Skinny Gsp?

[divegirl]

Hi, I have two juvie Gsp's and have had them for about a month now. One is not holding his weight and is skinny again with in an hour of feeding whilst the other is nice and fat all of the time! Could it be that just one of them could have worms? I have been spot feeding him and he is eating well [frozen bloodworms,snails and prawns in the shell, so it's not his beak].
Surely if one had worms the other would too.
Tank stats are all zero [no plants],temp is fine and salinity is 0.008.

Would it be safe to worm them both as I don't have a brackish hospital tank

Lisa x

 

[nmonks]

Deworming is a good idea. Your vet should be able to provide advice on this.

Some parasitic worms have complex life cycles that can't jump from fish to fish. Instead the fish needs to be eaten by a predator, then that predator defecates and the worms are consumed by invertebrates, and then those invertebrates are eaten by another fish. Complex life cycles like this can't be completed in aquaria, so no, just because one fish has parasitic worms doesn't automatically mean all the others will too.

Cheers, Neale

 

[divegirl]

Thanks Neale, just spoke to my LFS and they recommended Gyrodol, but that seems to have been taken off the market, they do have Spirohexol in stock and have said that this is the next best thing.
I'm not sure if my vet will be very clued up on fish disease but will give him a try. Do you think he might be able to do the Gyrodol on prescription?

Lisa x

 

[nmonks]

Hello Lisa,

Among the drugs used to treat fish are levamisole, piperazine, praziquantel, fenbendazole and flubendazole. Of these, only praziquantel and flubendazole are widely available as over-the-counter medications. Gyrodol contains praziquantel. So should work fine. Spirohexol doesn't contain any of them. It's for treating protozoans, and won't help with worms. So yes, best call your vet.

Cheers, Neale

 

[divegirl]

Thank you

 

[divegirl]

Would Wormer plus be ok for them?

 

[nmonks]

Yes, contains flubendazole. Just look up the ingredients, check against the list I gave you above, and take it from there.

Cheers, Neale

Would Wormer plus be ok for them?

 

[talisker]

i've used wormer plus a a few puffers works great

 

[divegirl]

I got my Wormer plus this morning and am dosing the tank now....it's a right #28### to dissolve innit!

 

[divegirl]

The Wormer plus seems to be working already He looks more rounded.Chuffed to bits!!!!
Should I dose again next week just to be sure?

Lisa x

 

[nmonks]

Standard operating procedure is three doses, each one week apart. I assume this is because the medication doesn't get eggs or dormant phases, so by carrying out a series of treatments, you do a better job of eliminating the parasites.

Cheers, Neale

 

[divegirl]

Neale [if you're around],
I've now down three weeks worth of treatments and after an initial rally the poor little one is still skinny!
What can I do now?

Lisa x