Worms / Internal Parasites? - Feeling despondent

Just ask Mill at Pet a Pond if you need to order stuff. If you still order today, he will have stock by this weekend.

 

Just a quick update on this tank (I'm on the verge of draining it and getting a snake or lizard or something!)

I continue to have deaths in this tank and I'm still at a loss as to what is causing it. The tank has been up and running for well over a year now, what am I doing wrong now?

I removed the clay pot I have in the tank tonight and my tank looks worse for wear but my priority is my fish and not my feeble attempts at landscaping. Maybe there is just something mixed in with the clay that is being released into the water and slowly killing my fish. I'm desperate on this side!

The one thing I have not tested is the Ph. Could it be that the pot has been affecting my Ph and that that is what's killing my fish slowly but surely, one by one...

 

How are the fish dying? Are there any visible signes that these fish are going to die?

 

@dash

I've had most of the fish in the tank for well over a year. The galaxy rasboras got thin and died and I treated for parasites.

Now my platies are going one by one. No outward sign of disease. They will be fine then all of a sudden start lying on the bottom or floating near the surface and a day or two later they're gone - still with no outward sign of anything and feeding well up until they suddenly fall ill. The smaller ones would not even give any indication something is wrong, I would just find them dead in the tank the next morning.

I even lost a Cory last week! My oldest and biggest one, had her for a year and a half! :cry:

Whatever it is, does not seem to affect my Head and Tail Light Tetra or my Gouramies. My female betta was also not affected but unfortunately she jumped tank...:cry:

 

Do a water test

 

I had a similar problem few years ago and went through pretty much every commercially available medication on the market , fish looked fine with one acting strange and dying a few days later , then another , lost 1 or 2 a week for about 4 weeks while trying water changes and meds, water parameters were perfect . I was on the verge of giving up and read an article in an old TFH one evening about a similar situation , anyway to cut a long story short they started dosing with Praziquantel and had good results , Praziquantel is one of the main ingredients in veterinary deworming medication.

I was a bit sceptical about it working but thought it was worth a shot and ended up buying dog deworming tablets that contained Praziquantel in 80mg / tablet concentration , I removed all chemical filtration ,crushed up the tablets and dosed at 250mg/100l per day for 3 days, left it for 5 days , had no deaths , 50% water change , repeated the process over 3 weeks and sorted the problem out .

I actually used the same treatment about a 2 months ago for some Frontasa cichlids I was given that were scratching with what looked like gill flukes and it cleared them up nicely too .

Good luck

 

how big is the tank? If you are not overstocking and have good filtration these WC's (I am assuming from tap) might be doing more harm than good. Good on stopping the frozen food a bad batch can cause havoc for many moons so a quality supply is critical.

As for your hands .. get latex cloves and tape them up if need be.

Later Ferdie

 

@Dinky I have had the same problem as you for close on a month now. Started with the Praziquantel route three weeks ago and the tank I have treated has had no more losses so far. Also skinny fish here and there with no external signs of disease. Got my meds from a vet - most vets will have it, it is not Praziquantel per se but another name with the same active ingredient, the name which escapes me now... It costs about R10 for 50 ml and is used to treat Trout for nematodes. I also use it when I get Hydra as a result of imported Killi eggs. Kills the hydra in two days flat with no harm to the fry (even as young as a week...) Might be worth a try. My best advice is if you REALLY want to know what is going on take a dead fish to the vet and let them have a look under their microscope (or diy if you have a powerful enough one). If there are worms/parasites you will clearly see it. If then there are indeed this type of infection a product like Praziquantel will almost certainly kill all those nasties (all nematodes according to my vet). You are also most welcome to come and get my testing kits - ph, no2, no3, nh4, gh, phospahtes, kh etc...

 

@f-fish - It's a 100 liter, filtration at 800 lph hob with an additional internal sponge filter. I fill my tanks with filtered tap water - is that okay? My other tanks are doing very well. This is the only tank I have problems with in terms of livestock!

 

@soulfly - could you remember the name of the product?

 

@francoisve - PLEASE can I have the name of your vet? Went to my vet today but they could not assist. Would really like to give this a go!

 

Thanks everyone for the help and the advice! I really appreciate!!

 

@Dinky I used the Antezole tablets , you should be able to get them from any vet or vetshop, just check the concentration of Prazi and dose accordingly

 

@Dinky it was in Centurion so way too far obviously, come and get some from me tomorrow?

 

Morning Everyone!

I would just like to report that @francoisve assisted me this weekend in treating my tank - thanks a million!!

All seems well this morning and I'm holding my breath, hoping this will be the end of my troubles with this tank!

My one affected fish is still alive although not eating - I hope the treatment was in time to save him. I'm happy to report that I managed to rescue 4 little fry Saturday morning, so if daddy doesn't make it I will have some baby fish to curb the tears on this side.

Just a big thank you once again for everyone's advice and assistance, I really appreciate!

 

Happy to report my affected fishy had some bloodworms this afternoon! Yippee! Hope that's a sign that he'll make it.

Just one question - there's some small bubble forming on the surface of the tank. Is that a problem or does it simply mean my plants are happy?

 

I'm flabbergasted and still at a loss as to what is up with this tank of mine.

On Thursday my affected fish was happily swimming about again and eating normally. This morning he wasn't eating and by 2 this afternoon I found him dead.

I took some pictures...

 

@Dinky that does not look like a fish that died from internl or external parasites, maybe it was something else or just his time...

 

@francoisve - I'm lost with this tank! There's no outward appearances of any kind of illness!

Even if there was some kind of irritant / poison in the water, the fish should have shown signs. Flashing / Scratching / Erratic behavior, something!

We can rule out the following since all my other tanks get the same without being affected:

* Water source
* Food
* Fertilizers
* Substrate

What's different in this tank:

* Willow Leaf Hygro
* Some rocks
* Seachem Excel

I'm on my way to have the water tested, maybe that will shed some light.

 

@francoisve what is the name of the product that you use?