You can buy it online, if you feed the fish with it in there food, I would treat them all, good luck.
http
/www.loaches.com/faq_parasites.html
Not the writer of this information below.
WEIGHT LOSS: INFECTIVE CAUSES
EXPLANATION
Flagellates
Unicellular parasites with one or more "filaments" (flagella). Often associated with whitish and stringy feces.
Tapeworms (Cestodes)
Large intestinal worms, in most cases segmented
Nematodes (roundworms, pinworms, threadworms)
Round worms (in cross-section) ranging from microscopic size to several millimeters long. Capillaria is one of them.
Other intestinal infections
Bacteria (including fish tuberculosis), viruses, other parasites
Skin and Gill parasites (Flukes, Ciliates, Dinoflagellates)
The fish stops eating in the late stages of the disease and the parasites rob nutrients from the fish
Several of these organisms have complex life-cycles which include forms such as eggs or cysts which are not easily attacked by many drugs.
Even if the adults are killed by a first antibiotic treatment, the surviving resistant forms may mature and continue the infective process. This is a factor which can easily lead to improper use of some medications, which in some cases must be given in repeated cycles in order to definitely interrupt the life-cycle of the pathogen.
Several different types of pathogen may be simultaneously present in a diseased fish, and in the absence of accurate laboratory diagnostic criteria, it is preferable to administer carefully chosen drugs that cover both flukes and tapeworms, possibly nematodes also.
Because of this multiplicity of possible causes, a multiplicity of possible solutions obviously exists! What follows is a type of approach that has been used successfully by the Author in case one or more fish in a tank manifest weight loss and/or abnormal feces:
1) EXCLUDE NON-INFECTIVE CAUSES: in case of weight loss alone or with other aspecific symptoms such as color changes, the compatibility of the affected fish with its tankmates should be carefully re-evaluated. In addition, several critical water parameters should be checked immediately (temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates). Even in old and established tanks some unpredictable and undetected event (malfunctioning of a heater or of a filter, unnotified change by the water company of the tapwater chemical parameters, etc.) may occur.
If any abnormality is found, it should be corrected and a period of observation of several days should follow. If no cause of abnormality is found, then:
2) HYPOTHESIZE AN INFECTIVE CAUSE: in this case, the likelihood of generalized infestation of all the fish in the tank is very high, even if only one shows some symptoms. It will therefore be necessary to treat the entire community tank. Severely weakened fish may be moved to a hospital tank for rest and protection, but this is not strictly necessary and may in fact be more stressful to the fish than simply leaving them alone.
Because of the possibility of involvement of different types of pathogens, a broad-spectrum and well tolerated treatment should be chosen in order to break quickly and efficiently the life cycles of the potential pathogens. The goal is to prevent infections of new fishes as well as re-infection of the one originally sick. A simple and generally very effective scheme of treatment is the following:
a) Treat first for flagellate infestation using:
metronidazole, see treatment scheme at the end of this paper. A week later:
B) Treat then for other common intestinal parasites not covered by metronidazole:
Various options exist (choose one only).
Fluke-Tabsä . See treatment scheme at the end of this paper. In the direct experience of the Author, this is one of the most practical and simple choices for occasional use, especially since it is a product commonly available in the US. The following two alternative solutions may however be preferable, because the unknown dosage of the individual components of this product does not allow the user to adjust the quantity given, and properly manage possible toxicity problems.
Flubendazole. See treatment scheme at the end of this paper. This is the treatment preferred by the Author.
Praziquantel (Droncitä ) is a compound available in the US only with a prescription from a veterinarian. See treatment scheme at the end of this paper.
The above-mentioned treatment proposals do not cover the situations when the Discus quits eating because of skin infestations with ciliates or flagellates like Oodinium. If the previous two steps of treatment have failed to produce a response, a temperature increase may be attempted in order to eliminate certain possible protozoan infections of the skin and gills, which sometimes may cause weight loss without any typical skin lesions. See the section on lesions of the skin for more information.
Some Discus owners attempt force-feeding with needless syringes fishes that have quit eating. This procedure is highly stressing for the fish, often ineffective since most of the food ends up being expelled through the gills, clogging them, and most of all does nothing on the primary cause of the lack of appetite. In general, it is to be avoided.
