possible tapeworm or flukes???

[Gaman-Dekinai]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them? last night came home from work and noticed my 5in ring leopard was pooping long white stringy poo. today i noticed every now and then he would aact erratic and under closer inspection i noticed he would shake the top part of his dorsal fin almost like he was trying to get something off. also saw him only twice use his ventral? fins to scratch (or something that looks like that" his side.


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds). just the twitching, scratching and long white stringy poo he seems fine. eats normally, always comes to the front of the tank to greet me.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

i have just purchased prazipro but was hoping for some input first

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
55gallon 4 1/2 months old. 12 cardinals, 3 sterbai corys and 4 discus varying from 2.5-5in

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
50% wc every day


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
tanks been running 4 1/2 months. actually am in the process of removing the sand to just make my life easier with cleaning. now have maybe a centimeter of sand left in the tank in patches that im having trouble getting all out.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing. im setting up an aging barrel now but in the past, no i have not aged the water. ph swings from 7 to 6.5 ph


8. Parameters and water source;

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp _86.5____

- ph __6.5___

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading _0___

- nitrate reading __5-10__

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water _100%___

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently. I have recently purchased 3 discus one of whom is the one showing symptoms


10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can. i feed 6 times a day : Hikari frozen discus food, colbalt color flakes, hikari bloodworms, colbalt discus hans flakes, frozen spurilina brine shrimp, then end the day with Discus bio-gold pellets. only give enough to where all the fish can eat their fair share in about 5-10 minutes.



11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

im still trying to figure out why it always tells my it cant upload my files :( i have a video of him shaking his dorsal fins and his white poop




im wondering if it could be and intestinal parasite, or just diarhea from all the stress of shippig and new tank and even ph swing??

[Gaman-Dekinai]

Here's a video of the ring leopard and blue diamond "shaking?"
https://youtu.be/gxGZhsq-Dyg

And a video of the poop
https://youtu.be/TKgxNN3zyGs

[Second Hand Pat]

The shaking of the blue diamond is spawning/breeding behavior. It is also pecking at the filter tube and is looking for a spawning spot. Not worries there lol. Is the ring leopard shaking with the blue diamond. I did not see that in the first video. Is the ring leopard eating and normal other then the white poop?
Pat

[Gaman-Dekinai]

The shaking of the blue diamond is spawning/breeding behavior. It is also pecking at the filter tube and is looking for a spawning spot. Not worries there lol. Is the ring leopard shaking with the blue diamond. I did not see that in the first video. Is the ring leopard eating and normal other then the white poop?
Pat

If you watch the first video again (it's easy to miss) but right after the blue diamond shakes the ring leopard shakes as well. But if it's spawning is all this just completely coincidental? Cause with the random and rare twitching/scratching with the ventral fins and that white poop (I haven't seen him poop since white or not) I'm getting worried for him lol.

[Second Hand Pat]

If you watch the first video again (it's easy to miss) but right after the blue diamond shakes the ring leopard shakes as well. But if it's spawning is all this just completely coincidental? Cause with the random and rare twitching/scratching with the ventral fins and that white poop (I haven't seen him poop since white or not) I'm getting worried for him lol.

Ok, caught the leopard lowering its top fin and do a little shake which is not spawning behavior nor would it be a cause for alarm for me. So the leopard is not pooping but is eating??
Pat

[Gaman-Dekinai]

I have not seen him poop while I've seen the others poop many times. He eats but I guess you could call it kind of peckishly? The others will go for the food and continue grasing while he will wait for it to settle and will take some bites here and there and come back to it after a while and repeat. I finally caught a video of him shaking his ventral fins that I'm waiting for it to upload now.

[Gaman-Dekinai]

I have not seen him poop while I've seen the others poop many times. He eats but I guess you could call it kind of peckishly? The others will go for the food and continue grasing while he will wait for it to settle and will take some bites here and there and come back to it after a while and repeat. I finally caught a video of him shaking his ventral fins that I'm waiting for it to upload now.

https://youtu.be/Qo1Zcm5nWos

[Gaman-Dekinai]

Ok, caught the leopard lowering its top fin and do a little shake which is not spawning behavior nor would it be a cause for alarm for me. So the leopard is not pooping but is eating??
Pat
My red melon is now has long white stringy poop now as well :( I started treatment of Prazipro last night as a precaution was that the right call?

[Second Hand Pat]

I think you should run the leopard thru a metro treatment...never mind.
Pat

[Gaman-Dekinai]

I think you should run the leopard thru a metro treatment...never mind.
Pat

What is the difference between metro and prazipro? Will prazipro do anything for this? I already have it in my tank as of last night. If it will not treat for the same thing what metro product do you suggest?

