Anchorworm

I think my albino may have anchorworm! I have only noticed it 10minutes ago, I can't take a picture I am afraid but she was kind enough to give me a close up look by the tank, there is only one it is underneath her bottom gill, it is about 5mm long with two branches at the end.

I have looked both of them over and this is the only one on either, I am going to hold off salt bath and fridging for now as it looks very much like a bloodworm and I am hoping it will just fall off when she swims about tonight.

Just in case it is anchorworm I am going to try and source dimilin tomorrow but I hope I am wrong

Hey Tom,

Does it look like the pic about halfway down this PAGE? I sincerely hope you are mistaken! Please keep us updated! Your poor baby!

It does look like pictures I have seen of anchorworm

Wow, just looked for some dimilin it is £85, I am not sure I can justify spending that on a £10 animal it sounds horrible for me to say but I have spent about £6-700 on them this year, if it is anchor worm, which I am still hoping it is not I can only treat with salt bath and fridging

For me it's a moral question. But I DO understand the financial angle.
I have this dumb cat that I picked up as a 3-4 week old kitten in the middle of an intersection on a 6 lane highway after some swizzle stick tossed him out of a car. I scooped him up while people yelled at me for holding up traffic. He's grown now and is just a regular black domestic house cat.
I kinda made a deal with him when I grabbed him that I would help him out in anyway that I could, do my best to insure his well being, and in return he would ignore me, claw my furniture, and break stuff.
I've spent enough money on him to have bought/adopted/whatever 500 cats but that ain't the point. I feel I have a responsibility to him. He's not a commodity... most people understand that when the animal in question is cute and furry.... not so much when it's scaled or "slimy".
It's expensive and a heck of a lot of work.... BUT it's your job man. If you really can't afford it then see if you can find someone who can, or can help you out with it. I find that lying to my mother about being stabbed or something is worth a few bucks.
Not trying to sound all judgey and holier than thou.... just throwing my 15.3 cents. I really do understand even if I worded this poorly.

Hi,

if you are really sure that it is an anchorworm, then salt baths won´t work. You need a medicine against parasites, but I don´t know which is available in the UK.

Tina

@callina - nice to see you!

@Tom - are you SURE it is anchorworm? I just found this medication ProForm-LA in one of the threads, based on my prelim google search, it is a bit more cost effective but I don't know about using it with axolotls - it is listed as being safe for frogs. Has anyone heard of/used ProForm-LA before?

Edit: Sorry, Tom - Just found out that this contains malachite green chloride which is listed as being unsafe. Maybe you could talk to a local vet and see if they could provide you a small amount or your local aquarium/pond store. Good luck, Tom. Hopefully, you have her isolated, but you also know you have to sterilize your tank if this is anchor worm.

Unfortunately, as callina said, salt baths and fridging will not cure a parasite. Please post a pic - as a worried parent, maybe you are mistaken...

Hey, well she is being a little awkward tonight but it does appear it has dropped off, a bloodworm I am assuming, I will keep her under observation for a few days, I am changing over substrate on saturday so she will be out of the tank which will give me a chance to give her a good going over.

I have been a bit confused about the damilin situation today, I began this morning by ringing around the 3 aquarium shops I use all of which have never heard of damilin, I then searched the internet and it appears, although not used for fish medicine damilin is available over the counter in the UK, So I rang my vet and had a conversation, He had not heard of damilin either but was kind enough to check there whole sailers who said they do not carry it but are positive it is available over the counter, So I got the phone book and rang every pet shop that I know sell koi, and I also rang a few garden centres with no luck NO ONE KNOWS! When I searched google I found several damilin products in smaller doses at about 20 dollers but only in the USA the only available damilin product I could find in UK was the £85 500ml bottle.

To be honest that was just a rash statement by me, I was at work, and I hate work, I hate everything when I am at work, I hate everyone when I am at work. of course if it came to it I would have bought the product and done anything needed, I read a couple posts by a vet called Raysen? sorry if spelling is wrong, and I was not very happy with the prospect of 'nuking' my entire tank. It was a selfish moment I have been in need of a course of physiotherapy all year which I keep having to delay because all the money I have had to spend has gone on my pets and my missus ( if she got anchor worm I for sure would not spend £85 on medicine!)

Mac I completely understand where you are coming from, I have just been landed with a £800 vet bill as the cat I 'rescued' when I was 12 died, on a public holiday double call out charge! £300 of which was to have her cremated as I couldn't bear to just bury her in the garden. I agree they are my responsibility

Well thank god it appears I was just being a worry wart, I hope you all realise I love my pets so much I did not like sounding so heartless, you all must see how much I care through all my posts!

Thank you for reading/advising me.

I totally understand your dilemma, I've also gone through that gee that's a whole lot of money to spend on a $30 pet, since in total we've spent maybe $800 on our axolotl, (not to mention a bucketload of money on our 3 cats, all of whom were free, one was a stray and 2 were rescues) but it helps justify in my mind that when the axie is in the store, she's a $30 animal but as soon as she gets home, she's a member of our little family and we do what we can to make her happy cos she's totally dependent on us! Given that we're hoping she will live as long as possible, it makes more sense in that regard

I'm sorry to hear your job makes you so unhappy, again, I know exactly where you're coming from there! I hope your Axie is ok, mine likes to get around with bloodworms on her head too. They do love to give us stuff to worry about!

I dont't hate my job so to speak I just hate going to my job if that makes any sense

I did assume it was bloodworm, but she seemed to get as close to be as possible to show me that part of her gills, it seemed she was telling me she needed help.

As all that money has been spread out over the whole year it has not hit me until I actually worked it out

But yeah does look like a false alarm

Ah, it also turns out I am an absolute buffoon, I though Dimilin was the actual chemical not a brand name, Mel has fixed everything once again!

You have the best friends....lol

Mel

Glad to hear it! Sorry if I sounded like a male organ earlier.

tomkeogh said:

I dont't hate my job so to speak I just hate going to my job if that makes any sense

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Yep! :happy:

tomkeogh said:

I dont't hate my job so to speak I just hate going to my job if that makes any sense

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ABSOLUTELY!! I believe you are in the majority there, Tom! Glad everything's okay!