Parasites?

[VanDogh]

As most of you guys already know, it's very hard to photograph fish when they swim around. I did my best

 

There is this white string hanging from one of my guppys. Is this a parasite? How do I treat it?

[Guppysnail]

This is what I see blowing up the third photo.  Those red fringes are most likely camallanus worms. 

 @Odd Duck and @Colu have the best treatment regimen 

[VanDogh]

Oh no. I have moved plants and such between different tanks.... will I have to treat all of my 5 tanks now? 😱

[Guppysnail]

On 10/21/2024 at 7:15 PM, VanDogh said:

Oh no. I have moved plants and such between different tanks.... will I have to treat all of my 5 tanks now? 😱

Yes unfortunately you will. The ones you see in the fish are only the females that attach to the fishes inside from my understanding.  Males and larva are released into the tank.   

Colu and odd duck can advise further.  I have never dealt with these in person.  

[VanDogh]

On 10/22/2024 at 1:33 AM, Guppysnail said:

Yes unfortunately you will. The ones you see in the fish are only the females that attach to the fishes inside from my understanding.  Males and larva are released into the tank.   

Colu and odd duck can advise further.  I have never dealt with these in person.  

I see.. welp.. this will be be difficult. Still, thank you for your help in identifying what parasite I have. Just found one guppy dead a moment ago so I will have to take care of this problem before more fish die 

I'm adding some information about my tanks and what inhabitants I have, I think snails and shrimp are very sensitive to some medication so it can be good to know what species I have. I also have naturally a very hard tap water thus also naturally high pH if that is of any concern. I can order Hardness tests and pH tests if it is necessary.

Affected tank: 80L (21g) a lot of guppies, a colony of neocaridina, plenty of ramshorns, 4 panda corys and 2 venezuelanus orange cories, 4-5 amano shrimp. 25C or 77 degrees Fahrenheit 

Affected tank: fry tank 30L (8g) super many guppy fry, a colony of neocaridina, ramshorn and possibly some cory fry hiding. I don't have any thermometer in this one but I estimate it's about the same degrees as the previous tank

Most likely affected tank (high chance): pea puffer tank with some neon tetras (I estimate 15) and 2 bristlenose plecos (they will be moved in the future, I got them with the tank.) There use to be 4 pea puffers, now there is only 2. I thought they were starving because I was doing something wrong but it makes sense if this tank is also contaminated by parasites as I have been feeding them with ramshorn snails from the guppy tank and moving plants from there. 26 celcius or 79 Fahrenheit. 57L or 15g.

All 3 tanks above is in the same room and I frequently move plants and snails between these 3

Possibly contaminated: 50L (13g) 1 bettafish, 1 bristlenose pleco and 5 amano shrimp. I have been moving some plants from the previous 3 tanks here but that was a long time ago and I don't know for how long these parasites been residing in my tanks.  Still, better safe than sorry so propably contaminated. 26-27 celcius or 79-80 fahrenheit 

Small chance of contamination: 225L (60g) 3 big gouramies (1 3 spot, 1 gold, 1 marble gourami), aprox. 10-15 purple emperor tetras, 20-22 neon and Cardinal Tetras, 1 bristlenose pleco, 4 laser corys, an unknown amount of cory fry, 4 kuhli loaches I haven't seen for 6 months at least, 2 vampire shrimp, an unknown amount of amano shrimp (maybe 20+), a big amount of ramshorn and some assassin's snails. I haven't moved anything here from the affected tanks but cross contamination could happen because I still use the same net to catch fish and the same buckets during water changes. 25-26 degrees celcius or 77-79 fahrenheit 

The least likely to be affected but propably still affected due to cross contamination: 25L (aprox 7g) a bigass colony of crystal red shrimp, some tucano tetras and a bamboo shrimp. I rarely touch this tank and have not done much water changes but I still have to do it sometimes so cross contamination by using the same buckets is a real possibility. This tank is really hot for some reason despite no heaters it's 28 celcius or 82 fahrenheit... I don't know how to lower the temp...

Edited 19 hours ago by VanDogh

[VanDogh]

I just realized.. I have a 10m long hose for water changes for one of my tanks...

How in earth's name do you sterilize a 10m (32 feet???) hose???? 😭

[Guppysnail]

On 10/21/2024 at 8:58 PM, VanDogh said:

I just realized.. I have a 10m long hose for water changes for one of my tanks...

How in earth's name do you sterilize a 10m (32 feet???) hose???? 😭

Very easily fill a bucket full of hydrogen peroxide by pouring the peroxide through the hose then wrap the hose and soak it in the bucket. Lay hose in sun to dry completely 

[Cory]

I'd personally treat the infected tank with expel P. The other tanks the fish need to eat the larvae/worms to get infected. If you see it pop up in a second tank, then treat all. For now I'd focus on learning on just the one.

 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/fritz-expel-p

[Colu]

You would need to do a minimum of 3 course of expel p 1 week apart to treat camallanus worms so you would treat on week 1 week 2 week 3 you would black out your tank for 24hr during treatment as levamisole is a light sensitive medication it can be harmful to shrimp and snails you would have to remove them before treating