help! what is it...?

[ele]

On Friday, 2 days ago, I feed my fish live food. I did it as usual, same amount of food...
The lights were turned off, so I did not see (I should have) who and how much ate.
In the morning everything was normal, but one of my Pictus catfish looks like in the attached photo.
At first I thought it ate too much, but 2 days went and its belly does not look smaller. It looks like it ate algae wafer (there is no way it could drop into the tank) or flat small stone.

today, I can see it moving inside the fish.

I am affraid it can be some sort of worms.

the other fish seems fine...



40g.
1 Raphael catfish,
3 Rainbow,
2 Pictus Catfish

 

[Ghost_knife]

he may have eaten a small fish, mine do it all the time. he should be fine/

 

[ele]

no...all the fish is alive.
if it is food, why it is moving inside, ...can the worm move...

 

[travis]

what kind of live food did you feed it?

also, are you sure its moving? that seems very unlikely that it could develop an internal parasite that large, but i wouldnt know.

i think its either an internal parasite or intestinal blockage. usually the way to treat a parasite is feeding it food soaked in medicine, and if its blockage than feeding a cooked pea usually works.


so basically im not sure what it is, but i think its one of those two.

 

[ele]

i believe it was blood warms - i mean I fed them.

Absolutly sure it is moving. Pictus lay on the gravel, but when it starts to move inside, pictus move itself, turns around or just moves a little to lay daown again. It is moving like if we put water in the ballon, but not to fill it completely, just maybe half. take it in one hand at the top, then the other hand support the bottom, moving that(bottom hand) upper or lower/side to side.
...hope it makes a little sence...

 

[ele]

one more question,
if i were to use medications, how to make sure that only Pictus gets it, or should I feed all the fish in the tank? will not it harm them?

 

[travis]

ok its definitely an internal parasite.

heres a list of medicines advertised treat internal parasites:

BiFuran+
Metronidazole
Clout
ParaGuard
Metro+
Formalin
Fluke-Tabs
Parasite Clear
Ultra Cure PX


the last one, Ultra Cure PX, is a gel-like food that you feed directly to the fish. it should be pretty easy to only let one fish eat it. i dont know how tame the fish is but normally i would just reach in the tank and drop the food or squirt it right near the fish. maybe you should practice with normal food before doing it with medicine, but i dont think it would hurt if a different fish got a little.


you could also use metronidazole where you just treat the water with it, but edible medicine is definitely better.

 

[ele]

thank you for replies!

I know nothing about internal parasites, trying to search internet.

what else do i need to, I mean more frequent water changes, raising temperature...
can I feed the medications to the fish and cure water at the same time, or it is too much?
My Raphael is hiding during the day, i can see it only maybe once or twice in 2 weeks, so I am not sure it it does not have it...

is it easy to transfer worms from one fish to another?

 

[travis]

i dont think that water changes or raised temperature would help because i dont think that a full-grown internal worm is something that the fish's immune system can fight off without help from medicine. i would first try feeding medicine and only move on to both if the food doesnt help after a few days.

you need to make sure your fish are eating plenty because the parasite is eating some of their food. if you can keep your fish well fed you can buy yourself some more time to eliminate the parasite.

if you think that other fish may have the parasite, feed them all the medication. i dont think it will hurt them if they dont have a parasite. just be sure to read the directions on the container. it will definitely say if it that is bad to do.

i would think that it is not easy to transfer worms between fish, but it is definitely possible. keep an eye on all of your fish.

 

[Star_Rider]

if this is an internal parasite it is very possible even likely that this can spread.

I suggest you do a search on parasites that infect fish..there aremany 'worms' that can infect the fish.
on a poitive note..most all of the parasites are treatable and the medications highly effective.

the thing you need to determine is if this parasite is living in the intestinal tract. if so and the fish is eating , the best meds are those you can introduce to the food source. some parasite foods are available and contain meds that are effective, jungle labs parasite food has mtero, prazi and levamisole.

good luck