wear gloves when administering either of the two medicines since they absorb to human skin and are lethal possibly also causing allergic reactions when you come in contact with it.
 
hey lupin,

thanks for the tip, and i stand corrected, it is an anchor worm. i couldn't confirm with the image on the sticky but googled it instead.

will try to catch that little fry tomorrow without tearing up the whole plant life in the tank. will have a visit at my lfs for the trichlorfon and/or dimilin as well.

my fish thank you also :nilly:
 
You're welcome. You could find some in livestock stores although powder form can be more difficult to measure and then administer since the tank volume is far smaller than the pond which could have made it easier for us to treat correctly without risk of overdosing and potentially kill the fish.

I should have mentioned some petstores may carry this medicine which you could try.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=5403

Treat the whole tank. There is a likeliest chance the anchorworms may have managed to produce emerging juveniles. Adults needed a higher concentration of whichever treatment you use since they are far too versatile for most treatments which is why I recommended you remove those parasites manually and let the treatments deal with the juvenile and larval stages.

On the other hand, I really need to update some of my references on these parasites.
 
Why not order online? Try livestock stores for the trichlorfon. Pharmacies would not carry dimilin or trichlorfon.
 
You didn't tell me your exact location. I could have located you sources of trichlorfon. Please PM me if you still need the trichlorfon.
 
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