white worm on apistos

[blueblue]

Recently, my friend has acquired some apistos and one of the fish has got an external white worm... Essentially, it's similar to the one i encountered years ago while i did not have a good solution for it. So, is there any advice on this worm's ID? How to treat the infected apistos? Please advise.

 

[fishgeek]

some form of skin fluke
if so hand lens magnification(50x if possible) should show either single or paired hooks at 'attached to fish end' of organism

if it is a skin fluke trying to remove manualy will be quite difficult

if it is a fluke then praziquantel, organophosphates,flubendazol or mebendazol,formalin, methylene blue or potasium permanganate are all possible options

andrew

 

[blueblue]

some form of skin fluke
if so hand lens magnification(50x if possible) should show either single or paired hooks at 'attached to fish end' of organism

if it is a skin fluke trying to remove manualy will be quite difficult

if it is a fluke then praziquantel, organophosphates,flubendazol or mebendazol,formalin, methylene blue or potasium permanganate are all possible options

andrew

Thanks andrew. Actually, in the past, i tried to pick out the worm and i succeeded. However, after some days, some more worms appeared in other parts of the body and i could not help. A close up observation at that time seemed to reveal that the worm was living just under the skin. Would it be protected from medicine by the fish's skin?? Let me try to find an old picture to show you...

 

[blueblue]

here you are andrew. Do you have some medicine (say by Waterlife, Sera, etc brands) that you would recommend for this kind of disease? thx

 

[Refael Hdr.]

Hi blueblue,
It's indeed not a nice thing to deal with.
It's seems to me like fish leeches or some kind of other worm. In both cases I think the best option is to use Praziquantel or Formalin (or even MG&F). If you don't have easy access to this materials and you prefer using a brand product I would recommand Jungle's Parasite Clear. It also contains among others Praziquantel and has the ability to treat all kinds of parasites.
A recommended Sera medication for leeches and worms is the Mycoupur.

Anyway you choose, you should treat the entire tank because it's very possible that the worms/leeches have already infested other fish too.

Good Luck!

...

 

[blueblue]

Thanks Refael for the advice. Luckily, this parasite is not in my tanks at the moment (it's found in my friend's fish, though) but i think every hobbyist should be careful with this parasite. It does appear in wildcaught apistos and they are tough!! ...

P.S: Do you have a pic of the Jungle's Parasite Clear? This brand is new to me. Thanks.

Hi blueblue,
It's indeed not a nice thing to deal with.
It's seems to me like fish leeches or some kind of other worm. In both cases I think the best option is to use Praziquantel or Formalin (or even MG&F). If you don't have easy access to this materials and you prefer using a brand product I would recommand Jungle's Parasite Clear. It also contains among others Praziquantel and has the ability to treat all kinds of parasites.
A recommended Sera medication for leeches and worms is the Mycoupur.

Anyway you choose, you should treat the entire tank because it's very possible that the worms/leeches have already infested other fish too.

Good Luck!

...

 

[Refael Hdr.]

P.S: Do you have a pic of the Jungle's Parasite Clear? This brand is new to me. Thanks.

Of course

http://www.pets-warehouse.com/Vpasp/shopexd.asp?id=110163

 

[blueblue]

Thanks much Refael ^.^

 

[Marc]

Hi BlueBlue,

i had to ask my wife (she's the one who knows about fish-desease) and she ask me to ask you, after watching the pics: are there worms under the skin or just on it? It is not so clear to identify an the pics.

And for some tips about medication, we must yell for Rolo, cause he has borrowed the up-to-date "Untergasser" (book) from my wife...

Regards
Marc

btw.: i'll answer your last mail as soon as possible, sorry, lot of work to do in the company :redface:

 

[Peter Lovett1]

Hi Blueblue

I know this worm and have had success with treating it with flubendazol and melafix. 2 doses or 2 weeks killed the worms.

 

[RiC]

And for some tips about medication, we must yell for Rolo, cause he has borrowed the up-to-date "Untergasser" (book) from my wife...

Sorry to jump right into this post, but are you talking about a new and revised edition of Untergasser's book? Has it just been published in German? Thanks for any input!

 

[blueblue]

Hi Marc: Thanks much for your replies.
1. For the worm in the picture (that eliza already died for a long long time), i rememberd that it was under the skin. So, when i tried medicine such as copper ion rich reagent, or trichroform, the worm remained there... for the worm in the tail, i used a needle to pick it out.. but for the worm near the head... i failed to help... Please talk to Mrs. Marc and see if she has some
advice for treating this worm.
2. i already sent an pm to Rolo yesterday and i am waiting for his reply.

