Tubifex worms attached on Cardinal tetra body? (Roundworms)

[feide]

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, tret the fish or the whole aquarium?

Hi Christos

I caught some infected fishes and treated them with methylene blue, they seem better after a few days. But the funny thing is that I have some infected ones with were untreated in the main tank (I didn't manage to catch them), they 'auto' recovered after a few days too...
So I have no idea whether methylene blue works... I only treat the fish (quarrantine tank), not the whole tank.

[jimlen]

It should be remembered that methylene blue is a dye that stains cells of bacteria thus inhibiting the normal life of the bacteria,but you should remember that it will also stain the cells of the beneficial bacteria that lives in your filter and could kill or at least inhibit their normal function,sometimes it is best not to treat the fish but to cull it,this is what happens in nature because the stress to a fish when taken from its tank for treating often removes the natural immunity it has to other things,just an opinion,Jim

[feide]

Hi Jim

Thanks for the note. Didn't know methylene blue works this way.
Anyway I always take culling as the last resort (when I see the fish in a very bad shape). For this case, they looked fine so I tried treatment in a quarrantine tank.

[jimlen]

OK Feide
Of course though, the Methylene Blue does other things but we would have to be chemists instead of hobbyists to understand it fully,what ever works for you,thanks.Jim

[liyukun]

let me try

[RedBuLL]

Hi, sorry that i need to bring up this post as i have the same problem with my cardinal and rummy nose tetras. Does methylene blue really help to treat this disease? Or is there any other way to treat this disease?

[feide]

Hi Redbull
I am quite doubtful that methylene blue actually helped caused some of my fishes did not make it after the treatment, whereas some auto recovered without the treatment...

[RedBuLL]

Hi Redbull
I am quite doubtful that methylene blue actually helped caused some of my fishes did not make it after the treatment, whereas some auto recovered without the treatment...

Thx for the reply
I had picked out all those worms using a pincer. Some of the worms even grow on the head causing the fish to have swollen eyes. Some even have infection on the gills and mouth. All fishes are still eating normally but not sure if they will fully recover. These worms seem to spread slow but it cant be stopped easily.
Really need experts here to kill all these stubborn worms in my tank.

[jimlen]

Hi,The worms cant be tubifex as they live in mud in rivers,dont see how they can live in the tissue of other animals,they are more likely to be parasites that need the fish as hosts for their final development,the only way is take the fish out,raise the temperature in the empty tank which will speed up the growth of the worms and not finding a host fish will die,it would be far kinder for the fish to culled.Jimlen