HOW TO KILL PARASITES!!!!!!

[lorie]

"We experimented with a variety of teatment to get rid of the eggs.
Cleaning and sterilizing the tank and adding new gravel does not work!
After several failures we found what seems to work well. To rid infected
tanks of both the free swimmers and eggs, remove the axolotls, and
abruptly raise the pH by at least two full units (7 to 9 for example). We
used common household bleach to do this. Let the tank stand with the
elevated pH for a week checking carefully for any free swimmers. The pH
will eventually return to normal and you should wait until at least two
more weeks, checking that the tank has been free of any sign of free
swimmers, have passed. After a three or four complete water changes the
animals can be returned to the tank. (You must treat the tank as if you
are establishing a whole new undergravel biological system, seeding the
bacteria from another tank, introducing one animal at a time, monitoring
for nitrate and ammonia and so forth.)We have been using tanks so treated
for about three months without any sign of the infection returning."

 

[joan]

Lorie, freeswimming microorganisms in the tank are NOT parasites. Killing these off will kill your cycle, and you will then have to recycle your tank. Once the tank is recycled, you will get more microorganisms in it. THIS IS NORMAL AND HEALTHY. There is no way your tank will ever be competely free of microorganisms, nor should you try to make it so.

 

[lorie]

No they're parasites. The parasites have laid egg sacs in my axolotls gills. Trust me. I've even had some parasites under the microscope and compared it to a picture of a Ergasilus. They are Ergasilus.
That research is from uni.

 

[joan]

1. You need to site your source. This quote comes from http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/urodeles/1997-March/000297.html
This is a personal site from Natalie K Bjorklund, at the University of Manitoba (for whom I'm currently doing research). However, the site is not affiliated with the university, it may or may not be an accurate, scientifically accepted site.

2.) It's HIGHLY unlikely that you have Ergasilus. From what I can see, they're mainly new-world, and are NOT likely to enter an aquarium.

" Blood loss is high, and secondary infections like gill rot are frequent consequence. The crustaceans can only be introduced into an aquarium or a garden pond in their larva stage with live feeds from fish ponds.
Reproduction in an aquarium is not probable, as in most cases you do not have both sexes in the aquarium simultaneously." http://www.sera.de/autoframe.htm?url=http://www.sera.de/english/Ratgeber/Krankheiten/Krebse1.htm

 

[lorie]

Odd. Well if i decribe the bug to you maybe you can tell me what it is. Its got a round body and 2 kicking legs. It swims fast in one direstion. Its VERY small, white. They're all over the glass.
I think they came from the food i put in.(Bloodworm)

 

[edward]

Lorie,

When you say that you have had the suspected parasite under the microscope, did you use free swimming ones or did you anesthetize the axolotl and biopsy the gill with the item attached to the gill?

If you simply captured the crustacean from the water column then it is a free living non-parasitic copepod.
If you anesthetized the axolotl and took a biopsy I would be interested in hearing how you anesthetized the axolotl....

In any case, Ergasilus doesn't lay the eggs in the gills. The female attaches to the gills and in typical copepod fashion the eggs are attached to the female until they hatch.

As a further indication of how unlikely you have copepods of this genera in your aquarium, you would have to have introduced both sexes which would have required you to introduce live infected fish along with the free swimming males. This would have required not only introducing the infected fish but the water containing the males... They do not come from bloodworms.....

Invasion of established aquaria by copepods is normal and will occur after a period of time.

Ed

 

[lorie]

Well whatever it is it's in her gills and crawling on her body.
Any ideas?

 

[alex]

if your axie is still eating and being normal and healthy then whats the concern?. if i were you i would only take action if the axie started to show stress from the little critters. i would just let them live and crawl on the axie. what harm could they do?.

 

[edward]

If there is sufficient dissolved organics in the water there will be a bloom of things like copepods. They will crawl on any solid surface which includes your axolotl.

Ed