Long tapeworm pic...

[taybelZ]

This is what i found in my tank yesterday morning... quite freaky.. its about 4X longer then my fish. measured out to be approx 28cms in the old scale 11inches
I'm sure my fish was glad to get rid of that tapeworm.i've ordered some prazi so it sould be in the mail pretty soon... results should be interesting.

Which makes me ask.. why do discus get tapeworms i don't feed blackworms BTW if that has made some of you guys jump to conclusions. I do however feed, bloodworms, BH, earthworms, and tetra colour bits.

Anyway enjoy the pic.. it freaked me out when i saw it

that's a big-a$$ worm!! not to mention a big a$$-worm... ;D
scary!
david

[daninthesand]

:yikes:

egg noodle size.

(clever use of hyphen Dave :))

You mean a BIG-A$$ A$$-WORM

[BlueTurquoise]

Not enough of them for a bowl of noodles! :puke: :sick:

That has got to be some sort of record! at least an all Aussie record! :P

[taybelZ]

hahaha Chong Ly,
its a record i'm not proud to be associated with ::)
I used combantrium on these guys once, it removed one worm and i thought that was all they had in em... i guess prazi is the only really reliable medication when it comes to deworming.

[Serpae]

O M G.............that's longer than my attention span. :o

[April]

yukky david.....heh david how you been? gotta go read the aussie thread..they need your help on the country poll. and...theres now an aussie official chat on monday nights.

[Serpae]

Yeah Tabz..........get your butt over here and tell the other aussie's to do the same, hehehehehehe. There is a link in the Aussie possy to get you there. ;D

[brewmaster15]

Hi David,
yep thats a tape worm! for those grossed out by it...this should help! ;D

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=1024


Hehehe! :)

now for your question...99.9% percent of all tape worms require an intermediate host. I think I have read of one that does not. These tape worms basically infect the intermediate host during their developement, your fish then eats that host, and becomes infected with the tapeworm it is carrying. The completion of the cycle is when the fish passes the tapeworm segments (proglottids in the above picture post) that are filled with eggs, and these eggs are then ingested by that secondary host again. This is a simplified lifecycle for a tapeworm, and some may have more than one acceptible host.

So whats this intermediate host... Proven hosts are copepods, snails. clams etc., probable hosts include many small invertebrates. Science is always finding new parasite -host relationships.

In your case... I would wonder what was fed before you got them, suspect your waters own copepods(everyone has these) , other inverts etc, Earthworms are a known host for many species of worms including tapeworms. I'd also question the ingredients for your beefheart.


Hth,
al