how to treat internal parasites?

[valerie]

WEll i'm afraid my african tank has come down with internal parasites. One of my female peacocks died about 2 months ago and it stopped eating and was dead the next day. Well last week i noticed my other female peacock didn't eat and the next day it was also dead.She did show a bit of a skinny tummy but i didn't think anyhtign of it as she looked fine and was eating well before this.

I have also noticed white stringy poo when cleaning out my tank last time but wasn't too concend and it didn't occur to me that is was parasties becuase my fish were all doing well at that time. WEll now i'm concerned and don't want anymore of my fish to die.

I"m planning on treating the whole tnak of internal parasites and would like to know the best method to do so. I have Metronidazole and anti parasitic flakes(made by tetra) and also discomed. I tried feeding the tetra parasite flakes and pellets soaked in teh discomed but the fish didn't eat them and spit them all out. I"m going to try treating the tanks water with Metronidazole, is this a good med for internal parasites? it says it can be added right into the water but i tired mixing it up in a cup before and found it didn't really disolve completely, does anyone else have this problem.

So basically,after listening to my long ramble, I'm wondering how you guys treat internal parasites and if i have the right meds?

[tricksterpup]

One thing you could try if you feel you have internal parasites is to feed them crushed garlic or foods laced with garlic which are sold at any lfs.
I found one brand online "New Life" Spectrum Freshwater Flakes w/Garlic. I am sure there are other brands.


jim

[valerie]

I"ll look for the garlic foods, we don't have new life specturm products here in canada though.

I'm not sure my fish would eat it thoguh as they haven't eaten any of the other foods i have tried for treating parasites.

I found a good article taht showed how to treat with metronidazole the right way.

[fish_freak]

HTB also makes a garlic suplement you can add to the water. I think I have scene it on big al's.
Aquarium Pharm's parasite clear is supposed to be good. Ive never had any bad luck with it and it disolves out of those handy tabs. It says it works on internal parasites but I dont know how well.

[Cearbhaill]

Goldfish Connection (http://www.goldfishconnection.com/ ) sells a metronidazole food that I have used on tropicals (specificaly discus in quarantine).

Lots of info on metro here (http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquasource/ipmetro.html)- he recommends ingestion as the most effective way to use it.

[valerie]

Thanks Cearbhaill, I know ingestion is the best methode but my fish won't eat the medicated flakes. I will keep feeding the flakes to see if they will eventually eat them.

That article was kind of similar to the one i read on using metronidazole to treat discus. They both tell you the amount to use to treat in the water and that the med will work best at higher temps and that it only last a few hours. The article i read gave more specific numbers but they ere both pretty much the same.

i guess i'm treating the water with metronidazole and I will keep trying to get them to eat the medicated foods.

Thanks

Has anyone actualy treated for internal parasites sucessfully using metronidazole?

[Cearbhaill]

Thanks Cearbhaill, I know ingestion is the best methode but my fish won't eat the medicated flakes.
I'd be happy to mail you a bit of the Metro-Med. It's a good sized pellet and every fish I've ever tried it on ate it up.
I can't spare a lot, but maybe enough for you to see if they'd eat it or not before you order some.

I also saw someone selling smaller quantities on Ebay.

[valerie]

Originally posted by Cearbhaill

I'd be happy to mail you a bit of the Metro-Med. It's a good sized pellet and every fish I've ever tried it on ate it up.
I can't spare a lot, but maybe enough for you to see if they'd eat it or not before you order some.

I also saw someone selling smaller quantities on Ebay.

Thank you but you don't have to. I will keep trying to feed the tetra flakes and the frozen food soaked in the med. Some of hte fish are eating the pellest soaked in meds but the fish i'm still concerned about(adult male ruby red peacock and his female, male red empress and Hap.electra) aren't really swallowing them. They chew them up and spit them out into tiny bits that some of the other fish eat.

Thanks again, hopefully the water treatment wil work and i'll keep feeding the foods.

[tricksterpup]

Try crushing up some garlic with the food and see how your fish likes this, I have used this method in my old reef tank for my fish. This will help get rid of most internal parasites. The type of fish you have may prefer the garlic over the medicated flakes in the long run.



jim

[ROLLIN]

I have had success with parasite clear tank buddies by jungle. Of course there was no way of me knowing if the fish had internal parasites for sure, but it had white stringy feces and wasnt eating so I assume it did.