[Second Hand Pat]

Prazipro is used for tapeworms and externals. Metro is used for internals. Since you have started the Prazipro complete the treatment and see how the fish do with it.
Pat

[Gaman-Dekinai]

Prazipro is used for tapeworms and externals. Metro is used for internals. Since you have started the Prazipro complete the treatment and see how the fish do with it.
Pat

Thanks a whole bunch Pat you're the best for getting back to me. I'll post about the fish when the treatment is over or conditions worsen

[Gaman-Dekinai]

115038115039
So today I saw the Red Melon pass what I can only assume to be a tape worm (could see tiny little segments in the white poop) and today would be day 2 and going on 3rd night of treating either Prazi. I just wanted to know how screwed I am because when I went to grab my siphon to get the white poop out (I think I heard somewhere it's contagious through the poop) when I saw my darn tetras attack it eating it then my Cory cat got another piece... Does this mean I must continue treamtment for longer now???

[Mando]

Never seen feces like that. I hope that they recover fast. It looks like you realized they are sick early on so you should be fine and not lose any. Hopefully some one is able to guide you.

[Second Hand Pat]

That looks like tapeworms to me. I am sure there is somewhere on the forum where dosage and duration are posted. Let me go take a look.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

Some reading. Posts from brewmaster15 and pcsb23 are some of our disease experts on the forum.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?63074-Treat-one-or-all-for-tapeworm&highlight=tapeworm

Eddie is good also.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?76417-Extreme-Cestode-Photos

Directions for using PraziPro


Directions For Use

For treatment of praziquantel-susceptible disease conditions in pond, freshwater and marine aquariums and ornamental pond fishes. AS A BATH: Start treatment with as large a water change as practical or start with new water. Any water used should first be conditioned with ULTIMATE or a combination of Liquid Buffered ClorAm-X and Stress-X to remove ammonia, chlorine and chloramines. Do not stop filtration, but remove activated carbon and stop foam-fractionation (protein skimming) and UV sterilization. SHAKE VIGOROUSLY before use. Measure Aquarium Solutions Liquid PraziPro at the rate of one (1) teaspoon per 20 gallons of water to be treated. (one (1) fl. oz. per 120 gallons) Measure Pond Solutions Liquid PraziPro at the rate of one (1) teaspoon per 32 gallons of water to be treated. (one (1) fl. oz. per 200 gallons) This produces a concentration of 2.5 mg/L. Distribute the proper amount around the edge of the aquarium or pond or directly in to the filter box to achieve the best overall distribution. A single treatment lasting 5-7 days is normally sufficient. Repeat as necessary, but no more than once every 3 to 5 days. May be used as a preventative, at the standard dosage, when disease is likely. Do not use with other drugs or disease treatments. May cause temporary foaming.

[Gaman-Dekinai]

So it's now been a full week since I've been dosing with PraziPro. Everything seemed great this whole week besides a big algae/mold outbreak I'm dealing with, no more tapeworms in the poop, they stopped doing the shaking and shimmying. Today was going to be the last day of treatment since I wasn't seeing any signs but yesterday I noticed really mucusy white poop floating around the tank when I noticed the Blue Diamond now has their right fin clamped and is swaying back and forth and not eating and now it seems the red melon is clamping his fins a bit as well :/

Should I start treatment of Metro now??

[Gaman-Dekinai]

Update: no longer showing signs of tapeworms but after 5 days of water changes I've noticed zero improvement of the Blue Diamond. Still shy in the corner occasionally runs around with the pack, clamped top fins and not eating at all but still passes long white mucusy poop and has now gotten a dark patch on it's forehead.115125
Noticed there are also all still doing the shaking of the ventral fins and dorsal fins as shown earlier in these video although very infrequently do they do this now. https://youtu.be/Qo1Zcm5nWos

Shake happens at 15sec https://youtu.be/gxGZhsq-Dyg

Wondering if I should continue with another dose of Prazipro? Or should I begin treatment with Metro and turn the tank up to 88F?

Any info is super appreciated guys thank you so much for taking the time to read this all

[shrinkwrap]

If you can get access to a microscope and send a cellphone picture through it of fresh stringy poop. I may be able to help you. Often the cause is Cryptobia iubilans which is visible in the poop sample. I can provide video samples. It is one of the causes of chronic wasting disease, "discus plague" in discus. Unfortunately it is difficult to treat, but it is useful to know the cause.

[Tuterosso]

not only poop but check tail, propably fungus :D

[Pices]

Update: no longer showing signs of tapeworms but after 5 days of water changes I've noticed zero improvement of the Blue Diamond. Still shy in the corner occasionally runs around with the pack, clamped top fins and not eating at all but still passes long white mucusy poop and has now gotten a dark patch on it's forehead.115125
Noticed there are also all still doing the shaking of the ventral fins and dorsal fins as shown earlier in these video although very infrequently do they do this now. https://youtu.be/Qo1Zcm5nWos

Shake happens at 15sec https://youtu.be/gxGZhsq-Dyg

Wondering if I should continue with another dose of Prazipro? Or should I begin treatment with Metro and turn the tank up to 88F?

Any info is super appreciated guys thank you so much for taking the time to read this all

Any updates on your blue diamond? Did he recover?