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Bluegill parasites

Started by Guest_brimsorbust_* , Dec 04 2007 02:09 PM

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20 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 02:09 PM

I am really afraid that my pet bluegill may have an internal parasite in his left eye. His left eye has a small red worm like thing on the inside. I noticed he can still move and position his eye. It is on the very top of his eye not blocking any of his vision but if it is a parasite I want to get rid of it soon.

btw, I have had him for about two months now and I haven't noticed anything odd until now.

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#2 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 02:34 PM

I am really afraid that my pet bluegill may have an internal parasite in his left eye. His left eye has a small red worm like thing on the inside. I noticed he can still move and position his eye. It is on the very top of his eye not blocking any of his vision but if it is a parasite I want to get rid of it soon.

btw, I have had him for about two months now and I haven't noticed anything odd until now.

I very recently had the saem problem with some of my wild caught hand paint bluegill.

Notice the parasite under the membrane surrounding the eye.

HANDPAINT_EYE_WITH_NEMATODE.JPG 146.76KB 16 downloads

I carefully lacerated the skin above the parasite and began pulling it slowly with a pair of tweezers.

HANDPAINT_EYE_WITH_NEMATODE_BEING_REMOVED.JPG 156.37KB 12 downloads

At least four adult worms were present.

After handling, treat your fish with antibiotic to control risk of secondary infection.

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#3 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 02:54 PM

I'm not sure if I can do that to my fish. At the local pet store I have seen multi purpose internal parasite medicine. Would that work?

btw, the parasite in my fish looks very lumpy compared to the smooth one in your fishes eye.

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#4 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 03:05 PM

I'm not sure if I can do that to my fish. At the local pet store I have seen multi purpose internal parasite medicine. Would that work?

btw, the parasite in my fish looks very lumpy compared to the smooth one in your fishes eye.

Fishes so treated will often resume feeding within hours. Image appears smooth at time of picture taking but when worms go behind eye only end or lengths visible giving a lumpy appearance. You likely have more than worm. Internal wormers for heart worm might work but the application is outside the recommended uses. If too many worms die too fast they could take the fish down with them. Intestinal dewormers will not work as we have tried many times. Either letting worms conme out on their own or removing most likley options.

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#5 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 03:56 PM

What if I give him small dosages each day?

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#6 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 04:08 PM

What if I give him small dosages each day?

I do not know. Would require treatment of many fishes with different dosage regimens to figure out what works consistently. I recommend either manual removal or just letting worms run their coarse.

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#7 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 04:31 PM

I very recently had the saem problem with some of my wild caught hand paint bluegill.

Sorry to derail, but what's a hand paint bluegill?

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#8 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 05:03 PM

Sorry to derail, but what's a hand paint bluegill?

The bluegill occuring in the lower reaches of the Apalachicola River are locally referred to as hand paint bluegill. Markings on the sides of adult males appear as blotches and palid base coloration (lacking obvious bars) differs considerably from coppernose and northern bluegills occuring east and west, respectively. Appearance not consistent with first generation hybrid between Suwanne River coppernose and Mobile River northern bluegill.

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#9 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 05:28 PM

Can the worms just come out on their own? If they can how long does it take?

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#10 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 06:35 PM

Nice bit of surgery, Centrachid! Were you able to ID the worm - at least to class?

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#11 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 08:12 PM

I noticed his eye is bulging a little bit and I don't think that's good.

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#12 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 08:25 AM

I noticed his eye is bulging a little bit and I don't think that's good.

The bulging of the eye is indicative of swelling and likely to one or more worms behind the eye. My fish with the parasite are prone to infection and ultimately eye loss. Cleaner fish action in nature my be an interesting factor with wild fish removing the nasty loads.

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#13 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 08:59 AM

Can the worms move to a different part of his body? The swelling in his eye seems to have gone down and it also looks less red.

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#14 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 11:35 AM

Nice bit of surgery, Centrachid! Were you able to ID the worm - at least to class?

Nematomorpha

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#15 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 11:43 AM

Can the worms move to a different part of his body? The swelling in his eye seems to have gone down and it also looks less red.

I have not found them (adults) in the fillet meat but their offspring might be able to get into the brain cavity following the plumbing of the optic nerve. Sometimes infected fish turn dark and go into spasms about the time juvenile parasite emerge from parents body cavity. Each of the adult worms produces many thousands at the very least of juvenile worms and they are small enough but I do not know what is typical for life cycle closure. Do they move to another host or not or are they free living?

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#16 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 12:05 PM

Nematomorpha

Mmm, bad news. Many of these have direct life cycles.

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#17 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 12:19 PM

Mmm, bad news. Many of these have direct life cycles.

Something I have noticed is that healthy sunfish can apparently recover from an infection (become parasite free on their own) and that seldom have the multitudes of young Nematomorphs been able to infect other fishes in my systems. The problems become most evident about the time the young are being born.

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#18 Guest_brimsorbust_*

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 06:48 PM

I noticed his dorsal fin and anal fins have been twitching alot and I think I'm going to give him some of that parasite medicine.

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#19 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 06 December 2007 - 05:50 PM

Sorry to derail, but what's a hand paint bluegill?

fishlvr,

As promised earlier, the attached image is of a adult nest building morph male hand paint bluegill. Photo taken in air with flash so not best but does show blotches. I do not know if hand paint males come in more than one morph like northern and coppernose bluegills therefore nest building morph may not mean much here. Markings are constant once male is adult and arises even when fish are tank reared. Blotches will get larger and breast will become much redder than in the other bluegill subspecies.

HAND_PAINT_MALE_ADULT.JPG 698.08KB 9 downloads