Parasite ID please....

Aww. Poor fishies. I think its some sort of anchor worm. Hard to ID for sure (to me at least), besides they are all very similar.

I dont know how much help this link is, because I dont think most of the things mentioned are commonly available, but:
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=4006090712&f=6806023812&m=4596071824

Also, they were probably introduced through a fish when you bought it. It went unnoticed for awhile, then spread through the fish. Or, if you feed live food, it may have come from that.

What I would do is:

Get something like Pepso food. Feed it to the fish as per the instructions. It gets at the parasites from the inside out. Also, get a jar of minced garlic. Soak any food you feed them (other than the Pepso food which is obviously already treated) in the juice of the garlic. Garlic is an appetite stimulant and will help kill parasites too, both of which are good things.

Then, get some sort of medicine and treat the entire tank. I've used Jungles Internal Parasite Guard before with success (on rainbowfish).

Meanwhile, entice them with their favorite foods (soaked in garlic) to get them some nutrition and help to boost their immune system.

Good luck Hopefully someone else can better help.

BTW. great pics of the problem.

I would heartily recommend that you take Leopardess' advice and soak your fishes' current food in garlic rather than getting new food. This way you can be sure that plenty of garlic is getting into the food rather than guessing at what is in the discus food. Also, I have no hard evidence to back this up, but it would seem to me that the soak method would result in a fresher garlic aroma that would be more enticing to the fish -- an important consideration given their less-than-normal appetite.

I wouldn't rule out online suppliers if you can't find what you want locally. While this infection might normally take its course in a couple days, you will likely be slowing it down with the garlic and pepso (if you don't eliminate it entirely). So you're buying yourself some time with the treatment. If you strike out at local stores, I would order what you want from Drs. Foster and Smith ASAP, and have it express shipped (if you can afford it). The reason I say this is that if you're still in dire straits a few days from now, you will be kicking yourself for not ordering earlier, when you had the chance. Try to keep thinking long-term even though the situation seems desperate right now.

The only other advice I can give is to take a deep breath, and reread Leopardess' original post. It seems like in your panic you might have read too quickly (understandable, of course), and missed some of what she told you. She has solid advice to give -- I know, because she helped me save one of my fishes from an infection!

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

<pinches TPIRman's cheeks> What a schweethat.


Yah, I would try to find some of that Parasite Guard. Even if you have to order some sort of online med - it can save some of your future fish at least. Say only 8 of your fish have it right now (maybe it's too late to help them), well, if you order the meds now, it might be there in time to help out the other fish that may develope it soon.

Some people will say that it's useless to treat the water when dealing with internal parasites because they're, well, internal. I think it's worth a shot - heck the fish live in and absorb the water. Plus, for anal worms that hang out, swishing around in medicated water must have some sort of negative affect on them.

You may want to check the Discus food to see what is in it. I'm not exactly sure which ingredients in Pepso food are the *ones* that kill the parasites, but if you could get a list of them (one of Jungle's sites must list them), you could compare it to the discus food?

Also, I might as well stick this here. A lot of people have asked about what Pepso food is like and how big it is, etc. I'll include a picture of how small it is. Tetras will eat it, gouramis, rainbowfish, rasboras, etc. It's virtually useless for larger fish and things like otos. For them, soak zucchini or algae wafers in the garlic.


Good luck and let us know how things go!

***EDIT****
Oh, this is a post from Avalon at Myfishtank. It may be of some help to you (again, not sure about availability).

It's very common to have worms that hang from the fish's anus. This is one sign that you are dealing with a serious case. Unlike the post about internal parasites, which is meant as a general and safe introduction to begin, this is one case where you will have to deviate from the "simple" treatments I previously mentioned.

Unfortunately, metro will not help you much here. I will refer a few medications for you to use, but you must keep in mind that with the exception of two, I have no experience with them. I've only heard that they will work and that I do not know the dosages and/or treatment regimine. Use at your own risk. Better yet, call a vet.

Piperazine: also known as pipzine, this med is found in most dog/cat de-worming medications. This med was initially recommended by the owner of a LFS I trust. He uses it and recommends it to discus owners to cure IP's. If found in the liquid form over-the-counter, you can soak you food in it and feed it to your fish. I've use it a few times, but not enough to tell if it worked because my infected fish didn't eat it. My healthy convicts readily ate food treated with it without any negative effects.

Praziquantal: also commonly known as "prazi." This appears to be very popular with discus owners. I've seen information about this med @ www.simplydiscus.com

Panacur(?): from what I've gathered, this is a heavy duty med that should only be administered through food only and never the water column. Rumor has it that it's very effective for stomach worms. Use at your own risk.

Levamisole: This is a very safe and very effective medicine for internal parasites, but I'm unsure of it's effectiveness against worms. Levamisol ranks up there with metro in overall effectiveness, but it's very, very hard to find without a prescription from a vet.


I'll see what else I can find.

Here's another awesome link. I believe they list some sources,too? They talk about garlic and why it may help. The only I'll change offhand is that Pepso food and Jungle's meds are *not* worthless. I've used them exclusively besides garlic to treat infections and they've worked. Though, as I said, he was dealing with large cichlids and the food is too small for them.
http://myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13065

Sorry the links aren't from here. I'm more familiar with that site.

sounds like you already have a grasp on it. It's camallanus worms. I've lost one paradise fish to it and now another has the symptoms as well.