Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Just noticed something in that article quote I did...
Quote:
Plerocercoids decrease carcass value if present in muscle, and impair reproduction when they infect gonadal tissue.
Possible factor in fertility/spawning issues? hmmm
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
They can live their lives their happily for as long as they want. I am not the secondary host so I'll just poop them out without even knowing they were ever in me.
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LizStreithorst
The:evilgrin:y can live their lives their happily for as long as they want. I am not the secondary host so I'll just poop them out without even knowing they were ever in me.
Lol...maybe...then again...maybe not...
http://time.com/5110153/sushi-lover-five-foot-tapeworm/ :evilgrin:
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Surely that fish isn't a secondary host in humans, but there's the circumstantial evidence right in front of my eyes. I'm still going to eat sushi. I love it when it's good. I can't abide the garbage that they call sushi they sell at my supermarket.
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
I like my sushi grilled or broiled... if it must be raw... then at least the sake must be warm and the wasabi hot.:)
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
brewmaster15
I would follow up with at least one more dose of Prazi in a few weeks since you had tape worms just in case but the vast majority of tapeworms require a secondary host to continue their life cycle. The can't reinfect your fish directly like nematodes do when fish ingest their eggs. If you got all the tapeworms first shot(very likely).. You probably wont see them again unless you introduce an intermediary host like found in live foods.
Just so you know, Levamisole is not effective against Tape worms.. it works on most other worms.Prazi is the med of choice for tapes.
Thanks Al, I'll be sure to do another treatment in about a week. I may have to give them some epsom salts to help move things along.
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
brewmaster15
Liz,
Its hard to say because its likely multiple species of Tapeworms we are seeing.Typical intermediary hosts are thought to be snails, invertebrates like shrimp ,bloodworms, copepods etc.Possibly even smaller species of fish.
I also " think" its possible raw fish and shrimp could potentially carry in parasites though I dont know about tapeworms.
Be nice to know definitively though.
al
Do you know if tapeworms can go dormant in freezing temps? I do feed my beefheart mix which includes raw shrimp, salmon and tilapia but I always buy it frozen.
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
fishbubbles
Thanks Al, I'll be sure to do another treatment in about a week. I may have to give them some epsom salts to help move things along.
Epsom is a very good idea. Ive used it before as well when deworming.
al
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
fishbubbles
Do you know if tapeworms can go dormant in freezing temps? I do feed my beefheart mix which includes raw shrimp, salmon and tilapia but I always buy it frozen.
I don't know about freezing and Tapeworms but I had an experience years back with a frozen fishfood that some of us were using for our fry. It was somekind of seafood mix "marine cuisine"I think. I went from live bbs (parasite free) to this raw frozen Mix. The entire spawn of fry came down with black spots... Best I could tell at the time was they somehow got a parasitic flatworm salt water fish get.. Turbellaria
https://g.co/kgs/qu4Y9Z
It was a bummer because I really liked that food and never used it again.
Since then I have always wondered what else made it thru freezing.
al
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Just thought of something else, I feed my fish frozen bloodworms as a single meal about once per week. Any chance that the worms could have came from those?
Edit: Posted this at the same time you did Al, I'll see if I can do any research on tapeworms and temperature sensitivity.
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Here's an article from the New York Times referencing human grade food and parasite infestation. Please note that this is just a news article I stumbled across and no sources were cited or claimed to be from a scientific paper.
For disease-causing parasites like tapeworms, roundworms and flukes, which may infest raw or undercooked fish, freezing can be the answer, but its effectiveness varies. It works best for tapeworms and appears to be somewhat less effective for roundworms and flukes.
In general, killing parasites requires freezing and storing fish at a surrounding temperature of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit or colder for seven days; or freezing at a surrounding temperature of minus 31 degrees or colder until the fish is solid and storing at the same temperature for 15 hours; or freezing at a surrounding temperature of minus 31 degrees until the fish is solid and storing at minus 4 degrees or below for 24 hours.
Not all home refrigerator freezers get cold enough. To be sure that your freezer will work for controlling parasites, do not rely on the thermostat, but use a good freezer thermometer. The F.D.A. also warns that these techniques may not be suitable for particularly large fish, like those thicker than six inches.
While freezing does not kill most bacteria, it does stop their growth; then sufficient cooking can reduce or eliminate bacterial risks
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
fishbubbles
Just thought of something else, I feed my fish frozen bloodworms as a single meal about once per week. Any chance that the worms could have came from those?
I honestly do not know of any farms where blood worms are raised in a controlled environment. Im pretty sure they are collected from large outdoor areas. I think its possible anything could be in them and if it survived freezing ...
I have to wonder why some frozen blood worms market their bloodworms as " triple Sterilized" :huh::huh::huh:
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
fishbubbles
Here's an article from the New York Times referencing human grade food and parasite infestation. Please note that this is just a news article I stumbled across and no sources were cited or claimed to be from a scientific paper.
For disease-causing parasites like tapeworms, roundworms and flukes, which may infest raw or undercooked fish, freezing can be the answer, but its effectiveness varies. It works best for tapeworms and appears to be somewhat less effective for roundworms and flukes.
In general, killing parasites requires freezing and storing fish at a surrounding temperature of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit or colder for seven days; or freezing at a surrounding temperature of minus 31 degrees or colder until the fish is solid and storing at the same temperature for 15 hours; or freezing at a surrounding temperature of minus 31 degrees until the fish is solid and storing at minus 4 degrees or below for 24 hours.
Not all home refrigerator freezers get cold enough. To be sure that your freezer will work for controlling parasites, do not rely on the thermostat, but use a good freezer thermometer. The F.D.A. also warns that these techniques may not be suitable for particularly large fish, like those thicker than six inches.
While freezing does not kill most bacteria, it does stop their growth; then sufficient cooking can reduce or eliminate bacterial risks
Thats a great find for info!
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
brewmaster15
I would follow up with at least one more dose of Prazi in a few weeks since you had tape worms just in case but the vast majority of tapeworms require a secondary host to continue their life cycle. The can't reinfect your fish directly like nematodes do when fish ingest their eggs. If you got all the tapeworms first shot(very likely).. You probably wont see them again unless you introduce an intermediary host like found in live foods.
Just so you know, Levamisole is not effective against Tape worms.. it works on most other worms.Prazi is the med of choice for tapes.
I know this is old... but since Tapeworms require an intermediate host, this means the eggs that hatch into calcercoids need to be ingested by a copepod. Else they die and cant develop into the next life stage procercoids.
Hence, whats the point of the second dose if the hatched eggs cant really infest your fish?
Unless you have copepods sometimes from your water supply (which I do).
You could reason for safety and that Prazi isnt so stressful...
Re: Massive tapeworms coming out of my discus
The reason for the second dose is incase the first dose was not completely successful at removing tapeworms.Its also because copepods and other invertebrates are very common in aquariums.
Its insurance, and comes at a cheap cost.