Internal Parasites?

[campbellmay]

Virtually all of the fish in my tank (3 mollies, 4 platies) have had stringy white/gray poo over the past couple of days, and I hear that this is a sign of internal parasites. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a whole lot of info on them after much googling and searching of the forum, so I thought I'd go ahead and ask.

There has been no change of behavior in any of the fish, and all have a healthy appetite, so I'm not really panicking yet. I did notice today that a couple of them looked a little bloated (after a meal, so maybe just from food?). I started treating them with Jungle's medicated anti-parasite fish food (the only medication my LFS offered) on Saturday. Can anyone tell me how effective this medication is, or if there's a better option?

Here is what I've been feeding them:
Tropical fish crisps
Freeze-dried bloodworms
Frozen brine shrimp
Frozen bloodworms
Fresh cucumber (once or twice)

Thanks for any help you guys can offer!

 

[who-izzet]

Are they clamping fins or staying near surface? Perhaps even sitting on the bottom of the tank?

I refuse to buy fish from a pet store in my area because everytime I brought some from there I would have a small white worm parasite. You can normally tell what your dealing with if you put in a baby tank against the glass. These little monsters will go inbetween the glass & the baby tank.

It took me ages to get rid of them. I tried every medication & nothing worked. In the end I took the fish out of the tank, placed them in a spare tank added about 4 tea-spoons of aquatic salt & melafix to the tank over a course of 5 days.

Boiled everything in the original tank, chucked the live plants & cleaned the tank with very warm water with alot of cooking salt in it.

Not had them since & I won't go back there again. My mate had exactly the same problem from that aquatics when he brought fish from there but still goes back & still gets the problem!

I'm not 100% on this but I think I read somewhere that bloodworm & brine shrimps can carry parasites. I used anti parasite on these guys I had & it had no effect. Hopefully their not the same as I had. All the fish I lost were eaten from the inside/out but once I used to salt treatment I'd say a good 90% survived.

 

[jollysue]

You can also check for more information in the emergency section. They are always ready to help and have lots of experience.

 

[campbellmay]

I'm not 100% on this but I think I read somewhere that bloodworm & brine shrimps can carry parasites. I used anti parasite on these guys I had & it had no effect. Hopefully their not the same as I had.

I hope not too! I can't see any little worms in between my fry tank and main tank, and the fish are otherwise acting normally. I already keep about 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon for the mollies, so hopefully that will help. The frozen food I buy is a Hikari brand, which they claim is 100% parasite free, but I guess you can never be totally sure. Hopefully the medicated food will finish off the little beasts.

You can also check for more information in the emergency section. They are always ready to help and have lots of experience.

Thanks, that's my next stop if things start to go downhill. I just figured that since nobody looked close to dying yet, it didn't really qualify as an emergency, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[jollysue]

Absolutely, campbellmay, don't want to wait until it is an emergency, and people hang out in that forum who want to help with problems that they have had help with themselves. Read wuvmybetta's pinned thread before you post, and it will help.

 

[campbellmay]

You're right, jollysue, it's better to cover all my bases before anything serious happens. Thanks. Think I'll head over there right now.