what type of parasite?

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Tbird2017

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 12, 2011
24
0
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Indiana
I have been fighting a parasite infestation the past few months. I thought they were anchor worms as they seemed to grow from the fins of my fish and appear similar to pictures I have seen. However I managed to get some dimilin and removed the adults and they are still showing up every few days. I remove them as soon as they pop up but I hate constantly taking my fish out of the tank as it is stressful. Here are some pictures (sorry none in the water). What do you think they are? 2013-06-05 11.51.26.jpg2013-06-05 11.52.21.jpg2013-06-05 11.58.29.jpg2013-06-05 11.58.40.jpg

2013-06-05 11.51.26.jpg

2013-06-05 11.52.21.jpg

2013-06-05 11.58.29.jpg

2013-06-05 11.58.40.jpg
 
Looks like a type of leech....i had a turtle that came in with these from turtleshack. Had to remove them with tweezers. My guess is he was in an outdoor pond. Very common for wild turtles to have them from what ive read but never seen one on a fish, crazy. Salt may kill them? But thats just a guess, kinda a painstaking process to physically remove them all with tweezers.

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Def. A leech and def. A very hard problem to get rid of :( . Most info i could find for u says use dimilin and that it wont kill the eggs just as u stated. Bleach or drying wont even kill the eggs apparently as they can live up to a year dry. Ur best bet may be to strip the tank down and clean it best you can with bleach filters and all and go from there. 15-20 min salt baths should b used to kill the adults on ur fish before pulling. Just pulling them off can be harmful. Since salt does work id say raise the salt levels in ur tank as much as the fish can handle it for a while (def. Need a way to measure the salinity) and see if that does it.

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Thank you for the replies. I will add salt and see if that helps. I may have to break down and clean the tank out if the salt doesn't work, so I hope the salt works :-).
 
If u google "leech in fish tank" alot of info comes up, i had no idea this was a somewhat common problem. And agreed breaking down the tank may be ur only option. Apparently the eggs can also lay dormant until conditions are right then release into the water. So i think a tear down is the only true way to eliminate them and even then i read people still had issues. Good luck man! Makes me nervous i had a few adults in a 55 turtle tank and theres probably more. There def. Gross, makes me want to puke lol

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CLOUT; TRICHLORFON (Dylox)
Dimethyl (2,2,2,Trichloro-1-Hydroxyethyl) Phosphonate:
Trichlorfon is an Organophosphate and degrades rapidly (approximately 99% of applied degraded in 2 hours) in alkaline pond water (pH 8.5) at room temperature. But remains stable in the same pond water held under acidic (pH 5.0) conditions for 2 hours.
Trichlorfon is very highly toxic to invertebrates.
DO NOT USE ON FISH THAT ARE CHEMICALLY SENSITIVE such as: Silver Dollars, Rays, Bala Sharks, Arowanas, Tinfoil Barbs, Hemodias, Piranha, Most Silver Scaled Fish, Marine sharks, Lion Fish.

USE: Trichlorfon is useful for treatment of: Hydra, Lernia (Anchor Worms), Parasitic Copepods, Monodigenetic and Digenetic Flukes, Fish Lice (Argulus), Leeches.
As well Clout may be effective for at least partially exposed nematodes such as camalanus worms.

Or pull them off by hand with tweezers.
 
Looks like a type of leech....i had a turtle that came in with these from turtleshack. Had to remove them with tweezers. My guess is he was in an outdoor pond. Very common for wild turtles to have them from what ive read but never seen one on a fish, crazy. Salt may kill them? But thats just a guess, kinda a painstaking process to physically remove them all with tweezers.

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And that's a great example of why I'd never get a herp from them! (sorry to derail)
 
Haha never again mount piron! I was utterly appauled when i opened the package. It was supposed to be a juvi 3-4" and it came in at 6-8" with 4 of these leeches on it like it was wild caught that day. Thats terrible business. I had a 20l set up expecting a hatchling and had to scramble to make better accomidations on the spot. Turtleshack is a joke and i ended up at the punch line. Sorry for the derail aswell just glad atleast one person noticed my experience with them lol

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