NEED HELP - Discus Tank has white worms & little fast moving "mites"

S

sushiray

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Jan 14, 2009
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new windsor, ny
edit: 1baby BN has white spot on top right side, I think it's fungus, just medicated with Pimafix & Melafix; tested with API master kit

besides white worms floating around the buggers/little mites are also white

Info:
- 72gal BF
- 15 discus juvies 1 baby royal 4 baby BN's
- pH 6.6 AM/NI=0 NA=5
- temp 87 - 2 300w visitherm
- AC110 + Fluval204 + sponge filter
- some discus show signs of itching (rubbing their bodies against the heater or filter tube)
- couple have been pooping white strands - parasite right?
- one went on starvation diet but started eating, now another on hunger strike
- just shut down the Fluval204 - I think this is the source of the buggers/worms colonizing - I had written in separate thread my problem after cleaning & siphoning it up, a back wash of crud came out of the inflow tube (b-4 even powering it up)

XXX

So, been away a week & had step dad take care of w/c & feeding. He had been diligent in changing up to 30-40% daily & vac-ing, only thing was he left the lighting on too long each day so 3days ago started an algae bloom.

But now I am back & while looking at the algae, I also wanted to check the tail of one discus which I thought may have contracted Ich but looks ok now (this is just after I had just medicated with Rid Ich+salt for 3 other ones which were cured in 5days, continued to medicate 5days more).

So after examining the one possible Ich discus, I notice on a few others these little itsy bitsy buggers crawling on their skin - pretty mobile even when they swim thru the water flow. Then I noticed them on the glass walls & bare bottom.

Then I also notice very thin white stands also floating around - I see them wiggle so these are some kind of worms or parasites?

I think the Fluval is not functioning right so I turned it off (I thought I had replaced the power cover on correctly but will do another clean up tomorrow & check again).

I am going to buy prazipro to medicate. But if someone thinks these buggers/worms need another med, please let me know.

Appreciate everyone's help again. This has been an unsettling start for my discus (now 10weeks).
 
Last edited:
The little white worms are called planaria.. they are harmless but caused by overfeeding..
 
E-J said:
The little white worms are called planaria.. they are harmless but caused by overfeeding..
Click to expand...

thks for responding so quickly. what about the little "mites"? are these the beginning stages of planaria?

I know my step-dad had been feeding 3-4x's per day for past week but he also did at least 30% w/c daily. I thought that would helped even if he might have been overfeeding?

You don't think my Fluval could be problem being the breeding ground? the outbound side I suspect is not secure enough missing the sponge & that allowed crap to recirculate back in.
 
white poop + parasite?

E-J said:
The little white worms are called planaria.. they are harmless but caused by overfeeding..
Click to expand...

also what about the white pooping? that must be a parasite right?
 
I don't think your filter is the problem.. and if its off or not working you should either turn it back on or get a new one asap. The mites could be the begining stage, but I'm not totally sure. If he cleaned than thats good but food can also get wedged in places that he cannot get at. (Probably.) W/cs are good but wont get rid of excess food.
Don't worry though, as long as the fish seem okay and don't have white spots(Ich) then everything should be okay. They will go away, just cut back on feeding. Look them up on the net.

And no problem.
 
With most fish I wouldn't worry about planaria, but with discus slime coat possibly being on their menu, I would be concerned. Planaria is usually a result of lack of tank maintenance. I would up my water changes and wipe down all of the insides of the tank to remove the excess slime to at least daily, maybe even twice a day until the planaria are gone. The white poop could be from stress of the planaria lunching on them or it could be a totally different issue. While normally you would isolate / QT a fish with a problem, it sounds to me like your whole tank will need treatment. Prazi is very good at getting rid of parasites. It will help take care of the planaria as well. I would isolate the BN as it seems to have a issue different and separate from everyone else in the tank and as it is the only one with it, I would remove it to QT as quickly as possible. It would help if you could get pictures of the bn and the discus with issues so we can help determine if the bn infection is fungal or bacterial and if indeed the issues with the discus and your tank is planaria.
 
sushiray said:
also what about the white pooping? that must be a parasite right?
Click to expand...

Usually an internal parasite, probably tapeworm, which is pretty common in discus. Did you qt your discus before putting them in your tank? Its good practice to deworm juvies once in a while to insure proper growth. Check your symptoms against simplydiscus.com for more info. If you treat with a dewormer, you should be able to see a long worm being excreted out within 24 hours. It is crucial to vac these up immediately since sometimes the fish mistake these for food... :thumbsdown: Also raise your temp to 90 and add an aerator.

If your fish won't eat then try frozen blood worms. If they don't eat those then its pretty bad... FBW's are pretty much all moisture so you can soak these pretty readily in vitamins and medication. Garlic is a natural medicine that is good for internal parasites. Feed small amounts often.

Is your tank a barebottom? It is much easier to grow out juvies.
 
should I still continue with Melafix & Pimafix? I am ordering prazipro today.

also how can I get rid of brown algae? I will post this separately. thx
 
thing is I have been doing daily w/c up to 30-40%.

here is some more history I am sure the cause is within.

1. cycled fishless with cycled AC110 for 3wks
2. then added angels + 15 baby albino cories + 1 reg. pleco from my other tank at start of 4th week.
3. received my 15 discus + 8 baby bn's shipped in - acclimated by mixing water in bag then kept in bag for 30min in tank, temp 82, pH 7, Am/Ni = 0 Na = 40
4. removed all angels & reg. pleco back to original tank (mind you they showed no symptoms of illness for 1month on their own, maybe the albino cories were carriers)
5. baby cories started to die off - I suspect the hi temps were not tolerated
6. released discus via flop n plop - not using shipping water
7. for 5days they refused to eat being skittish feeding flakes & frozen brine
8. finally they eat on 6th day - it's an feeding frenzy
9. by 6th week one comes down with sprinkle of white dots, 2 had one dot in tail - Ich! (probably from my angels)
10. medicate with Rid Ich + salt, disappears in 5days, continue for 5more days
11. bought a baby royal, mixed water in bag then flop n plop - but did not QT (maybe a big mistake, this could be a source of dormant parasites)
12. also started feeding live black worms from LFS, discus go crazy (2 feedings), kept clean & refrigerated
13. given some warnings on these worms that scared me so tossed them out (maybe a source of my probs but I didn't see any leeches or other foreign matter other than the cleaned worms, but parasites can be missed)
14. now just this past week while on vacation left in care of my step-dad, he did do daily w/c & vac-ed religiously, fed 3-4x's but left light on too long each day
15. I come back & notice the brown algae bloom, white worms & white "mites"
16. medicated with Melafix/Pimafix for the baby bn with a fungus spot & added salt
17. still doing w/c but now 75-80% & scrub the glass & all other surfaces
18. cut down on feeding & lighting times

waiting for my prazipro - my 2 LFS didn't have it.

or should I use my Rid Ich again?
 
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