My brindled madtom (probably about full grown) Has a small white worm looking thing sticking out of him. At first I thought he had 2 or 3, now i'm seeing one, and it seems to be moving place to place. Had it between his eyes now it seems to be under his chin. Its a white worm type thing maybe 1/8-1/4" long, doesn't have the Y like an anchor worm. What is it?
brindled madtom parasite
Started by
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, Sep 21 2010 08:05 PM
22 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_EricaWieser_*
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Posted 21 September 2010 - 08:34 PM
I'd like to see a picture.
But anyway, regardless of what species of parasite it is, you can get it off with some external parasite medication. External parasites are the easiest malady to cure because you basically just make up a toxic bath and expose your fish to it for a short time. The fish is fine (short term) in such solutions, but the external parasite can't handle it and lets go. Then you do a partial water change, taking extra special care to gravel siphon the buggies from the substrate and plants, and the problem's solved.
Also, external parasites often require an intermediate host, and only live a fraction of their life on your fish's scales, so the problem often solves itself via the second generation not functioning.
Products that cure external parasites: Paragon, Clout, Proxipro, Fluke-Tabs, potassium permanganate (from http://animal-world....on/Diseases.htm ) (I've never used any of those medications on my fish before, and can't vouch for them)
The goal is to make the little beastie let go of your fish. I personally use formalin and malachite green and raised salt concentration to good effect. At low concentrations malachite green doesn't have any real effect on fish, so if the diagnosis is wrong it's not a big deal. Simply remove the medication via partial water changes and activated carbon in the filter.
But anyway, regardless of what species of parasite it is, you can get it off with some external parasite medication. External parasites are the easiest malady to cure because you basically just make up a toxic bath and expose your fish to it for a short time. The fish is fine (short term) in such solutions, but the external parasite can't handle it and lets go. Then you do a partial water change, taking extra special care to gravel siphon the buggies from the substrate and plants, and the problem's solved.
Also, external parasites often require an intermediate host, and only live a fraction of their life on your fish's scales, so the problem often solves itself via the second generation not functioning.
Products that cure external parasites: Paragon, Clout, Proxipro, Fluke-Tabs, potassium permanganate (from http://animal-world....on/Diseases.htm ) (I've never used any of those medications on my fish before, and can't vouch for them)
The goal is to make the little beastie let go of your fish. I personally use formalin and malachite green and raised salt concentration to good effect. At low concentrations malachite green doesn't have any real effect on fish, so if the diagnosis is wrong it's not a big deal. Simply remove the medication via partial water changes and activated carbon in the filter.
Edited by EricaWieser, 21 September 2010 - 08:41 PM.
#5
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Posted 22 September 2010 - 03:53 PM
Pick it off with a tweezers. Lots less trouble than the medication route.
As long as you're good with tweezers.
Once one of my female bettas had an anchor worm that I and a pre-vet student I know tried to pull off with tweezers. It failed horribly. Even though the fish sat very politely for us in the cup for over an hour, we just couldn't get the tweezers to fit properly around the worm. The tweezers might work on your parasite, I couldn't say. But I won't ever try it again. At least not without better tweezers.
Edited by EricaWieser, 22 September 2010 - 03:55 PM.
#7
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Posted 28 September 2010 - 08:28 PM
Best I can do, he doesn't listen when I tell him to move to the front of the tank for pictures. They seem to be multiplying or something...I need to do something fast.
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#9
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Posted 28 September 2010 - 10:31 PM
I'm not too familiar with madtoms. Don't they all have those white barbels coming out of their mouth areas? That's what it looks like on this webpage: http://www.hsu.edu/c...nt.aspx?id=5521
It definitely has ich, though. http://www.cichlid-f...rticles/ich.php
It definitely has ich, though. http://www.cichlid-f...rticles/ich.php
#11
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Posted 28 September 2010 - 11:26 PM
Possibly more descriptive picture. The specs you see on him are sand. The white thing...that's whatever it may be. Need to medicate with something tomorrow, question is what?
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Edited by star5328, 28 September 2010 - 11:26 PM.
#12
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 12:00 PM
Erica - the things pointing forward are the fish's barbels; the 3 white things pointing backwards are parasites, possibly anchorworm, which is actually a crustacean NOT a worm, which is important in selecting a suitable treatment. I would try pulling them out, slow and steady like a tick. If you kill anchorworms with drugs then you've got dead parasites decaying in open wounds.
