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Illness/Sickness: Anchor Worms - PLEASE Help

PilafiaMadness

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Hello,

My axolotls have what I have just discovered to be anchor worms. (Little tubes-like looking things with Y like formations at the top)

I have NO idea how they got them, as it's been pretty hectic the past weeks.

I moved into my dorm on Friday, 8/21. The tank I used was sitting in the garage for a while, but I cleaned it out so that I could keep my other tank at home in case I needed to bring them home in an emergency or something. The filter and all the decorations are from their old tank however. I used one of my step fathers buckets to fill the tank up when I got to the city, and, stupidly, did not clean it out before I used it. They were both moved in separate little betta containers, and were only in them for about an hour and a half before I put them in the new tank. I'm also feeding my adult earthworms (which are out of a newer container.. have only fed them out of it twice.. could this be the culprit?) and my younger one bloodworms still (they have a tank separator at the moment.)

I came back on Monday 8/31 to feed them only to notice that my smaller one had some type of bump. I thought maybe it was an injury from the move..

Today,(8/28) (first day staying at my dorm permanently) is when I was observing them close enough to notice they both have anchor worms. There was also this weird material like stuff all over my tank and I have no idea what it is, so I will try and get pictures. I sucked a lot of it up yesterday without thinking about it..

They both seem to be eating okay and acting normal and the water parameters don't seem anything out of the ordinary. The tank was a little warm yesterday (74) but did manage to lower the temperature.

I've been reading through some of the threads on here that have has this issue to help me out, but this is the first time anything has every happened to my axies so I'm freaking out as they're my pets and I really do love and care deeply about them and would be heartbroken if I lost either of them. :(

I've never had to fridge or give a salt bath and I'm just worried about harming them more than I already have. Any helps or tips are greatly, greatly appreciated.
 

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PilafiaMadness

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Thank you.

Im going to start to give them salt baths and fridging them today and try and clean out the tank. I'm ordering the dimilin but it wont be here for a week so I'll make due with what I have for now.
 

michael

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If you use a wormer don't do it in your main tank. Be sure to tear down your main tank and bleach things out. Wormers are tough on axolotls and do "hang" in the tank even with full water changes. I think a good alternative but expensive one would be injections from a competent exotics vet.

You need to figure out how the axolotls got the worms and not repeat the infestation. Most often they get them from feeder fish. It is a bad idea to use feeder fish in any case. The parasites can also come in from contaminated water, plants, or ornaments. My guess is somewhere along the line the axolotls were exposed to fish or something in the aquarium that was exposed to fish.

Please report back the treatment you use and your results.
 

PilafiaMadness

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I was planning on using Dimilin, which according to what I've seen is safe for axoltol as most regular wormers don't seem to effect these guys since they apparently aren't 'true' worms.

I'm beginning to thing that I may have bought my young axoltol already infected and just hadn't noticed, because upon inspection behind the gills had a lot of little ones I had not noticed (they blend in extremely well with her coloration) as they haven't been in contact with fish (or any new decor) in my tank, and my larger axoltol has much, much fewer in comparison.

Problem with going to a vet is that I don't have access to a car at the time being as I live in a city, and a cab ride to an exotics vet would be very, very expensive on top of the vet visit and medication bill.. :/
 

Lorena

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I'm having the exact same problem. Introduced a new one and now they both have it. How did you go getting rid of them. I've been giving salt baths and I'm going to start fridgeing today. Do you think the dimilin is necessary? Also how do you know if the worms are gone? Do they fall off or have to be removed? Sorry about all the questions but I'm new to owning axies and pretty worried about my little girls.
 
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