Featherfin parasite

[Samfishkeeper]

Hi just wondering if anyone has had sucess using praziquantel on featherfin catfish for treating internal parasites?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Praziquantel is safe to use on all fish including catfish. It treats gill flukes and tapeworm. If the fish have round/ thread worms, then use Levamisole. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole. All 3 of these products treat intestinal worms and are safe for all fish including loaches, catfish, eels, barbs, tetras, cichlids, etc.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[Samfishkeeper]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Praziquantel is safe to use on all fish including catfish. It treats gill flukes and tapeworm. If the fish have round/ thread worms, then use Levamisole. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole. All 3 of these products treat intestinal worms and are safe for all fish including loaches, catfish, eels, barbs, tetras, cichlids, etc.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

Hi and welcome to the forum

Praziquantel is safe to use on all fish including catfish. It treats gill flukes and tapeworm. If the fish have round/ thread worms, then use Levamisole. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole. All 3 of these products treat intestinal worms and are safe for all fish including loaches, catfish, eels, barbs, tetras, cichlids, etc.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[Samfishkeeper]

Thanks heaps mate!! Thats a huge help, the featherfin is doing alot of scratching on substrate and wood is that gill flukes do you think?

 

[Colin_T]

Nope, that is not gill flukes, but it does sound like an external protozoan infection, possible whitespot or velvet. If you can post a few pictures and maybe a short video of the fish, I will have more to go on.

If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and in focus, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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If it's whitespot or velvet, you can treat it by raising the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keeping it there for 2 weeks. Other protozoans (Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina) will need to be treated with salt, copper or Malachite Green. However, post pics and video before you look at medications.

The following link has information about whitespot. The first post on page 1 and second post on page 2 are worth reading.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/

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How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

You should check your water quality for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If the water quality is not good, it can cause fish to become irritated and rub on objects.

Right now, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until we work out what is going on. The big water changes will dilute any disease organisms in the water and buy some time.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.