Fish leech?

[grey_fox]

Hi there,

Some of my rummy nose has some white worm like buggers stuck on its fins and tails. Any idea if these are fish leeches and how can I remove them?

Wish I could take pic for IDing but my dad threw the infected fella away...

My dad caught two and flushed them down the toilet bowl... anyways, I have not noticed any of them thus far. Want to take any precautionary steps.

[benny]

How big are they? What color are they? Perhaps some detailed description to the best of your ability will give us a clue as to what they might be. Could be anchor worms or flukes at this point in time.

Cheers,

[stormhawk]

Those are Lernaea, aka anchor worms. Not easy to remove. I used to pluck them off manually with a pair of tweezers, but their hook-like jaws will rip out part of the area where they are attached on.

A simple method of manual removal:

There is another way of removing Anchor Worm but more care has to be taken to remove all parts of the Anchor Worm ... that method is.... mix a strong solution of Potassium Permanganate crystals of 1 gram into 25 mls of hot water. Mix well until dissolved and then dip the tweezers into this solution prior to the removal of the Anchor Worm, once the solution touches the body the Anchor Worm releases its grip immediately and it can then be lifted clear of the Koi and the water, wipe the end of the tweezers on a clean tissue to remove all traces before attempting to remove another Anchor Worm.

Info from http://www.koicarp.net/koi_medication/parasites2.html

Hope it helps.