(3. Private communication: Looking forward to your reply

Hi BlueBlue,

i had to ask my wife (she's the one who knows about fish-desease) and she ask me to ask you, after watching the pics: are there worms under the skin or just on it? It is not so clear to identify an the pics.

And for some tips about medication, we must yell for Rolo, cause he has borrowed the up-to-date "Untergasser" (book) from my wife...

Regards
Marc

btw.: i'll answer your last mail as soon as possible, sorry, lot of work to do in the company :redface:

 

[blueblue]

Hi Blueblue

I know this worm and have had success with treating it with flubendazol and melafix. 2 doses or 2 weeks killed the worms.

Thanks Peter and well-noted. These two things should be available in the local fish market and i will ask my friend to try.

 

[Marc]

Hi,
sorry BlueBlue we gonna hijack your thread for some words... :wink:

... you talking about a new and revised edition of Untergasser's book? Has it just been published in German? Thanks for any input!

i talk about this:
Untergasser - Krankheiten der Aquarienfische
It was published one year ago, as far as i know only in German. In our opinion (me and my wife) the very best you can get. Maybe there are better books for veterinarians, but the "Untergasser" seems to be understandable for everyone who invest a little time, it is so stuffed with information.

It starts with identification/diagnosis, follows the wonderful world of worms, viruses, bacterias all and everything you can expect on and inside a fish (sometimes it is better to turn the pages slowly, some of the pics - and this books brings up a lot - are a little ... special ), methods to microscopy fishes, parts of fishes, parts from very deep inside fishes... He discribes viruses, bacterias, all fish-addicted vermins into deep, incl. many pictures. And then a huge part of therapy. With all and everything including pharmaceuticals, often with some alternatives.

Some very easy to buy (and you cannot expect that medicine for a dog helps perfectly if you use it in a aquarium) in some cases we went to the next veterinarian to get a receipe, they are not free for trade in Germany. And don't expect to find to much of these typical fish-pharmaceutics as sold at your local fish dealer. Just a selection of the working ones plus all pure active pharmaceutical ingredients, where to find them (by example Flubenol in Flubendazol as Peter wrote above), how to dose them, and, an, and...

If you willing to invest the time and work, you can learn so much about fish disease and how to handle with it. IMHO, this book ist worth the double of money.

Regards
Marc

 

[Refael Hdr.]

Why does all the good stuff is in German :frown: ...

 

[Marc]

<Off Topicn>
Maybe it is as it is, cause here are over 600 aquaristic societies, the biggest "VDA" has over 20.000 members (again partly organized in this 600 societies).

Hm, we should find a way to use even the printed informations from all over the world. So much knowledge to share...<OffTopicff>

Hm if these especially worm lives under the skin, and it is possible see it without a lens... are there more of them? It is a good idea to find out if this is a egglaying or lifebearing species. Is it possible to take a very closeup picture?

Some of these worms (again, this depends to the species) just live under the skin, other go completely trough the fish. And if there are a lot of them under the skin, the fish can die because of an toxic shock when you are successful in killing the worms. So sometimes it cood be a good idea to do nothing. If the fish depends to an very rare species, you can try to breed them, but then, they infected parents have to be removed.

Next to be aware of: If Flubendazol is the correct medication it shall be noticed, that this possibly kill all snails and that can cause new problems.

Regards
Marc

 

[RiC]

It starts with identification/diagnosis, follows the wonderful world of worms, viruses, bacterias all and everything you can expect on and inside a fish (sometimes it is better to turn the pages slowly, some of the pics - and this books brings up a lot - are a little ... special ), methods to microscopy fishes, parts of fishes, parts from very deep inside fishes... He discribes viruses, bacterias, all fish-addicted vermins into deep, incl. many pictures. And then a huge part of therapy. With all and everything including pharmaceuticals, often with some alternatives.

Alright; then my question is: is it a mere reprint of this book, translated into English in 1989:

or a completely new revised version of that book? It is not clear to me, since that one also starts with disease identification (not very well done as far as I am concerned), viruses, bacterias, parasites as well as microscope directions?

Thanks for your input! :wink:

 

[Marc]

Hi RiC,

it is a completely new revised edition, within a lot of changes, updates, additional content.

Regards
Marc

 

[fishgeek]

how does it compare to bassleer?

andrew

 

[Marc]

Hi Andrew,

sorry, i can't tell you about this. Maybe it is a little curious, but the "Bassleer" is not very popular in Germany. Bassleers DVD "The New Illustrated Guide to fish diseases" are only sold by the shop "Aquarium Münster" and that is, for german circumstances to curios. No chance for a really good distribution.

Regards
Marc