Possible Internal Parasites in Penguin Tetras

[eddie462]

Good evening, I have twelve Penguin Tetras that have been in quarantine for two weeks. They’re active and happily eating live baby brine shrimp and prepared foods. Some have really distended stomachs while others are streamline. I think it may be internal parasites. Here are my parameters of the 10g aquarium.  They school and shoal together and I haven’t had any losses. They’re accompanied with 10 Amano shrimp from the same wholesaler. Pond and rams horn snails are with them too but those are from my other aquariums. Do the fish have worms? I have Fritz Expel P on hand to treat the fish.

Temp 75 F

0 ammonia

0 nitrite

0 nitrate

< 25ppm General Hardness

40 ppm alkalinity

80 ppm carbonate hardness 

7 ph

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/17/2022 at 4:46 PM, eddie462 said:

Some have really distended stomachs while others are streamline. I think it may be internal parasites. Here are my parameters of the 10g aquarium.  They school and shoal together and I haven’t had any losses. They’re accompanied with 10 Amano shrimp from the same wholesaler. Pond and rams horn snails are with them too but those are from my other aquariums. Do the fish have worms? I have Fritz Expel P on hand to treat the fish.

So.... I guess the best thing is to start from square one.  They are in QT, but what meds have they received?  Have you dosed aquarium salt at all?

In terms of feeding right now, what specifically are you feeding the fish?

I give all credit to @Odd Duck for the awesome methodology, but here is what I did in a similar situation.

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.

Day 1: Siphon, change water, Dose expel-P (or prazipro), black out tank for 24 hours
Day 2: Siphon and Water change (30-50%) and dose in paracleanse and aquarium salt (1/2 cup per 10G)
Day 3: Monitor
Day 4: Dose in paracleanse
Day 5: Monitor
Day 6: Siphon and Water change (30-50%)
Day 7: Rest

Repeat this for 3 weeks minimum.

[Odd Duck]

Since you have fish that look somewhat distended, some look normal, and at least one I see looks a bit thin, I would recommend deworming.  Here is my latest iteration of the deworming I recommend.  I’ve tried to include a fairly comprehensive plan with the condensed checklist at the end.  Forgive the format it doesn’t transfer well from my iPad notes.  Hope this helps.  I’m open to questions or suggestions for anything that is confusing.

Deworming

Siphon out debris from the bottom before and after dosing to remove any expelled worms, eggs, debris, etc.  Levamisole is inactivated by organic debris and by light, so dose after lights out and black out the tank for 24 hours, remove organics via water changes and cleaning the bottom of debris as much as possible.

It’s likely that levamisole does what it can do within the first hour, but best to follow directions precisely.  If you have a bare bottom hospital tank available, it might be best and easiest to transfer the fish to that tank for the duration of treatment - up to 5 weeks total treatment time if doing 3 doses of praziquantal.

Levamisole treatment should be weekly for 4 treatments.  Praziquantal treatment should be every other week (at least) for 2-3 treatments and it is left in for a week at a time.  It can be dosed the day after levamisole treatment.  Remove any carbon or Purigen from filters before dosing.

 

Have enough dechlorinated water ready to do a 50% water change immediately if any adverse symptoms are seen in the fish.

 

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 3 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.

 

Condensed, weekly schedule:

Week 1: siphon debris and do 50% water change, levamisole x 24 hrs, siphon.  Treat with praziquantal and leave in until next week.  
Week 2: siphon, levam x 24 hrs, siphon.  
Week 3: siphon, levam x 24 hrs, siphon, then prazi.  
Week 4: siphon, levam x 24 hrs, siphon.  
Week 5: siphon, levam x 24 hrs, siphon, then prazi.  
Week 6: siphon.