Worms (not planaria) and a thin fish

[nickbachman]

I've got a flowerhorn that I've raised from one of my breedings and he's always grown really slow and always seems to have "loose" poop, like it's always "shredded" sort of. It comes out and just breaks apart. He also never gets fat, he's always got a "hollowed out" stomach, no matter how much I feed him (besides right after feeding). Now, he's not sickly looking, he acts very normal and has great color, so he doesn't appear sickly.

Today I noticed he's a bit lethargic and I've spotted a couple 1/2" very thin long worms swimming rapidly in the water, swimming like a snake, not just slowly wiggling like planaria.

I've begun to wonder if this fish has some sort of internal worm that's messing with his digestion/robbing him of nutrients, and these worms today make me think that even more.

I change 30% of his water every week and his temp is 82-84.

Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[Lupin]

Try treating the fish with praziquantel. This may help remove suspected internal parasites and include garlic on its diet. Most food products such as the ones by Hikari though have garlic added so you won't find it necessary to add garlic on that one. What do you feed him?

 

[nickbachman]

His whole life he's been getting a mixture of Grand Sumo (expensive flowerhorn food), frozen bloodworms, Dainichi Color FX, and spirulina pellets. Despite eating all these things all the time, he still looks thin.