Internal Issues

[Humblefish]

Move to a 3-week treatment with GC and focus? I had stopped after 2 weeks previously since I hadn't seen any white poop anymore. Also, how long are the parasites alive once they've left the host and are in the tank?

Most worms can survive for about a month without a fish host.

 

[Reefahholic]

Before using fenbendazole, I would try food soaking prazi + metro (API General Cure contains both) first. Be sure to use Seachem Focus to bind the medications to food, and protect your corals/inverts.

What’s the easiest way to soak the food?

 

[Reefahholic]

Most worms can survive for about a month without a fish host.

When God set things in motion- He sure did a good job. He made sure that some of these turds will always be able to survive.

 

[Humblefish]

What’s the easiest way to soak the food?

In a shot glass:

1 tbsp of pellets or frozen

Sprinkle the following over it:
1 scoop of General Cure (or medication of choice)
1 scoop of Focus

Add a few drops of saltwater to make a slurry, mix, wait 30 minutes and feed. Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers.

 

[Reefahholic]

In a shot glass:

1 tbsp of pellets or frozen

Sprinkle the following over it:
1 scoop of General Cure (or medication of choice)
1 scoop of Focus

Add a few drops of saltwater to make a slurry, mix, wait 30 minutes and feed. Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers.

Sounds easy enough. How long should I feed to rid any issues? I’ll test some Chromis. I’d flip out if it actually stopped them from dying. Could this possibly kill the internal Uronema as well? Seems like it’s possible!

 

[Humblefish]

Sounds easy enough. How long should I feed to rid any issues? I’ll test some Chromis. I’d flip out if it actually stopped them from dying. Could this possibly kill the internal Uronema as well? Seems like it’s possible!

10-14 days for uronema; 2-3 weeks for internal parasites/intestinal worms.

Food soaking metro is pretty much a necessity when treating fish with uronema because the disease also spreads internally.

 

[Reefahholic]

10-14 days for uronema; 2-3 weeks for internal parasites/intestinal worms.

Food soaking metro is pretty much a necessity when treating fish with uronema because the disease also spreads internally.

I’d agree with that 100%. I’m assuming with the binder we can run soaked “General Cure” or “Metronidazole” food with a Formalin bath.? Combine that with a 30-60 minute dip in Formalin prior to the bath and we might be able to save a lot more Chromis.

 

[Reefahholic]

Hey the General Cure is a packet that treats 10/G of water. How big of a scoop are we talking here?

 

[Humblefish]

I’d agree with that 100%. I’m assuming with the binder we can run soaked “General Cure” or “Metronidazole” food with a Formalin bath.? Combine that with a 30-60 minute dip in Formalin prior to the bath and we might be able to save a lot more Chromis.

Yes, provided the chromis can handle a 30-45 min formalin bath. Mileage varies for me. I see all sorts of different reactions (good & bad) when using formalin.

Hey the General Cure is a packet that treats 10/G of water. How big of a scoop are we talking here?

Same scoop that came with the Focus. Dosage doesn't have to be exact when treating for internal parasites/intestinal worms.

 

[Reefahholic]

Yes, provided the chromis can handle a 30-45 min formalin bath. Mileage varies for me. I see all sorts of different reactions (good & bad) when using formalin.



Same scoop that came with the Focus. Dosage doesn't have to be exact when treating for internal parasites/intestinal worms.

Ok, I used the same scoop. Doesn’t seem like it’s that much, but maybe it will be enough. I wonder if we can get away with using 2 scoops?

 

[4FordFamily]

Ok, I used the same scoop. Doesn’t seem like it’s that much, but maybe it will be enough. I wonder if we can get away with using 2 scoops?

I’ve successfully treated with much less mixed in to much more food stored for about a week. Although anecdotal, I suspect this would work fine.

 

[Reefahholic]

I’ve successfully treated with much less mixed in to much more food stored for about a week. Although anecdotal, I suspect this would work fine.

Well that makes me feel better. I’ve treated dogs with powder wormer called safeguard and like this it doesn’t take much.

I will be honest, I didn’t use a full tablespoon because I’ve only got a few fish right now that have successfully made it through QT. So I only used 1/2 TBS to 1 scoop of API General Cure and 1 scoop of Focus. I added some tank water and mixed it all up.

The only thing I’m worried about is my clown fish trying to feed my anemones with it. Will probably kill him if he eats it. I’ll let you guys know how it goes and if the treatment is ok on the fish.

 

[Justins13]

@Humblefish I have read through this entire thread as well as several of the links you have posted. I am now leaning towards nematode roundworms but I have never seen any white or stringy poop. Here is my original post from the disease forum. Thanks in advance!
HELP!!!! ID??? So I’ve had two recent fish deaths out of nowhere... First one was my moorish idol. He was fat healthy and would eat anything. No visible signs whatsoever. Ate Good Friday night then dead Saturday. I was baffled and couldn’t figure out what happened to him. Figured maybe it was just one of “those” things. Then today I saw my 6” copper band swimming funny. At first it just looked like he was swimming upside down for the cleaner wrasse which he sometimes does but after watching I could tell something was wrong. I grabbed him by hand and moved him to my hospital tank. I run hypo in it and added some prazipro as I suspected flukes or internal parasites. When I came home a few hours later it was dead. I put it in a fresh water dip to confirm flukes. I looked in around the 10 min mark and didn’t see anything then I got side tracked and didn’t check on it again for a couple of hours and found these worms... STILL ALIVE!!!! Even in fresh water with methylene blue for 2-3 hours they were still alive Anyone have an id??? This is not going to be fun to treat in the 500...

 

[Justins13]

 

[Justins13]

The smaller ones are 1/2”-1” and transparent while the larger ones are around 2-1/2” and tannish in color

 

[JRAD]

I don’t know what those worms are- did you acclimate the CB to the hypo in the hospital tank?

 

[Humblefish]

@Justins13 Just so I'm understanding correctly... You put the dead body in FW and 2-3 hours later these worms appeared? If that is correct, the only explanation I can come up with is they were present inside his intestines and exited via the anus postmortem.

 

[Justins13]

@Humblefish
Yes that is correct. I’m just looking for a positive id and to make sure the proper course of action is still general cure w focus in their food as described throughout this thread. I did add prazipro to the container and even at what had to be a pretty high dose it took 36hrs to kill the worms... To try and qt all 30 fish from my 500g dt would be a nightmare since most are 5” plus w my largest being an 18” vlamingi tang.

 

[Humblefish]

@Justins13 I can't say for sure if that is a species of nematode. I did a little digging on them and found this:

The head of a nematode is relatively distinctive. Whereas the rest of the body is bilaterally symmetrical, the head is radially symmetrical, with sensory bristles and, in many cases, solid head-shields radiating outwards around the mouth. The mouth has either three or six lips, which often contain a series of teeth on their inner edge. An adhesive gland is often found at the tip of the tail.

Source: http://www.mesa.edu.au/marine_worms/marine_worms03.asp

(There is also a video in that link you'll want to look at.)

Another source says, "There is no effective drug against fish nematodes but drugs such as flubendazol, levamisole, mebendazole, trichlorphon and triclabendazole have been used."

Source: https://en.wikivet.net/Fish_Nematodes

Levamisole has mostly been discontinued, but fenbendazole is considered a suitable replacement drug. I have used fenbendazole (in food) to treat stubborn intestinal worms before.

 

[JRAD]

Drs foster and smith sell a product called Fish Bendezole. It says it is fembenzedole. It is $7.49 for three 250 mg packets. That would medicate a bunch if food!