The Y-shaped tail of an anchorworm you always see in pics is the paired egg sacs, which may not have developed yet on these. But if these things move around and re-attach in different places on the fish then they are not anchorworms, and I'm clueless what else they could be. They dont look like leeches. I agree with Star the specks that sorta look like Ichthyopthirius are just sand or dirt sticking to the catfish's skin mucus.
The Y-shaped tail of an anchorworm you always see in pics is the paired egg sacs, which may not have developed yet on these. But if these things move around and re-attach in different places on the fish then they are not anchorworms, and I'm clueless what else they could be. They dont look like leeches. I agree with Star the specks that sorta look like Ichthyopthirius are just sand or dirt sticking to the catfish's skin mucus.
Edited by gerald, 29 September 2010 - 12:05 PM.
#13
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 01:15 PM
thanks for confirming NON ICH. Although he's not doing well...just acting strange...I guess i'll pluck them tonight. Main concern is the 2 pickerel I've had for a month and a half. One of them had 2 anchor worms which i plucked with tweezers. So it is possible these are anchor worms. Didn't want to pluck them originally because there are 3-4, but I don't think plucking them could make it much worse at this point.
#14
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 02:00 PM
Erica - the things pointing forward are the fish's barbels; the 3 white things pointing backwards are parasites, possibly anchorworm, which is actually a crustacean NOT a worm, which is important in selecting a suitable treatment. I would try pulling them out, slow and steady like a tick. If you kill anchorworms with drugs then you've got dead parasites decaying in open wounds.
The Y-shaped tail of an anchorworm you always see in pics is the paired egg sacs, which may not have developed yet on these. But if these things move around and re-attach in different places on the fish then they are not anchorworms, and I'm clueless what else they could be. They dont look like leeches. I agree with Star the specks that sorta look like Ichthyopthirius are just sand or dirt sticking to the catfish's skin mucus.
They look like some sort of leech to me, just not like what I typically see with sunfishes. Get one off and photograph while on a glass slide with best mangnification you have. If they are breeding, controlling by picking alone will be a lot of work.
#15
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 02:54 PM
I also think that they are leeches. I would pluck them, and keep a vigilant eye out for more. Wonder if adding some gambusia, or other small fish to a tank with leeches would help control them when they are unattached to fish, and free swimming? Might prey upon them. Mudminnows maybe?
#16
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 03:05 PM
They look like some sort of leech to me, just not like what I typically see with sunfishes. Get one off and photograph while on a glass slide with best mangnification you have. If they are breeding, controlling by picking alone will be a lot of work.
I'd love to but I don't have any type of magnification equipment.
Seems like this is actually tricky as far as id, I figured if I couldn't figure out what they were by searching for half an hour I'm probably not going to figure it out. So as of now I'm plucking and watching. Gambusia nor anything else that may eat these would survive in my tank for more than half an hour, and during that time they would be hiding in a corner or under a rock from the two 5-5.5" grass pickerel I have in there.
#17
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 04:36 PM
If they lengthen and contract, they're leeches. If length/shape doesn't change, then probably anchorworms. You'll find out for sure when you pull them. Use fingers if you can't get a good grip with tweezers. Try not to break anchorworms - you want to get the head (anchor) out.
#18
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Posted 29 September 2010 - 08:36 PM
All parasites removed. Did them one at a time while keeping him in his tank in the net between each plucking. Not sure if this was better than getting all 4-5 in one shot stress wise, but it takes 15-20 seconds atleast to get one when you've only done this 1 other time. Figured it would be best to let him catch his breath between each pluck. Time will tell.
#19
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Posted 30 September 2010 - 09:42 AM
He's still alive, I think he may have eaten some shrimp last night finally. Was roaming last night like he used to. I've been slowly bringing up the salt, unfortunately I don't know what the salinity is so I'm afraid to add much more. Does a master test kit have a salinity tester? Hopefully he'll heal fine and nothing else in the tank will be affected. My grass pickerel are the purpose of this tank (growout tank) and I'd be pretty damned upset if anything happened to them.
#20
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Posted 30 September 2010 - 11:24 AM
Aren't you going to PLEEEZE tell us what they were: anchors or not? Suspense is killing me. Check in your mouth and see if you have a salinity tester there. If you can just barely taste the salt, that's about 0.5 g/l (ppt) salinity. 1 teasp salt per gal is about 1.5 ppt, about right for a sick madtom. I think the purported sensitivity of catfish to salt has more to do with people dropping un-dissolved salt in tanks. Catfish that breathe & feed on the bottom get overdosed before the salt dissolves. If you dissolve it first so it mixes throughout the tank immediately, then catfish are no more salt-sensitive than other freshwater fish.
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