RIP Jawfish, possibly with worms

[Swanwillow]

ok, so when I frist got my jawfish, I noticed white lines under his skin/scales... left him alone. etc.

today, when my boyfriend woke up my eggcrate was in the water, so he put it back on. He said it looked fine then. An hour later, RIP. the blenny is fine, and the seahorses are too, so I'm assuming he got caught in it, pulled it in, and was out of the water long enough to stress himself to death, or otherwise injure himself.

SOOOO I figured, what the hey-I'll figure out if those WERE worms or not. I'm pretty sure they were: they are long, stringy, white. One of them looks like a funny tadpole. Its got the 'head' and a REALLY LONG tail. But, none were moving. He had a Bowel Movement after I had him on my 'dissecting table' (ok, the cover for my water change bucket) and that was white and stringy also-dunno if its part intestine, or if there was a worm trying to get out.

so, the debate begins: do I proactively treat the 4 fish left in the tank;three horses, and a blenny? or wait and see if they start showing signs of infection? what would I treat these worms with? should I move this to the emergency forum, although its not an EMERGENCY, it could become one in a few months, I suppose... if the worms caught on to the others...

 

[leebca]

If the issue is internal/intestinal worms, they are easy to eradicate.

Here is a thread on this:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=644238

Good luck!

 

[Swanwillow]

thats the interesting part: they are internal, but not intestinal, I think that the white I got out of him from the bowel was intestine, not worm.

I froze him, for easier study... hehe, gross huh? his poo is well formed brown balls (he got mysis exclusively)

they were, well... not intramuscular, but JUST under the scales. I dunno, its wierd. VERY wierd. One became intramuscular, I think, but it was at the base of the tail. and it was big enough that it went to the other side, but it was in his skinny part, SO I don't know if they (worms) were eating flesh, or what.

and my blenny will be the hardest to catch. he sticks to his holes in the rock, except at feeding time. He learned to eat out of the feeding dishes like the seahorses, SO I SUPPOSE he'd be decently easy to catch...