Treating for Parasites - Found Some, Need Advice

[Solstice_Lacer]

Idk if anyone has suggested it but "no planaria" took out my planaria problem. Even if you have a different kind of worm, it should theoretically still work. It seemed to melt a couple of my crypts, although that could have been coincidence, and they are growing back. No other plants were hurt.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I don’t understand the red-shrimpness. I’d expect to see a red line in the shrimp where their digestive track is full of xtreme krill flakes, but otherwise not sure? Although if anyone has seen the molting video for Leon the Lobster, his colors were brighter and different after his molt.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/7/2022 at 5:59 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I don’t understand the red-shrimpness. I’d expect to see a red line in the shrimp where their digestive track is full of xtreme krill flakes, but otherwise not sure? Although if anyone has seen the molting video for Leon the Lobster, his colors were brighter and different after his molt.

It might just be the food I got.  Been a while since they've had the vibra bites. The one that bothered me most was the one that had half blue and half red shell and then the one that died recently with the red pinholes / blood spots

I looked up every shrimp disease I could find. Nothing makes any sense. I need to check their nose for worms, but I really, really don't think any of them have any parasites. It's a different body shape.

 

There is one internal parasite for shrimp, could be, but it wouldn't be free swimming like that.  We'll see.  I am eagerly impatient to drop these meds in when I can.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hey @nabokovfan87! I saw something at the LFS and thought of you! 🤣

Ok that was mean, sorry

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/8/2022 at 1:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Hey @nabokovfan87! I saw something at the LFS and thought of you! 🤣

Ok that was mean, sorry

The horror!!!!!! Lol.

I feel bad for them.

I cut my hand open, trying to let it heal and then I'll end up cleaning the HoB and try to grab some worm pics for y'all.

Hopefully nothing is there, but I don't have high hopes.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/8/2022 at 5:53 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I cut my hand open, trying to let it heal and then I'll end up cleaning the HoB and try to grab some worm pics for y'all.

Oh no! You ok? You might want to glove up before doing any tank stuff.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/8/2022 at 7:30 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Oh no! You ok? You might want to glove up before doing any tank stuff.

Oh trust me. The worms. Gloves. Mandatory. LOL.  I think I was grabbing ice and just got a cut. nbd.

Here's what the filter looked like, not too bad in my view.  I didn't see a massive snot of worms like previously.  I'll keep an eye on the tank tonight and the substrate and see if these things are still in full force.

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[NathJK]

I'd make sure to do some real good gravel vac between treatments to make sure any worms are removed. I'd also look at a levamisole treatment if you found worms.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/9/2022 at 4:33 AM, NathJK said:

I'd make sure to do some real good gravel vac between treatments to make sure any worms are removed. I'd also look at a levamisole treatment if you found worms.

Definitely in the works. I'm going to be running odd duck's treatment posted earlier starting Sunday or Monday.  Much appreciated!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/8/2022 at 10:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Here's what the filter looked like, not too bad in my view

Looks quite clean.

[nabokovfan87]

For the first time in essentially forever the tank is showing nitrites for me. I did a big gravel vac and took up a lot of gunk. I can't record and clean at the same time but what I saw was this white powder from the substrate as well as worms and so forth. Everything seemed to be dead, but this is very likely why I am seeing issues with testing.

Test your water every time you change water, before and after if you can.

I will retest in the morning and test for ammonia and check tap water and report back if there's anything out of the ordinary. I do have media to replace and refresh the matrix I have in there now because I felt like it's just clogged at not working as well (hence the fixing of the bypass thread).

I assume the white powder (same size and so forth) is the meds I was running and they didn't dissolve well enough or something? It's really weird. I am not really sure what else it could be. It sort of looked like glitter almost.  I am very likely going to be gravel vacing every two days to give the fish and shrimp some stability but get these worms out of there. I don't know if it was the salt, treatment #2 or fixing the filtration but I hope I don't start seeing these things wiggle again.

 

Test Results after vac and 50% water change:

Temp: 78 degrees

PH: 7.2-7.4

KH: 60

GH: 300+

Nitrites: ~.25-.5 (probably from the worms decomposing?)

Nitrates: 15-25

 

[modified lung]

Naughty word, I just saw a worm like yours in one of my tanks yesterday and didn't think to grab it. I can't remember which one but if I see it again I'll take some pics. Does yours have rounded ends or more pointed ends?

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/13/2022 at 9:09 AM, modified lung said:

I can't remember which one but if I see it again I'll take some pics. Does yours have rounded ends or more pointed ends?

Based on behavior, you might have better luck finding it after lights out.

I can't see end shape very well due to size, but every indication I have is that it's rounded. They definitely don't have a flatworm type of shape at all (not planaria), but I couldn't tell you if the end of the worm has any particular features without being able to get a clear view. If I see one again I'll try to find some contrasting color and take as many photos I can with my different lenses I have.

Edit: It's been a busy morning, but here's the results. Ammonia strips I have reported 0. I tested it a few times.  The strips I have are expired.





