Can fish get internal worms again?

[HAAAAAAAA]

I'll soon be buying levamisole powder and had some more questions such as:

If my eel isn't eating instead of orally, will dosing the medication in the water still prove effective?


Is there any way that even if the eel is cured of any internal worms or infections, can it get it again through frozen food? If so do i have to keep deworming them every few months?

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I'll soon be buying levamisole powder and had some more questions such as:

If my eel isn't eating instead of orally, will dosing the medication in the water still prove effective?


Is there any way that even if the eel is cured of any internal worms or infections, can it get it again through frozen food? If so do i have to keep deworming them every few months?

@Jay Hemdal

Adding it to the water isn’t as effective as adding it to the food, but the in water dose is 38 milligrams per gallon of tank water, one dose.

Many internal fish parasites have multiple hosts, birds, snails, other fish during their life cycle. Therefore, reinfection in an aquarium lacking those secondary and tertiary hosts would not be possible. Some worms have direct development, so might be able to resurface.

Eels not eating is a pretty common thing to see, they go on long hunger strikes for unknown reasons. Internal worm parasites typically don’t cause a fish to stop eating though.