Deworming and preventive medication

[ced_^]

hi fellow hobbyists,

i have been searching on the forum for deworming but could not find any useful information. i would like to know if you guys deworm your discus, especially when they are small, every month? worms inside of fish can show no alarming symptoms but things like eating but not growing, not showing any interest in food, or staying very thin. Also, do you guys treat your discus regularly against fluke and parasites? i have found a dewormer, fluke and anti parasite http://plymouthdiscus.com/ocretail/p...product_id=139 which a friend of mine is currently using and has been very successful in raising his discus. any advise?

[nc0gnet0]

Deworming is a one time thing....you wouldn't deworm your dog every month would you? As for the kusuri, their are better products for deworming on the market.

As for prophylactic treatment for other issues, IMO it is a very bad practice.

[musicmarn1]

Hey

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ight=deworming

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ight=deworming


I use Levimasole but i do it in QT and if a microscope shows i have a problem, microscope poop fresh from the discus not on the tank floor
I follow Nc0gneto's advice in anything medical or breedng related, he knows his stuff and you would be wise to heed any advice from him

[ced_^]

Deworming is a one time thing....you wouldn't deworm your dog every month would you? As for the kusuri, their are better products for deworming on the market.

As for prophylactic treatment for other issues, IMO it is a very bad practice.

you cant compare dog and fish lol. fish lives in water where the probability of catching worms is much more than dogs. also because discus can be stressed so easily and fell sick, it is advised to deworm small discus every month. dont you think so? what other dewormer you have?

[musicmarn1]

you asked his opinion, and thats how he does do it, many of the really good folks (look at their pictures) here, will do the same, medications have side effects and can really hurt young fish

Rick breeds fish a LOT and he keeps those youngsters healthy by doing water changes, reducing the parasite load by sucking the bottom daily and cleaning filter stuff regularly (maybe, ive not been to his house but i HAVE seen his discus and they are amazing)

please bear in mind you can do it any way you like, but people here will try and help you, its totally up to you if you want to follow it or not !

I have a lot of dogs, i have a lot of discus and im not half the discus keeper some of these guys here are, i may have to use wormer occassionally because i messed up and let them get sick, did not clean enough or cross contaminated my stock, ie lazy discus keeping! if i see problems i now use a microscope to be sure i know what im treating or i politely ask someone like Paul or Rick here, because they really really know what they are talking about. Really.

[Len]

you cant compare dog and fish lol. fish lives in water where the probability of catching worms is much more than dogs. also because discus can be stressed so easily and fell sick, it is advised to deworm small discus every month. dont you think so? what other dewormer you have?

That's actually not true. Your fish can only get reinfested with worms if you reintroduce the worms through food or other infested fish. A dog can get worms through mosquitoes, contact with other animals, feces, etc so the aquarium vs dog comparison is a bad one at best.

That being said if your fish need to be dewormed it depends on the type of worm as to what medication you'd use.

[DISCUS STU]

I usually try to deworm in quarantine whenever I receive new fish, full grown or fry. I use PraziPro (Praziquantel) and Fenbendazole flakes from Angels Plus. With the Prazi I add metronidazole .5 grams per 10 gallon (I think I have the math right).
With one possible exception I don't believe I've had an adverse reaction to this.

Until recently I was using PraziPro double strength on the advice of someone who said it was under strength. I now just administer as directed. By the way dosing at double strength was responsible for killing a few Gold Nugget Plecos in quarantine until I figured it out. This may have also affected my breeder male Discus's swim bladder.

When I say I usually try to deworm, I assume that this is enough but the next step is to buy a microscope and check directly. Looking forward to catching fresh Discus poop before it hits the tank floor (lol).

[John_Nicholson]

Quite frankly your wrong. There is no need to deworm a discus once a month. Also worming a fish does have some negative side effects. Any meds that you give a fish has to be processed by the fish. I am not a vet but hitting it every month has to be bad for its liver. I don't know who your friend is but few people have better tack records than Rick and myself. Now if you want to worm your fish all of the time and burn them up than great but when it does not work out well don't blame us.

-john

you cant compare dog and fish lol. fish lives in water where the probability of catching worms is much more than dogs. also because discus can be stressed so easily and fell sick, it is advised to deworm small discus every month. dont you think so? what other dewormer you have?

[nc0gnet0]

so the aquarium vs dog comparison is a bad one at best.

Only if taken out of context

The comparison was made to show that wormimg every month would be crazy, not that the route and means of infection would be the same.

you cant compare dog and fish lol. fish lives in water where the probability of catching worms is much more than dog

Once you deworm a fish (in Qt) the only way it is going to encounter re-infection is by another infected fish (if you got worms in your water you got a whole lot of other issues). Assuming all your stock has been dewormed prior to introducing them into your main fish room, the chance of them becoming re-infected is next to zero.

because discus can be stressed so easily and fell sick, it is advised to deworm small discus every month. dont you think so?

No, I don't see above. Who ever gave you this idea, their advice should be avoided like the plague in the future. But, before we go further, when you say worms, to which are you referring?

what other dewormer you have?

For tape worms use prazi, for roundworms you would use levamisole.

[ced_^]

can you get worms through water change? or does chlorine eliminate all parasites and bacteria? then if i understand clearly, when you deworm once, then there is no need to deworm again IF unless you add new fish into the same without deworming the fish. it does not state which worms it is referring to. Surely if you often use medications, any living being will have to pass it through their kidneys and in the long run will damage them. it's just that it is only now that i see you guys talking about deworming. i cannot see any threads about deworming your discus when adding or purchasing small ones. And i doubt other hobbyists deworm their fish apart from discus.

http://plymouthdiscus.com/ocretail/p...product_id=139
this product states that you should deworm every month, especially for small ones.

[John_Nicholson]

Of course they say to worm every month...they are trying to sell you something....LOL. Every read a shampoo bottle? You know where it says to rinse and then repeat? That was thought up by a marketing guy to get people to use twice as much shampoo as they were currently using. There is no need in it, they are just trying to take your money.

-john

[Second Hand Pat]

I personally never worm unless I suspect something. This includes domestics and wilds. Also snails can be worm carriers.

[DISCUS STU]

I don't know who came up with the idea of deworming every month. It's a bad and dangerous idea. Dewormers and pretty much all meds have a stressful effect on the fish and are a double edged sword. People also end up killing or crippling fish by over medicating.

Unlike a dog's environment, a tank is a much more controlled environment and a closed system. So unless your constantly bringing in new sources of worms or contagions, hopefully deworming as a prophylactic or preventative in quarantine is ideally the only time you would be doing this. Everything that comes into my tanks goes into quarantine first.

Try to do get it right the first time that's the main thing. And there will always be exceptions.