Using Flubendazole for suspected internal parasites

[IndiaHawker]

Just wondering how long it takes to work? It says I can dose it once a week for maximum four weeks, I'm now on dose 2 of 4 and no visible improvement I've been dosing soon after water change to leave the meds in tank for as long as possible if that makes any difference.

This thread has more info if necessary along with a photo of fish: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/...s-for-internal-parasites.453818/#post-3833796

Please and thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Colin_T]

Deworming medications work within a few hours of being added to the tank.

Make sure you don't have any carbon (black granules) in the filter because it will adsorb the medication.

You should do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after using deworming medications. This will remove any worms or eggs that have been expelled by the fish.

Snails and shrimp can act as intermediate hosts to some intestinal worms and if contaminated snails are put into the tank, the fish could become infected after treatment.

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Have you increased the variety of food you give them?
How often do you feed the fish?

It usually takes a month of good feeding to get fish to fatten up after they have been dewormed.

 

[IndiaHawker]

Deworming medications work within a few hours of being added to the tank.

Make sure you don't have any carbon (black granules) in the filter because it will adsorb the medication.

You should do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after using deworming medications. This will remove any worms or eggs that have been expelled by the fish.

Snails and shrimp can act as intermediate hosts to some intestinal worms and if contaminated snails are put into the tank, the fish could become infected after treatment.

---------------------------
Have you increased the variety of food you give them?
How often do you feed the fish?

It usually takes a month of good feeding to get fish to fatten up after they have been dewormed.

Oh wow thank you, this helps a lot! No I removed the carbon a while back. However did not know about doing the water change afterwards but I guess makes sense! Food-wise I've been feeding daily, a combination of shrimp pellets, spirulina flake, and half an algae water for the BN, however been wary of feeding more due to a current high nitrate problem (however hopefully have fixed this as of last night - I had two bulbs that had no leaves but last time I felt them were both solid so was hoping they may regrow - noticed one was floating last night, felt it and had gone totally soft and rotten so maybe it had been rotting before but was still firm? Both are removed now anyway and hopefully this will fix the nitrate issue!). I do have some frozen bloodworm and frozen brine shrimp which I will give them, which is better please?

Regarding the snails and shrimp - I have the two red racer nerite snails still separate - what would you recommend I do with them, then? Would it be better to put them back in the tank and hope they can withstand the treatment, or is this effectively murder for them? Thanks for all your help

 

[Colin_T]

I have no idea if Flubendazole is safe for snails. You could try adding the dewormer to a tank with some Ramshorn snails in and see if they survive. If they do then the nerites should be fine.

Check your tap water for nitrates. If the tap water has 0 nitrates then just do bigger water changes and do them more often if necessary.

Frozen bloodworms can be bad or good for fish. Some brands can cause some fish to bloat up and die due to bad bacteria on them. Other brands have been irradiated and are usually much safer for the fish.

Frozen brineshrimp is safer because it lives in saltwater and diseases generally don't transfer from salt to fresh or vice versa.

Raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp is my favorite food for building up fish. You buy some frozen prawns from a fishing shop (in the bait section) or from a supermarket and keep them in your freezer. Take one out and defrost it, then remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in the body) and throw these bits away. Use a pair of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into small bite size pieces and feed them to the fish 1 or 2 bits at a time. Feed until they are full then stop feeding and remove uneaten food.

Marine mix is another good food. It contains prawn, fish and squid/ octopus and is sold at most pet shops in the freezer section. Marine Green is the same as marine mix but has algae or spinach mixed in with the prawn, fish and squid.