Tape worms

[brewmaster15]

Good luck Liz

[Chicago Discus]

Vodka should be fine

All that good Vodka going to waste ....LOL. Hey Liz Prazi-pro in the liquid form works great for tape worm and no wasted Vodka.....Josie

[brady]

I have 2 questions.
1- If you have a healthy tank how do you get tape worms?
2- Al, do you mean the solvent, thinner, ect acetone?
that stuff is deadly? I can't believed it would be used in a fish tank.
Jay

[brewmaster15]

Jay, yes the same solvent. Acetone has been used for years to get some meds into solution. The amount used is very small..a few mls. Its not used much nowadays but in the past it was. ITS CRINGEWORTHY ....I know but It works. DMSO was another chemical used alot.

Hth,
AL

[mee]

Interesting about the acetone, that's a new one on me. I use it for cleaning up solder joints after using flux, and cleaning other odds and ends (not plastic). The official solder flux cleaner is something like 60/40 with acetone and alcohol, don't remember which is 60 and which is 40, but doing 50/50 makes for some very effective cleaner IME, wonder if this would tranfer to an even more effective solvent for the praziquantel...

[LizStreithorst]

All that good Vodka going to waste ....LOL. Hey Liz Prazi-pro in the liquid form works great for tape worm and no wasted Vodka.....Josie

lol. I bought the rot-gut stuff, not Grey Goose, Josie. I'd used Prazi Pro before when I was doing general clean-ups on the fish. Nothing was ever expelled. When I saw these strings of tapes in the tank I thought that perhaps PraziPro wasn't all it was cracked up to be and decided to go with the pure stuff. I still have not seen the first tapeworm expelled but I saw what I saw in the tank. I am crazy, yes. I am not blind. I'll treat the tanks that I didn't treat yesterday using rot gut vodka and see if I get cloudy water after 24 hrs. Either way I intend to treat thoroughly. Nobody wants parasites in their fish.

[mee]

have you added epsom salt yet? I have heard of dead tape worms clogging up so that the fish is unable to pass them.

[LizStreithorst]

Only to the two tanks I was most concerned about. Nothing in their tanks either.

[Magoo40]

lol. I bought the rot-gut stuff, not Grey Goose, Josie. I'd used Prazi Pro before when I was doing general clean-ups on the fish. Nothing was ever expelled. When I saw these strings of tapes in the tank I thought that perhaps PraziPro wasn't all it was cracked up to be and decided to go with the pure stuff. I still have not seen the first tapeworm expelled but I saw what I saw in the tank. I am crazy, yes. I am not blind. I'll treat the tanks that I didn't treat yesterday using rot gut vodka and see if I get cloudy water after 24 hrs. Either way I intend to treat thoroughly. Nobody wants parasites in their fish.

Just to clarify the vodka is used in a very small qty to dilute the meds correct?

[mee]

Just to clarify the vodka is used in a very small qty to dilute the meds correct?

It sounds like it dissolves the powder for easier dispersal.

[LizStreithorst]

Yes, and IMO it dissolves the prazi even better than acetone.

[mee]

Anything ever come out Liz? I have been wanting to treat my whole stock for awhile as I have suspected their may be one or two fish with some sorta worm related funk. Also where did you get your prazi? Kensfish is the cheapest source I know of, but they are out of stock.

[LizStreithorst]

I buy all my meds from Jemco. I'll do my last treatment tonight, thank God. Even using alcohol the water on some tanks got cloudy and the glass slimy. I'm sick to death of all the wipe downs and flopping on the bottom WCs. It takes 600 gallons of aged water to do half my tanks which is all I have. I do half the tanks one day and the other half the next.

On several occasions I've seen white strings floating in the water. Even with my glasses on I can't say for sure that they are segmented. I'm thinking that they are decomposing immature tapes, but since nobody who has treated with Prazi has seen what I've seen I'm just guessing. I did loose several BN from bloat.

What symptoms are you seeing in your fish? With tapes you often see no symptoms at all. The rule of thumb is that if the fish show no interest in food or pick it up and spit it out it's hex. If the fish eat but don't gain weight it's round worms.

[mee]

Basically I have two fish that are picky eaters. They do eat, but some foods the rest gobble, they spit. Even when I cater to them and feed the foods the like the best and really fill their stomachs their weight gain is very slow, and if I forget to cater to them they lose weight fast. Both are also much less colorful than their counter parts. Even if they are just finicky, I am pretty certain I have some gill flukes on several fish, one of the finicky eaters included, but the other two or three are healthy, but I see what to my eyes look like flukes, and I am worried it may have spread to my fry as I am seeing little red spots near the first gill plate (not sure what it's called) and redness on some of their noses. Could be agression, or water quality as I was doing a big reorganization of tanks a week or two ago, and let my water quality slide a bit, and it was about this time I started seeing it. Though I separated some fry into a new tank and it seems to have almost completely vanished with this group... so I am still up in the air if there is a problem with them or just water issues/agression. I am not a medicate nut, quite the opposite and almost always go to salt first and very rarely go to anything else. But I feel a one time dosing may be good measure to be sure. From my experience (with large Africans) Praziquantel is very safe compared to other meds, and I just feel it would be a good idea since I plan to bring some to the US relatively soon, I would like to clear them of as much as I can before bringing them to a sparkling clean fish room.

[LizStreithorst]

I know for a fact that the Prazi is safe for fry. They say it works for flukes but I don't know how well. Surely someone else here will know or you could ask the folks at Jemco. They have all the answers. I've always used PP for flukes. It's just a single 4 hr treatment and although you have to keep a watch on the tank during treatment. I wouldn't be comfortable using it on small fry.

Picky eaters generally have hex which requires metro (another PITA treatment), If I were you I'd do the Prazi first and wait a week or so after the end of treatment to see if your picky eaters pick up. If not, I'd do the metro. It is also extremely safe. But check with the folks at Jemco. They won't steer you wrong.

BTW, when I have doubts, I will always treat prior to breeding. Small fry who are compromised often never reach their full potential. Also, and this may be overkill, when I treat I treat all fish in all tanks, not just the few showing symptoms. I use the same nets and equipment on all my tanks, and am always moving fish around. My thinking is that the weakest show symptoms but all have been exposed and are likely infected. Hope this helps.