Parasites? at a loss as to what to do

[sin]

I'm having problems with my tank atm (it's been established for almost a year), my axies who have had lovely gills up until recently have started to lose them, they are scratching at them and swimming around frantically. My ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates are fine. I do have a snail plague in the tank but they seem to be keeping out of the axie's way. I've lost 3 now which have had all these symptoms which makes me start to wonder whether they are parasites that i've some how brought in. I can't visably see any creatures on their gills. Can any one make any suggestions? i'm at a total loss for ideas as to what could be wrong and it's very heartbreaking to see the little guys like this. Would it be worth dosing the tank with a general antibotic? any help would be appreciated

 

[amber]

Could it be anchorworm?
If so, I can help you there.

Have a look carefully to see if you can see any 3mm long white tubes - usually coming from small cysts and often with blue/green egg sacs.

 

[sin]

would that just be on the gills or on the rest of the body, their bodies look fine, and if so, how do you go about treating it?

 

[jon]

I have exactly the same symptoms and have lost one with another quite sick and lethargic. While inspecting teh tank tonight I noticed hundreds of tiny (1mm) white worm like creatures on the glass. A search on google has revealed that they are a parasite called Ergasilus. They infect the gills and are quite nasty. There doen't seem to be any concrete treatment on the net but I will keep searching. Hopefully a trip to the aquarium may yield some result. For the moment I am going to remove my remaining ones from the tank.

 

[sin]

on closer inspection of the kiddies, i don't believe it to be anchorworm. I'm starting to think that it might be gill flukes or some other parasite that's very hard to see. I got some trichlorfon (Para-cide) which is supposed to treat anchorworm, skin and gill flukes and lice and have treated 3 and have them in a quarantine tank. From what I understand this medication doesn't affect the good bacteria in the filter but before i dose this is it possible to confirm this?

thanks guys.

 

[samantha]

oh well, given the trichlorfon a go, lost one yesterday but i think that was more to do with the poor little guy being too far gone, they don't see to be too affected by the medication so hopefully it will help clear up what's been wrong.

keep you posted.

 

[samantha]

still no luck, got another one now doing the same things as the ones that have died. does any one have any suggestions?

 

[peter]

stir the tank sand up a bit then do a fifty percent water change whilst adding some tonic salts to make it slightly brackish (you can use normal salt but it needs to be dissolved into boiling water then cooled down) this should help your axies to heal themselves. the reason for to tank sand to be stirred is to make sure that no harmful chemicals have built up.

 

[samantha]

thanks peter, the axie colony suggested a tank clean out along the same lines as you, hope this works.

 

[silver]

I agree with John that it could be Ergasilus. It is a very hard thing to get rid off, but if you check out good websites about Koi's, you might find a solution to your problem there.
Example:
http://www.lagunakoi.com/html/medications.html

Good luck, and let us know what happens and what works for you as we all might learn from your experiences in this...

Silver

 

[silver]

Maybe some pictures from the following web site might help you along with identifying what might be Parasitic Crustaceans:
http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/ParasiticCrustaceans.htm

Hope this helps too...

Silver

 

[samantha]

thanks for the info silver stack, we're gonna pull the tank apart tomorrow after having watching gumball who's been in fresh water the past few days settle down and eat well. The kiddies in the tank are still showing the same symptoms and not improving after the medication, and we've still not seen any evidence that it's a parasite so we've put it down to a chemical buildup as peter suggested. Any way, keep you posted, I hope this will work.

 

[jenny]

I found this site http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/urodeles/1997-March/000297.html<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Quoting Jon on Monday 30 October 2006 - 09:31 (#POST109974):</font>

I have exactly the same symptoms and have lost one with another quite sick and lethargic. While inspecting teh tank tonight I noticed hundreds of tiny (1mm) white worm like creatures on the glass. A search on google has revealed that they are a parasite called Ergasilus. <!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

 

[jennifer]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Quoting J on on Monday 30 October 2006 - 09:31 (#POST109974):</font>

While inspecting teh tank tonight I noticed hundreds of tiny (1mm) white worm like creatures on the glass. A search on google has revealed that they are a parasite called Ergasilus.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> Jon's description of tiny white worms does not sound like the description of Ergasilus. For photos, go to Google and search google images. Ergasilus can infest axolotls, but the free-swimming form does not look like tiny worms.

On the other hand, there ARE tiny white worms that size that are common (and harmless) tank inhabitants that show up very commonly in aquariums. Depending on the condition of the tank, a total clean-out could do more harm than good.

To Samantha... your tank cleanout may be justified, but you don't have any direct evidence of parasites, it could be anything. What's the tank temperature?



(Message edited by jennewt on November 10, 2006)

 

[samantha]

17 degrees jennifer (got a chiller because the summers are horrid here)

Any way, just to update on the situation, gumball who was swimming madly at the surface and was taken out of the tank has started to regrow his gills which i'm thrilled about, the others are also out of the tank and the tank has been drained and aired and has been half filled again with water, we're just waiting for it to recycle again before putting the kiddies back in.

keep you posted *fingers crossed*

 

[bruce]

Hi,

Just a comment re meds for Ergasilus, not sure if it's available in Australia, but in the Uk the veterinary drug praziquantel is available, and effective against Ergasilus.

 

[samantha]

well, some good news (touchwood) they're back in the tank and the younger ones are starting to re-grow their gills and all eating well. Thanks for your help guys, looks like it was some chemical buildup with the water that's caused all of this.