Nitrite seems low enough that I am going to keep an eye on it and try to let the tank process it.

Edited July 13, 2022 by nabokovfan87
added test results

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Are there still fish in the tank?

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/15/2022 at 1:13 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Are there still fish in the tank?

Yep. Everyone is doing fine still.

Keeping an eye on things, testing daily.  Nitrites were a shade above 0 (about 25% the shade of what the last test was)

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/23/2022 at 7:51 AM, Odd Duck said:

A typical treatment regimen: 

1. 50% water change with careful siphoning of debris from the bottom of the tank.

2. Dose with levamisole and black out the tank for 24 hours.  Then 50% water change siphoning the entire bottom of the tank.

3. Dose with praziquantal directly after the second 50% WC.

4. One week later, 50% water change siphoning the bottom thoroughly.  Dose with levamisole following directions in step 1-2.

5. One week later (start of week 2 of treatment), repeat all steps 1-4 over another 2 weeks time.

6. Repeat all steps 1-5, then do last WC one week later after third dose of praziquantal.

Not all snails will tolerate treatments, so best to remove any snails in the tank.

Going through this now, final dose of meds (hopefully) and I am still not seeing any of the worms.

I fed the fish yesterday, completely screwed up and left the filter off all day (airstone and skimmer ran) and I cleaned the tank today, about to add meds and black it out.

@Odd DuckJust trying to clarify steps 4 compared to 5 and 6.  This is 2 doses, then 2 additional (step 5), then 2 additional (step 6) over 3 weeks time?

Edited July 24, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I can’t believe you’ve been dealing with this for over a month now. 😞 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/23/2022 at 6:17 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I can’t believe you’ve been dealing with this for over a month now. 😞 

Nah, not that bad.  2 weeks tops!  I've been going very slow and the house got sick so I was down and out for 2-3 weeks.  Plants came in, sat another 2 weeks. NBD!

I always NEEDED to treat the fish for parasites and this is just part of that process so I know they are good to go.  Worms just screwed up my pace, but Thankfully it means I have some awesome help and guidance now on using the meds.  The directions on the box are just..... incomplete.

Fun fact.... LOL  The female cory is about 1/2" bigger than my clown pleco.  😂

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/23/2022 at 5:49 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

@Odd DuckJust trying to clarify steps 4 compared to 5 and 6.  This is 2 doses, then 2 additional (step 5), then 2 additional (step 6) over 3 weeks time?

@Odd Duck I think I messed up trying to tag you earlier and it might not have sent the notification.  Please let me know whenever you get a second.  I'm assuming it was "repeat steps 1-3 each week", but just trying to clarify how many doses.  I would think 3-4 total as opposed to 8?  I'm sorry, it's my dyslexia and just getting confused 😞

Edited July 26, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Odd Duck]

Sorry, missed the tag or fell asleep before doing anything about it, then forgot.  🤦🏻‍♀️  Your goal is at least 4-5 doses of Levamisole weekly.  Plus 3 doses of Praziquantal done every other week, so last dose is on week 5, then WC 1 week later.  I went back to edit the instructions to hopefully clarify.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Odd Duck
Clarify and expand answer.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/26/2022 at 6:55 AM, Odd Duck said:

I went back to edit the instructions to hopefully clarify.

Got it, thank you!

Quote

Week 1: WC and siphon, levamisole and blackout, siphon and WC, prazi.

Week 2: WC and siphon, levamisole and blackout, siphon and WC.

Week 3: WC and siphon, levamisole and blackout, siphon and WC, prazi.

Week 4: WC and siphon, levamisole and blackout, siphon and WC.

Week 5: WC and siphon, levamisole and blackout, siphon and WC, prazi (or can do only prazi this week and skip 5th treatment of levamisole).

Week 6: WC and siphon, then back to routine maintenance.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Woke up to another lost amano.  I'm guessing its due to temp. It was one of the younger ones, may have just tried to molt and couldn't.  Tank has prazipro in the water right now.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I was on another thread about shrimp deaths earlier today.  Says they don't tolerate water changes well at all?

 

[Brandon p]

On 7/27/2022 at 2:01 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I was on another thread about shrimp deaths earlier today.  Says they don't tolerate water changes well at all?

 

I really depends on the type of shrimp. Most 

amanos hardy. It’s quick changes. That goes for most aquarium animals though. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/27/2022 at 11:01 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I was on another thread about shrimp deaths earlier today.  Says they don't tolerate water changes well at all?

Mine always are pretty happy after water changes.  Depending what type of shrimp is involved I think it's more or less applicable.  I ran a test on the water just to see what was going on.  Flow seems fine, aeration seems fine.  Temps are swinging from 68-82 today.  I don't think my tank is getting down to 68 right now, but I checked and it was about 74 this morning with the AC running all night.

Nitrates were sub 10, everything else seemed fine.  There might be some weird massive drop in GH, so that's water before it gets to me being altered.  I also saw PH at about 7.4 as opposed to 7.0-7.1 where it normally is.  I'll keep an eye on it, but I don't think this has anything to do with the parasites and such going on.