Parasite was eating my Lion.

[Riverserver]

The past few days my Lion and I have been battling a flesh wound on his body that just keeps progressing worse and worse. It got to the point that there was nothing but flesh exposed.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u255/riverserver/85c7e7dd.jpg

Today I was sitting in my chair and he swims over towards me and starts showing me his wound. He started brushing it with his fins. I eye ball it for awhile and notice something that looks like a contact lens with black dots fluttering on it.

Quickly realizing what it was I netted him and gave him an immediate freshwater bath. I feel sorry for the little guy because it was really cold water, about 60°F, I got a Q-Tip and started brushing his wound to try and get the parasite off. He fought me the ENTIRE time.

It finally detached, I held it on my finger tip then smashed it, lol. I put my lion back in the tank and he ran behind the rocks and is incredibly pissy right now, but he's happier, even if he doesn't smile for pictures :)

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u255/riverserver/b1f3b203.jpg

I'll continue my feeding of various small portioned "highly nutritious" foods daily until he shows signs of improvement, then I'll back off the feedings. Any ideas on what exactly was chewing on him?

[Marcus Fenix]

I hope he's cured...good luck

[cichlidsrextrem]

yea i cant afford saltwater cuz im 14 lol but i hope u can help the little fella thats a beautiful fish and im shure it wasnt cheap eather srry about him

[trainedkilla]

and what was it exactly???

[Riverserver]

I'm guessing a fluke worm.

Found a much smaller one on another part of him:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u255/riverserver/cd0893fe.jpg

[Grins]

Aww poor guy. Glad you found it.

[trainedkilla]

****...I have not dealt with those. That sucks. Good luck with him!

[Riverserver]

Yeah it was a first time for me also. I've been unable to find any information on reproduction other than in humans.

[sharkmatt]

Looks like it might be a monogene Trematode based on a quick bit of research I've done. Did the Lion have cloudy eyes at all? Thats a symptom of this parasite. Good news is they're generally species specific so you're other fish shouldn't be affected. Bad news is as you've already found out there are probably more on your Lion. As far as I can tell a pH adjusted freshwater dip as you did is the simplest and best way to get rid of these. They have a direct life cycle which unfortunately means you're system may be infested with pre-parasitic life stages.

[Riverserver]

No his eyes were fine. The only sign of stress was him rubbing it when he came to show me. He was hanging out in extremely high flow areas instead of drifting around the tank, which I suspect was his way of trying to rid himself of them.

Yeah the freshwater bath really seemed to do the trick, I dumped him into straight RO/DI water with a pH of 6.2 - they shriveled up and died pretty fast, but I still squished them for good measure.

[sharkmatt]

Sounds like the freshwater dip did the trick. I'd pH adjust it next time though and have it at the right temp.