Worm On Fish Scale

[fionah]

Hello,

Is this a worm on my fish? (sorry I forgot what type of fish this is!)

It started off like a small thread stuck to the side of the fish a few weeks ago. Just over the past few days it has grown, and the scale started sticking out slightly. Otherwise the fish seems quite active and eats normally.

I have a 65 litre tank with external filter.
The water results are zero with 7.4pH.
The temp is approx 25C.
Other fish: honey gouramis, blue dwarf gourami, corydoras, neon tetras, snails, amano shrimp.

I have also now noticed some little beasties crawling around on the glass just above the water line. They look like little dust mites: clear body and less than 1mm in size, with little legs and what looks like antlers. They do not touch the water.

Thanks.

 

[Curiosity101]

It's some sort of worm parasite. I would suggest Parazin by waterlife as treatment. However you need to move the shrimp and snails to a seperate tank/container for the length of the treatment.

 

[Luzi]

It's an anchor worm, probably introduced through new fish/plants
The white things above the water are larva
Parazin is good, but i think esha EXIT can be used with snails etc. so it might be better (though it could take longer)

 

[fionah]

I didn't think it was anchor worm because it didn't have a split tail.
Also, the white things above the water have little legs.

 

[Curiosity101]

Esha exit isn't a worm med.

Parazin P is what you want. I'm not sure 100% that it is an anchor worm but I presume it it...just that it's a male. Eitherways everything you've described are invertebrate parasites and therefore you need an invertebrate medication. However this will kill your other inverts (shrimp n snails) if you don't remove them.
Once the treatment is over stick some activated carbon in the tank and then you can put the shrimp n snails back in.

 

[fionah]

Would treating the water also resolve the problem with the beasties above the water line? How long would I need to treat the tank for? I don't have anywhere else to put the shrimp and snails so would need to buy another tank etc.

 

[fionah]

The string ended up breaking in to small pieces then falling off leaving a white mark on the skin of my first fish.



In the meantime, another fish developed a red cyst like lump. There is a little white bit protruding from the lump which looks to be part of a worm that I can see inside the cyst. I tried taking a picture but it's not very clear, sorry.



I took the fish to the LFS and they gave me Sterazin. Within a couple of hours of adding it to the tank (I've bought a new quarantine tank/equipment and put the snails & shrimps in it) a 3rd fish has excreted a red string of about 1cm long. Not sure if this is just normal poo, or if it is also a worm.



With regards to the small dust mite like beasties, they appear very similar to the images found when googling 'fish lice'. However, I only see these above the water and have not seen any small creatures in the water other than the worms appearing on the fish.

 

[Luzi]

It's definitely a parasite so sterazin is a good start. The white guys are probably a different life stage of the same parasite - youd have to be very unlucky to get two set of parasites in one tank. Maybe they're eggs?
It sounds like the meds are doing their job. Good luck