When are internal parasites gone?

[Goldy]

I have African Cichlids. Well over a month ago I noticed my Fusco belly starting in invert. Shortly after he has a white stringy poop. He has never lost his appetite. It also seems like my Compressiceps belly is slightly inverted. Along with a few others. I have treated the tank- it’s small only 36 gallon now. I’ve been trying treated food for about a week now. I’ve raised my temp to 84. I’ve loaded the water with a heavy dose of Seachem cichlid salt (didn’t have anything else) I’ve only seen the white poop from one fish, once weeks ago. My Fusco belly is still slightly inverted but otherwise he’s healthy as with all my other fish…. I feel like I’m going crazy making sure they are healthy before my 140gallon tank is fully cycled and ready for them. Any advice?

[KBOzzie59]

When and if any eggs that may be present have hatched and the meds have killed the newly hatched parasite.  Meds do not kill the eggs.  As I recall 7-10 days for eggs to hatch, generally a 2 week treatment does the trick.

[Goldy]

Does that mean I keep treating the tank for two weeks? I just can’t seem to know if my fish are still infected or not since they behave totally normal the entire time. I’m only worried because the stomach area is slightly concave instead of convex. I am now trying to not feed them for 4 days before I do a water change Friday. Seems like starving the parasite is another recommended way. I’m just lost. 

[laritheloud]

8 minutes ago, Goldy said:

Does that mean I keep treating the tank for two weeks? I just can’t seem to know if my fish are still infected or not since they behave totally normal the entire time. I’m only worried because the stomach area is slightly concave instead of convex. I am now trying to not feed them for 4 days before I do a water change Friday. Seems like starving the parasite is another recommended way. I’m just lost. 

I'm treating my quarantine tank with internal parasites. I gave them API General Cure starting on Monday last week, treated for the week, and this week I've been letting them rest. I'm going to start the next course after the next water change this weekend and let it go for another week. I think this is a good way to ensure you have no more parasites, but there's a lot of conflicting info out there about how long to wait between treatments.

[Goldy]

Yeah it’s been hard to know - I’ve thrown everything at them- from medicating my tank to medicated food! I heavily salted my water this week and haven’t fed them the last two day. I plan to give them Metro/focus food tonight. Do a water change Friday.. I just want his belly to stop being concave. It’s only slight but doesn’t seem to be normal again. Thanks for the reply 

[Colu]

29 minutes ago, Goldy said:

Yeah it’s been hard to know - I’ve thrown everything at them- from medicating my tank to medicated food! I heavily salted my water this week and haven’t fed them the last two day. I plan to give them Metro/focus food tonight. Do a water change Friday.. I just want his belly to stop being concave. It’s only slight but doesn’t seem to be normal again. Thanks for the reply 

Depending on the type of parasites your fish has it can take 2-3 course of treatment 2 weeks apart

[CalmedByFish]

I'm currently treating for parasites too, just based on one fish whose belly is concave instead of convex. He's behaving and eating normally.

I'm going by the co-op's instructions for ParaCleanse (1 week with med in the water, 2 weeks without, 1 week with). If he's still concave, I'll do it 1 more week, but if 3 weeks doesn't work, and the other fish are fine, I'm going to assume he has a genetic problem. 

It's so frustrating to not know what's wrong, and frustrating to not know how to fix it.

For what it's worth, I wonder if there's any harm with just leaving meds in the water for a month. Like each week, do a water change then re-dose the ParaCleanse. The parasites would have med on them for a solid month, and the fish would be in a stable situation instead of having to keep adapting.

That's not advice. Just me trying to make sense of how we can give a lot more stress to the parasites than we do to the fish.

[Goldy]

3 hours ago, CalmedByFish said:

I'm currently treating for parasites too, just based on one fish whose belly is concave instead of convex. He's behaving and eating normally.

I'm going by the co-op's instructions for ParaCleanse (1 week with med in the water, 2 weeks without, 1 week with). If he's still concave, I'll do it 1 more week, but if 3 weeks doesn't work, and the other fish are fine, I'm going to assume he has a genetic problem. 

It's so frustrating to not know what's wrong, and frustrating to not know how to fix it.

For what it's worth, I wonder if there's any harm with just leaving meds in the water for a month. Like each week, do a water change then re-dose the ParaCleanse. The parasites would have med on them for a solid month, and the fish would be in a stable situation instead of having to keep adapting.

That's not advice. Just me trying to make sense of how we can give a lot more stress to the parasites than we do to the fish.

Thank you! I’m glad I’m not the only one who is frustrated by otherwise normal fish! I’ve tried so many things without being very focused. I’m actually about to try PraziPro based on I think Tapeworm is the most likely parasite im dealing with. I’ll reply if this finally helps the stomach become convex 

[CalmedByFish]

6 minutes ago, Goldy said:

Thank you! I’m glad I’m not the only one who is frustrated by otherwise normal fish! I’ve tried so many things without being very focused... I’ll reply if this finally helps the stomach become convex 

Yep, right there with you. Out of blazingly obvious necessity, I've had to take an approach with my tanks that if a task seems too demanding, I'm not doing it. That's actually why I'm not going to keep fighting against that one concave belly past a pre-determined amount of work and time. (Not saying you shouldn't.) As with all of life, it can be hard to do things in a way that the benefits outweigh the work. 

That said, I do sincerely hope your and my fish become healthy.