Internal Parasites
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Mango13
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:53 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: None, ): sadly Mango, my dwarf puffer, died from internal parasites):
- Location (country): The United States Of America
- Location: Arkansas
- Contact:
Internal Parasites
I know that snails are what the Dwarf Puffer eats in the wild and are a good food source for them, but snails also often carry parasites. How do I treat internal parasites?
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Internal Parasites
![[welcome]](./images/smilies/welcome.gif "welcome")
Actually, my DPs are mostly eating live blackworms. This species doesn't have the overgrown incisor problems others do.
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/
library/puffers-in-focus/sexing-carinot ... rf-puffer/
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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G S P Freak
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 421
- Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:58 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Figure Eight Puffers, Binks (29G)
Dwarf puffers, named "He-Puffer" (male) and She-puffer (female) (10g)
Non-puffer:
1 Red-eared slider, Tortuga (female)(100g)
1 rubber lip pleco - Location (country): USA, Indiana
Re: Internal Parasites
Actually, if you culture your own snail population and let it grow 3 weeks before feeding, there are very few parasites that can infect both invertebrates(the snails) and vertebrates(your puffer). All live food are capable of spreading infectious organisms unfortunately, the best we can do is minimize this chance and treat the fish for such exposure. HTH.
No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish.
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
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RTR
- Mentor
- Posts: 6155
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location (country): East Coast, USA
Re: Internal Parasites
Home culturing snails in dedicated tanks (free of fish and of other inverts) is your best defense against chance/accidental transfer of fish parasites along with food items or transported water.
There are only a few internal parasites with very complex life cycles (certain flukes and nematodes) with complex life cycles) which can occur in hobby fish and which are highly unlikely to complete their life cycles in home tanks.
Home culture of snails is your safety net. Live California Blackworms are also safe for tank fish.
There are only a few internal parasites with very complex life cycles (certain flukes and nematodes) with complex life cycles) which can occur in hobby fish and which are highly unlikely to complete their life cycles in home tanks.
Home culture of snails is your safety net. Live California Blackworms are also safe for tank fish.
Where's the fish? - Neptune