Odd growth

[Spykce]

I noticed this morning my pleco has a white growth on him. It is sticking out of his body near his tail and then forks into 2 sections. ALmost looks like a bristle on his nose but it's white and by his tail. I looked up dieseases and found these 2

L). White threads grow out of white and red edged wounds, and form cottony puffs

Fungus is infecting the wound Treat with:

Malachite Green -or- Forma-Green -or- Nitrofuracin Green

B). Elongated oval objects measuring up to 10mm, stick up out of the skin

This involves the egg pouches of copepods, e.g. Lernaea. The anterior portion of the parasite is burrowed deeper into the skin

Treat with Praziquantel -or- De-Los.

However for the second one it's not an oval. It looks like the bristles on his nose. Any ideas? I'd take a picture but he moves a lot.

 

[patoloco]

Make sure what you have before treatment.

If it looks like cotton, it's fungus. To eliminate, you can use any anti-fungal prepared medicine. All those "green" medicines thoug are based an a mix of various drugas along with malachite green, that's can be toxic to scaleless fish, such as reelfish, rays and some other. Also, malachite green will give a permanent green tint to any plastic-rubber piece of ornament, hoses and silicone, leaving you with a ugly set up.

As a general rule, I always put a sick fish in a hospital tank, for treatment. this way I will not stain my main tank and will not risk my other fish or biological filter to the action of drugs.

If you find out it's fungus, pay atention to your water quality and mainteinance routines, since fungus are likely to appear secondary to bacterial infection or in fishes that have a waekened inmunitary system due to stress or bad habitat conditions.

Check your Ph, nitrite, ammonia levels, and temp to make sure the fit your fish requirements.

 

[Spykce]

Thanks for the advice. I'll do some more looking around. I just did a water change 5 days ago. I'll check the conditions though. Thanks again.

 

[Spykce]

I found this and it sounds exactly like it.

Anchor Worm (Lernaea)

Symptoms: The fish scrapes itself against objects, whitish-green threads hang out of the fish's skin with an inflamed area at the point of attachment.

 

[patoloco]

I've never had anchor worm problems, so I haven't seen them.

It's easy to treat with comercial medicine. But if you do have those worms, do some research about ho to ger rid of them in your tank, not only in your fish.

 

[Spykce]

I found a site with pictures and it looks like that's what it is. Thanks for the help. I'll update when I figure out what is going on.

 

[Spykce]

I have one more question on this topic. Does anyone know how these worms could have gotten into my tank? The newest addition was my 2 snails. I have had the pleco for some time now. Any ideas?

 

[hamsterman]

Maybe they came with the water with the snails? :huh:

 

[Spykce]

My best guess is it was already on my pleco or the snails. I always scoop my fish/snails out of the pet store water.

 

[Spykce]

To let everyone know I have bought Tank Buddies - Parasites to take care of the anchor worms. I'll update you when I find out if it worked. The package says to treat for 3 weeks.