If he had a scope he wouldn't have been asking us. It is a good investment although I have never been able to identify hex with my expensive one. Round worms are easy.
If he had a scope he wouldn't have been asking us. It is a good investment although I have never been able to identify hex with my expensive one. Round worms are easy.
Mama Bear
i meant you, unless i confused the thread flow.
"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've not have personal experience with tape, so i was just curious. but based on al's article, i'm guessing a magnifying glass may be enough?
Forgive me. I do have one. When I moved back home I stored it in the barn for several months. It was covered but it got is so dirty I can no longer see anything through it. I'm sure I'd have been able to see if the strings were segmented under the lowest magnification.
I just called the veterinarian who I worked with for many years. He and I are fast friends. He said the scope lady will be coming to his clinic Tuesday. I will take my scope into his place Monday. If I had done this years ago I wouldn't be stuck not knowing now. Thanks for the kick in the arse.
Mama Bear
Liz, I doubt your fish have tapeworms if you didn't see any expelled after using prazi. I use prazi once in a while in my tanks against gill flukes. Several years ago I used it and 5 red rose discus I got from Dan at Elite or whatever the company's name was started expelling them all over the place. This was just a couple hours after putting the prazi in the tank. I never saw any white worms in the couple months I had the fish before I used the prazi. These were Wayne's Discus that he was selling and they were eating and growing fine. I just never knew they had tapeworms. I did call Dan to let him know in case any of his customers called to say they were having problems he knew to tell them to use prazi.
About a year and half ago I got some new wilds. After a few weeks I treated them with prazi. Never saw any white worms in the tank before the treatment. All the fish were fine except one. She laid on her side and was just loaded with them they were sticking out her butt and she was breathing real heavy. On every exhale I saw one in her mouth going back and forth. I expected her to be dead in the morning. But she wasn't she was up and fine. It did take her a couple days to resume eating. I still have her.
Jerry Baer
it's just a box of rain
We are on the same page Liz, I like to treat all when I do treat. They fry are still eating like piggies and growing fine. The only slow growing was at my hands since I cut their food to less than half while I tried to get on top of their water quality. Still content with their shape and growth. They are in the 2 inch range, so not too terribly small. Hex = tape worms? BTW, I do have a couple cheap microscopes, but they are a bit of a pain to use and actually get clear images. Unfortunately the only Praziquantel I can find in this country is overpriced, so I will have to order from Jehmco or another online seller.
Fwiw on scope, I found a universal phone holder on Amazon. Then the phone camera once in place makes a nice way to view, take photo or video and zoom in digitally
May be not, Jerry. If I did, I sure don't have them any more. I wish I could explain the slimy glass and cloudy water. It will always be a mystery, I guess.
Mama Bear
OK, understood, flagellate's are sometimes on the gills too right?
I am from Seattle or perhaps better put the NW, as I spent about half my life in Oregon, but also lived a bit in Alaska as a child, and Mexico and Hawaii as a teen. I now live in Japan (not a military brat, just worldly).
I don't think they are on the gills. As far as I know they only infect the gut. I treat with metro at 400 mg per 10 gallons daily for 12 days. This guy recommends treating for 14 days. The treatments on most metro labels recommend treating at 250 mg prt 10 gallons but the parasites have become resistant to metro at this low dosage. It is extremely safe. When I treat I do big daily WCs. My theory is out with the bad, in with the good, but it's just what I do. It's not set in stone. http://discus-fish-care.blogspot.com...parasites.html
Mama Bear
Ex-President-North American Discus Association-NADA
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Ordered 25 grams of praziquantel powder today. Should be more than enough. Going to hold off on ordering Metro till after treating with the Prazi, just cause I want to see how much the finicky eaters improve from just the Prazi. Will likely still do the Metro even if all is well, cause again I want to bring the fish to the US squeaky clean. For the record most my fish are very healthy piggies. The finicky two are not wasting away either, just not as plump and vibrant as the others.
Thanks Liz.
kinda interested to figgur out where you got the tapeworms from. You mentioned this was a tank raised fish from your own system, all cestodes (tapeworm) seem to require an intermediate host before infecting the last host and forming segmented bodies. The intermediary hosts cn be fish, but then these fish never develop the segmented intestinal worm, jut an encysted paracyte in the muscle tissue. I think snails can be an intermediate host for the tapeworms that go segmented in fish. one fish in a tank with tapeworm can infect others, but not to the final stage of the life cycle. just curious, I would treat everything as well. I agree with the bacterial bloom / sugar theory btw.