worms?

[alisonty]

Help!

My discus hasn't been eating for awhile. "he" has a "bubble" budge near the anus and on one side there is a protrusion of a whitish oblong shape (example: think of a worm pushing its body out of the fish).

he is still alert and coming up to the tank whenever i walk up to the tank...


does anyone have any suggestions?
please let me know. thanks!

alison

enclosed: attachments

[alisonty]

here is another one (look below the fin)

[alisonty]

sorry about the quality of the pictures....

[brewmaster15]

Hi Alison,
I'm afraid that looks like an intramuscular nematode.. and there are not many medications (if any) that would work here..
You can try Fluke Tabs..... or another medication that may work is levamisole...most farm supplies shop sell it as a goat/sheep dewormer... your vet can probably get it.

I honestly don't think there is much that can be done for that Fish though...I'm sorry.

-al :'(

[alisonty]

thanks al,

it is currently in a community tank, is it contagious? If so, what should i do? :-\

[alisonty]

since my fish has this disease, and is in a community tank, what should i do?

i also have been online looking for levisole but to no avail....

[brewmaster15]

Hi Alison,
Not alot is known about these kinds of worms. In the aquaculture industry the fish is usually culled or the worms must be surgically excised. The way the worms spread is not well known either, but I believe theres a good chance that the life cycle requires the fish to eat worm eggs...If thats the case, theres a chance that the rest of the fish are not infected..... My guess though is that if you physically see the worm..its getting ready to shed eggs into the water.. Your Discus probably was infected a long time ago.

My honest opinion is to euthanize that fish :'( and as a precaution treat that whole tank with levamisole or fluke tabs... Though I honestly don't know if theres any value to it.

You can buy the levamisole at Barnyardhealth.com...go to dewormers... Its not a cheap medication, and it can be hard on the discus but not sure about other fishes....

There are 2 products.. a pig dewormer ($19.69) and a sheep dewormer ($41.08) . Either product will give you much more than you need. If you do get it Drop me an IM and I will walk you thru using it.

hth,
al

[alisonty]

Thanks al,

now the "worm" is gone. Now the "bubble" bulge looks more like cotton (or maybe tearing of the flesh??) near the anus of the fish. i guess the worm release the eggs.

i will order the levamisole right now. thanks for all your help al.

ali