Tubifex worms attached on Cardinal tetra body? (Roundworms)

[feide]

Hi bros

can help to identify the disease on my cardinal?
looks like a tubifex attached to its body!
I do feed them tubifex once in a while but I always make sure the worms are cleaned properly before feeding.
This fish is behaving normal now.... doesn't look sick at all till you see its "accessory"

[fisherw]

It might be anchor worms. See:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...?t=8833&page=2

post #2 or google.

There's a photo here:

http://blog.thepondguy.com/2008/06/2...-of-june-20th/

[Fingerling]

Ive had this when i was keeping cardinals before. Treated for parasites ( including anchor worms) but it doesnt go away. You'll find that this worm-like condition will spread slowly to all parts of the body. I ended up having to dispose of the whole group. The only possible disease i can guess this might be would be also known as Neon Tetra Disease. The infestation is very hard to treat and almost impossible to treat in the later stages.

The cycle begins when parasite spores enter the fish after the fish ingest infected food or organic debris ( such as bodies of dead fish or live food, often tubifex worms. ) After the spores enter the intestinal tract, the newly hatched embryos burrow through the intestinal walls and produce cysts within the muscle tissues that start to die off resulting in pale white tissue.


Symptoms would be..
1) Restlessness
2) The fish becomes more isolated
3) The fish will have difficulty swimming
4) The white/pale tissues appear
5) Body becomes more lumpy and irregular
6) Spine may become deformed or curved.
( My infected cardinals had all this symptoms mentioned when it had that worm-like condition. )

Fishes that can be affected.
Most tetras
Angelfish
Most danios


Treatment..
Move the infected fish into a seperate tank and treat using methylene blue. 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons( Do not overdose ). Treat for 30 mins before moving the fish back to their main tank. This can be performed twice daily. Do not pour this water back into your main tank.

In the main tank, you'll need to treat with parasite treament. A UV sterilizer is strongly recommended.

If all these steps are followed, rate of stopping the spread of the disease is almost 100% and treatment if in the early stages would be about 20-50%

This is a summary from a page i read up on.

[feide]

Hi Fisherv

Thanks for the sticky and photo. Not sure whether it is anchor worm. Mine is pink, curled up and 'embedded in a coating' on the fish's body


Hi Fingerling

Thanks for the write up, appreciate that. Sorry to hear about your loss.
Strange thing is that my affected fish is behaving normally, schooling and eating with the rest.
Certainly hope it is not neon tetra disease since there is no cure for that...
Might try methylene blue on that sick little fella.

[feide]

Just found this website, looks like 'roundworms' to me
"They often come in with contaminated live foods such as Tubifex worms." -> quoted from the website.....
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_..._1.html#Lernea


mine is very similar to this picture (exept it is more 'pinkish')
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_..._mikeaofa.html

[RHX]

I had tetras that has got these parasite before. It wiped out most of my fish population, infecting them slowly. I had treated it with anti-parasite medication, but it did not work. So I don't think it's anchor worm. Think you better quarantine it first before it started spreading, until you have found a cure for it.

[jimlen]

Hi
Just to add to the topic that if you think you have parasites in your fish then it follows that you have them in the tank,but while methylene blue may work on a parasite that has erupted from the fish ,there are more stages in the life of the parasite,usually the fish is just a host for the parasite to complete its cycle,they have many stages that look nothing like the worm that we see,one member recommended UV sterilizer which is very good,years ago before we had sterilizers we would take the infected fish out of the tank,kill it then put all other fish in another tank,we would then raise the temperature a lot to hasten the rate of development of the parasite,leave for about 3 days and all the parasites would die as they had lost their hosts.good luck ,jimlen

[feide]

Hi RHS and jimlen
I will try to get net the whole school out for treatment to be safe...
any suggestions on the medications? I am really no good in this and don't want to add on more sufferings to the poor sick fishes by choosing the wrong 'antidote'..

meanwhile will consider a uv sterilizer for the tank, I heard some claims that it will affect the benificia bateria in the tank, I better do some readup before taking any action. nevertheless thanks jimlen for the advise

[jimlen]

Hi
You would be safer asking your local fish for medications as he will know up to date methods,Also do you mind if I ask why you feed whole tubifex worms,years ago we got our main supplies of worms from the River Thames [upriver]they lived in almost pure sewage,we would let clean cold water run over them for at least 4 days to purge them of any crap,then we would cut them up and put them on a small tray on tank bottom,what was,nt eaten in an hour was thrown away.Jim

[feide]

I believe many bro in Singapore feed live tubifex too, live food should be 'alive'.. . (to me at least)
Thanks for sharing your recipe. That's a fair bit of work, Not to mention cutting tubifex!
I actually bathe them a few times with abit of very diluted "listerine" solution before feeding. (will rinse off with water).
I have managed to fish out most of cardinals, treating with methylene blue now, will update. Praying hard....

[benny]

These are indeed internal parasite call roundworms (nematodes). Most external parasite medication will be useless against it. Anchor worms (which is straight) is an external parasite. I have heard of some success with discus de-worming medication. Perhaps you can consider that if your methylene blue treatment does not work.

Cheers,

[feide]

These are indeed internal parasite call roundworms (nematodes). Most external parasite medication will be useless against it. Anchor worms (which is straight) is an external parasite. I have heard of some success with discus de-worming medication. Perhaps you can consider that if your methylene blue treatment does not work.

Cheers,

Thanks Benny
Seems like Methylene is not working for them, will try to get hold some discus de-worming medications as per your advise. Hope the poor fishes can hold on... Any brand to recommend? Thanks!

[Christos]

Hi everyone,
I keep a school of 10 cardinals and 2 of them have the identical worms attached to them.
The fish 9 days agocaedinal3a.jpg
Same fish yesterday just before I removed the worms with a pair of tweezers DSC04466a.JPG
The worms in 100x magnification worm-4.jpgworm-2.jpg worm-1.jpg
On the 5th of June I started treatment by dissolving 5 tablets (for 120 lt) of Parazin (Waterlife). When I removed the worms I poured a drop of mycopur (serra) straight to the fish for the recovery of the wounds and possible bacteria infections. All that was decided after I asked for advice my local pet shop owner.
Today I cant see the 2 fish I treated........they must be hiding in some place.

[Christos]

and on top of that DSC05140a.jpg the belly on another cardinal gets a funny shape (its been quite big (bigger than normal anyway) the last few days. Didnt think much of it then but now I am troubled.
I dont know if I was any help but surely I can use all the help I can get...
Thank you in advance

[jimlen]

Hi Christos
Wondered if you also feed tubifex worms to your cardinals.Jim

[Christos]

Never have fed them tubifex. Twice a month I feed them blood worms (frozen). Live food is considered a luxury in Greece, almost impossible to find!!
By the way, the funny belly is back to normal...

[jimlen]

Hi Christos
Glad your fishes belly went back to normal,probably a large lump of food,hope your cardinals do OK too,let us know if the worms return.Jim

[feide]

Hi Christo
thanks for sharing your experience and the pics.
My cardinals are fine now, the roundworms just 'disappeared'. ( I did not manage to treat a few sick fishes as I couldn't catch them). still very puzzled but will definately avoid live food in future.
As for your 'bloated' cardinal, could it be due to overfeeding? this happens to my fishes when I feed too much

[Jitticus]

Those look like camallanus worms.

[Christos]

My cardinals are fine now, the roundworms just 'disappeared'.

I am glad your cardinals are fine now, but tell me plz what kind of treatment did you follow (if any..). And the question remains, does someone treat the fish or the whole aquarium?