Internal Parasites

[yohann976]

Well, I'm back in the saltwater game. I cycled my tank properly and bought two fish (blue green chromis). Then I purchased a firefish that died the next day.

After scooping him up, I saw that my two remaining fish were acting weird. One had stringy poop and I later saw a small white worm floating in the water column. Later that day, the fish died. I noticed that it had very small curly worms in it's gills and a larger worm coming out of its anus. The last fish seems to have some brown blotches on its skin, but is acting normally.

Since this is a relatively new tank (3 months old), I'm wondering what should I do. Are these internal parasites permanently in my tank now? Should I break down the tank and start from scratch? Is there a medicine I can try to use? Should I get rid of the last remaining fish and will the parasites die off without a host? I'm just not sure what the best method of getting rid of these parasites is before I start to get more fish.

I'd prefer not to start over. I don't want to waste time and I'm building a good sized pod population.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Well, I'm back in the saltwater game. I cycled my tank properly and bought two fish (blue green chromis). Then I purchased a firefish that died the next day.

After scooping him up, I saw that my two remaining fish were acting weird. One had stringy poop and I later saw a small white worm floating in the water column. Later that day, the fish died. I noticed that it had very small curly worms in it's gills and a larger worm coming out of its anus. The last fish seems to have some brown blotches on its skin, but is acting normally.

Since this is a relatively new tank (3 months old), I'm wondering what should I do. Are these internal parasites permanently in my tank now? Should I break down the tank and start from scratch? Is there a medicine I can try to use? Should I get rid of the last remaining fish and will the parasites die off without a host? I'm just not sure what the best method of getting rid of these parasites is before I start to get more fish.

I'd prefer not to start over. I don't want to waste time and I'm building a good sized pod population.

You have two options:

1. Remove all the fish and let your tank sit fallow (fishless) for 8-9 weeks to starve out the remaining worms.

2. Use this: http://uskoi.com/prazipro.htm

Make sure you get the saltwater PraziPro and not the pond one. Also, you'll need to do more than one treatment to completely wipe out the worms. Turn off your protein skimmer while treating. Prazi is completely reef safe, with the exception of feather dusters/tube worms.

P.S. Before anyone else gets on your case about it, next time QT all new fish for 8-9 weeks before putting them in your DT.

 

[yohann976]

Yeah, I knew I should have a QT before adding fish. I just didn't think of it since my tank was so new and there were so few fish.

So this stuff is safe for the beneficial worms in my tank? I don't have any feather dusters yet, so I could definitely try is stuff out.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Yeah, I knew I should have a QT before adding fish. I just didn't think of it since my tank was so new and there were so few fish.

So this stuff is safe for the beneficial worms in my tank? I don't have any feather dusters yet, so I could definitely try is stuff out.

No worries, I've made the same mistake myself and then had to deal with Flukes (internal worms). Prazi will kill any and all worms in your tank - beneficial or otherwise. But that's it... All your corals, inverts, etc. will be fine. IMO a small price to pay as the alternative means waiting it out for 8-9 weeks.

 

[yohann976]

Just for future reference, what do most people use as treatment for a fish in a QT before putting them into a main tank?

The first time I had a saltwater tank, it came with pretty much every fish. I just added inverts. The reason why I took the tank down was because I moved and gave everything away before putting the tank and equipment into storage.

 

[sandwi54]

What I do for all my new fish is applying prazipro and cupramine. This would eliminate most of the common parasites, but not all. prazipro is very safe and causes little stress on fish, while cupramine is more stressful but would eliminate the major parasites such as ich and velvet.

i have at time skip cupramine if the fish is sensitive to copper in nature, but always apply prazipro (you'd be surprised how many fish come with flukes and worms).

there are also yet other diseases that require other treatments, such as brooklynella, black ich, etc. Hence even after you finish both prazipro and cupramine, it would be better to keep the fish in the quarantine tank and observe for another 4 weeks or so.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Just for future reference, what do most people use as treatment for a fish in a QT before putting them into a main tank?

As soon as I get a new fish, I treat w/Cupramine for 1 month to kill any external parasites, and I also do just the initial treatment of Maracyn 1 & 2 for fungus/anything bacterial. I then treat with PraziPro during the 2nd month of QT, unless I see symptoms that necessitate treating sooner. My logic is that external parasites (esp Velvet/Oodinium) are fast killers while internal worms (esp Flukes) seem to take awhile. I have at times used all 4 meds concurrently, but it sorta makes me nervous so I try not to make it a habit.

 

[yohann976]

Thanks guys for the helpful advice. Lesson learned for sure. I should have known better since I've had tanks for so long, but I'm still pretty new to saltwater I suppose.