Best treatment for thread worm parasite?

[AmirGTS]

Just recently purchased a small maroon clown, and seems very healthy and happy but has a stringy like thing coming out of his anus, and i believe it is a thread worm. He is in a quarantine tank for past few days. What is the best thing to do? Treat with Prazipro?

Thanks
Amir

 

[AmirGTS]

I treated with Prazipro earlier today, and also soaked some food in prazipro and fed to him. A few hours later the the parasite died and came out of him. Is this the end of it or can the parasite come back??

 

[Joe's Coral Reef]

How's your maroon? Did you feed it more soaked food? Just curious bc I have a maroon that had a stringy poop.

 

[JHemdal]

Right, unless you can see some sort of structure, how do you know that what you are seeing isn't mucus and feces? That is much more commonly seen. In fact, the only worms I've ever seen actually coming out of a fish is a specific worm that discus get (Capillaria).

The Prazi isn't going to hurt, but the problem is more likely to be bacterial, or even protozoan (Hexamita, etc.)

Jay

 

[AmirGTS]

It definitely was some sort of parasite, because when he had the stringy thing it was there for 2 days until I treated with Prazi-pro. Then came immediately out. Someone told me that the prazi-pro was just a dewormer and wouldn't actually end the cycle, and to try this product from jungle called anti-parasite. It is actually a food you feed the fish. There is a 3rd ingredient, levasimol, in the anti-parasite food that will help end the cycle. After the first treatment of this a couple more dead stringy things did come out of him on the 4th day. I just finished the 3rd week of using that food and have not seen anything new, so i think he will be good to be introduced to the tank at the end of the week.

Thanks for following up and asking. He seems very happy and healthy. I hope he will get along with his new gf, and that she doesn't beat him up.

 

[AmirGTS]

If it is bacterial or protozoan, what would you recommend I do?
Thanks!

 

[Jacob D]

Was that me who recommended the Levamisol to you? Someone semi-local to me asked about threadworm treatment not too long ago.

I'm happy to hear that your fish took the food. I usually have to go to all kinds of trouble to get them to eat that stuff. Levamisol is good against nematodes where Prazi is not, so if your fish has been eating the food it's possible that the parasites have been wiped out, I would think after 3 weeks you're in the clear... but keep a close eye on the fish.


BTW: If Jay is correct about bacteria then you're looking for an antibiotic, or for protozoa copper (or chloroquine) or hypo.

 

[Jacob D]

I did a quick search and found the other thread where you asked about threadworms and it was me who responded. I didn't realize the last person to post called me out for not recommending Praziquantel for nematode treatment. Seeing as this may get more attention here I'm re-posting the relevant part of my reply over here.

If anyone believes this is wrong I'm all for discussion. I know Jay or others probably have some experience here...

Praziquantel is a cestocide. It is not designed to treat nematodes. I have written Hikari to get their input on the use of Prazipro for treatment of nematodes and I will post whatever they reply with. I would hope they will provide an unbiased answer, but I will post whatever they respond with. That aside, ask your vet. They will not recommend Praziquantel for neamtode treatment... if they do I would find another vet.

One of the problems here is misdiagnosis. Most people see something hanging out of their fish and it's a "worm". What kind of worm is it? Is it a nematode, trematode, cestode? Most of the time it's going to be difficult for the average person to know. When people talk about "dewormers" they're usually talking about medications to treat tapeworms (which are cestodes). Prazipro is effective against tapeworms since it is a cestocide. It is also effective against flatworms and flukes. Neamtodes are a different creature and they infect animals differently. They will infect the entire body cavity but you will usually only see them hanging out of the fish' anus (poor fish!). They are difficult to get rid of. Levamisol is one treatment. Fenbendazol is another. Neither are easy to come by.

Freshwater cichlid breeders have known for years that nematodes are difficult to deal with and that Praziquantel is ineffective. I'm very surprised by the misinformation on guppydesigner.com, but then again I have no idea who they are and how well established they are as a source of information in the freshwater world. If you go beyond the world of fish into cats, dogs, birds, etc... many of the "deworming" medications available are a combination of Levamisol Fenbendazol Praziquantel (and/or other drugs), unless they are strictly a "tapeworm" medication. The reason being is that there's no one drug to kill all "worms" which consists of many different organisms.

Jacob.

 

[AmirGTS]

Yes Jacob, it was you who recommended this, thank you for all your help. Just to be safe, I'm thinking about using the other medicated food anti-bacteria by Jungle. Do you know if this medication works on both gram+ and gram- infections? I would rather use something like this that I can feed to him than dosing the qt. Thanks again for helping me out with this!

Amir

 

[AmirGTS]

Pictures of Stringy Poop currently hanging out of him

Pictures of Stringy Poop currently hanging out of him

Is this normal?

 

[Jacob D]

That looks like "classic white stringy poop" to me. When worms are protruding they are usually not very long, at least not the few I have seen in saltwater fish.

You can't completely rule out nematodes but they're uncommon... so Jay is probably right about the protozoa.

 

[AmirGTS]

That looks like "classic white stringy poop" to me. When worms are protruding they are usually not very long, at least not the few I have seen in saltwater fish.

You can't completely rule out nematodes but they're uncommon... so Jay is probably right about the protozoa.

Previously the poop was this long, but looked much different. It was actually more of a wave like movement and looked to have a lot of mucous (looking back now after researching more). So I am treating with the anti-bacterial food now, which contains 2.3% sodium sulfathiazole and 0.13% nitrofurazone.

Looking into the protozoan issue a bit more, it can possibly also be Hexamita like Jay said. I am thinking of treating with Metronidazole to be cautious. Would anyone recommend this or another type of antibiotic?

From the site: //animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm
Hexamita
Symptoms: The first symptom of slimy, white mucous feces, even while still eating and acting normal. Further signs are the fish hiding in the corner it's head down, head above the eyes gets thin, they blacken in color, and swim backwards.

Hexamita are intestinal flagellated protozoa that attack the lower intestine. Discus and other large cichlids, especially Oscars, are especially prone to Hexamita. As it is a disease of the digestive tract, a wasting away or loss of appetite may be experienced.An effective treatment is the drug metronidazole. A combined treatment in the food (1% in any food the fish will eat) and in the water (12 mg per liter) is recommended. Repeat the water treatment every other day for three treatments.

(This disease is often confused with another disease called Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE), which use to be called "hole-in-the-head" disease, because both these diseases are often seen simultaneously in the same fish. Head and Lateral Line Erosion disease looks like cavities or pits on the head and face. It is not a protozoan disease, but is actually caused by environmental conditions.)