Questions regarding internal parasires

[George9]

Hi everyone, this post may be long, but I want to share my whole story in hopes someone had the same problem as me and has a solution to my dilemma!!

I believe some of my fish are infected with internal parasites. The suspicion started back last winter with my clowns. They had white poop and I treated with prazipro, and it never went away so I decided to ignore it since they were eating great.

All was fine until late this summer when I noticed my foxface a bit thinner and his stomach was bulging a bit. I knew for sure that the clowns did have parasites and they probably just spread to the foxface.

Now begins my list of failed treatments. The fish eats super well, swims normal, good color, and has maintained his current weight for the past couple months. I've tried over the past 4 months:

Seachem metronidazole with focus.
-made the fish poop browner
-the stomach also bulged more though.
I fed this for a straight month and then stopped, and it got worse once I stopped.

Prazipro
-made the stomach nice and flat and normal but symptoms returned once I removed treatments (I tried 3 total treatments)

Paracide x by NFP
-the fish's stomach was nice and flat, but the poop was not any better.
I soaked the food in the medication and allowed it to dry just as the directions stated, then fed it.

My next endeavor is fenbendazole. I hear it can clear internal parasites when soaked in food. Does anyone have any advice for this type of treatment?

I'm not sure how it's possible that the fish could live this long with an intestinal parasite and show 100% no behavioral symptoms for a whole year.

Are there any other causes of white poop that can last this long?

Any advice would be appreciated, I'm not sure where to go next with this.

 

[tylersarah]

Levamisole is an effective, relatively safe internal dewormer - commonly sold as pigeon dewormer online.

 

[George9]

Do you know if it can be safely used orally in pellets?

 

[tylersarah]

It sells as a tablet or powder - You're going to have to use it in a quarantine tank. I crush the tablets, dissolve them in RO then disperse into the water, I start with 2 tablets which is much lower than the recommended immersion dosage from one of my disease textbooks:

1. Prolonged immersion
a. Add 10 mg levamisole HCL/l (=38mg/gallon)

2. Oral formulations
a. Feed 2.5-10mg levamisole HCL/kg (=1.1-4.5mg/lb) of body weight/day for 7 days

3. Injectable formulations
a. Inject 3.6mg/lb of body weight intracardiac

(Noga, 2013)

 

[George9]

Thank you!! Would it be unsafe to use food soaked in lavamisole in my main tank? Its just a FOWLR with a cleaner shrimp

 

[tylersarah]

I'm not sure, my concern is the shrimp and how would you ensure each fish ate the correct amt/day?

And for the record, fenbendazole is harsher and would be my last choice.

 

[George9]

That's a good point. It will be tricky ensuring that the fish get the right amount of meds even in a qt tank!

I will save the fenbendazole for last in case all else fails!

Thank you for your help!

 

[George9]

Quick question- im soaking pellets in the medicine until they are soft, which is around 2-3 mins. Most places are recommending soakig food for around 30 mins-an hour. Is this too little time to soak up the medicine? The fish wont eat it if its too soggy, i figure if they're saturated, then they have some of the meds in them.

 

[SonRK]

Let me know what you find out works.

I have a clownfish that suffers from stringy long white poo.

While I haven't seen him get any worse, I did try PraziPro and tried soaking their NLS pellets in Metro+ after making them soggy with Selcon.

My QT is being used up by a Tailspot Blenny so I won't able to use it for another 6 weeks or so

 

[George9]

I will, hopefully i find something!

My fish are the same way, im thinking if fed a nutritious diet, they can fight them off better. My clowns have had the poop for over a year.

Have you had any luck with the metro+? I have some laying around from when i had fw fish

 

[SonRK]

Nothing. Maybe they had one good poo session a day after a treatment (I tried three days in a row)

I made a frozen food mix, and let it freeze. (It actually didn't re freeze. Just turned the mysis into a slushy like consistency )

And Selcon and Metro and Pellets. Let it soaked for 30 minutes and nothing

 

[George9]

I started using fenbendazole since i had already ordered it. I will update with results. The foxface's stomach has been pretty normal the past week or so, but he still poops what looks like sand/ crushed coral

 

[George9]

I can see a little bit of improvement in the appearance of the fish from the food, his body just looks more "even", nothing drastic though. Poop is still sandy.

If in a week, the fish doesn't show any improvement I will probably bite the bullet and move then all to QT. I have Clout on hand, does anyone else have any other chemicals that can be used in a hospital tank to deworm these fish?

Im just hoping I dont jinx myself by moving them, and then they stop eating in qt or something.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Following.

 

[Deinonych]

I started using fenbendazole since i had already ordered it. I will update with results. The foxface's stomach has been pretty normal the past week or so, but he still poops what looks like sand/ crushed coral

This might seem like a silly question, but are you sure the foxface isn't actually pooping out sand? I know mine will pass sand grains from time to time; he picks at the sandbed every now and then and ingests sand along with whatever else he finds. Also, what kind of diet are you feeding the foxface?

 

[George9]

I thought about that, it is possible I guess. In the past he's pooped sand, but it was probably once a week. Now, its nearly 100% of the time, along with stomach swelling (which is gone now)

I feed nori daily and alternate NLS thera A, NLS Marine pellets, Formula one, Formula two, and on occasion mysis shrimp or rods food.


Edit: what does your foxface's poop look like? I can't remember if mine's normal poop looked like small turds or just a cloud of poop.

 

[Deinonych]

OK...likely something else is going on, as your feeding regimen is similar to mine (nori daily, along with NLS pellets, Rod's, Mysis, and some flake food now and then). My foxface's poop is fairly typical for the species - a diffuse cloud of poop that looks mostly like partially digested nori.

 

[George9]

agh, this so frustrating! Hopefully I will get to the bottom of this

 

[George9]

I read a forum post about soaking food in epsom salt for internal parasites, i know its a laxative for freshwatwer fish, i wonder if it would work in saltwater fish too. Maybe itll clean him out and help him poop out some worms

His poop is a little better, it has a bit more brown in it lately.

 

[George9]

Thought it was time for a little update, this thread might be helpful to someone in the future!

The fenbendazole seems to be helping the foxface's belly a lot, he looks fantastic. He's never bloated now. It is doing nothing for the white poop though I'll keep going though.

I was thinking. What would happen if i just left the fish go? The clownfish have had white poop for over a year and they are the fattest they've ever been. I first noticed my foxface's poop like 5 months ago as well. Maybe they can live with it with good nutrition?