The Puffer Forum

I'm home and Annabelle is swimming around! You can tell she still has tapeworms in her tummy. Her tummy is still lumpy but not as bad as it was earlier. Here are some updated pictures.

Yay! I'm happy that she's doing better. I hope the treatment that you'll give her will get to the culprit quickly.

Awesome! Keep treating her till she dislodges the rest of the parasite. I then suggest a prophylactic treatment every month until she reaches Full grown size then every 6 months after that to keep reinfestation at bay due to proglottid (that's the scientific name for the egg capsule) re-ingestion.

Thanks so much Pandora114, I appericate your help. Do you have any idea how long it would be until she will be intrested in food again. I tried to feed her again tonight and she didn't want the worm or shrimp.

She'll probably be interested in food once the Tapeworm has totally dislodged and passed.

Right now she has this dead, rotting parasite in her that she's trying to pass. I think you should put a hit of epsom salts in just to help move things along and get that thing out of there pronto.

If all else fails, Send a PM to PufferQueen about how to tube feed a puffer. She specializes in Marine varieties, but the method is the same. Stuff has to go IN for stuff to come OUT from what one of the fish vets told me when I was dealing with my (RIP) Golden Severum that ingested gravel.

I already added a bit more epsom salt. I also thought about tube feeding but I'm just not ready for that. I'm going to give her a few more days and see what happens. Hopefull she will eat on her own. Today is day 7, Chong went 9 days on his hunger strike. I don't want to stress her any more than I have too. We'll see what happens in the morning. Maybe she will feel better. She's had a rough day. And so have I.

it's so good to see her swimming around again....
that danged old parasite....
you go annabelle.....poo that ugly thing out and feel all better and start eating so your mom won't worry so much ....she's got her hands full young lady......

showed it to my Animal care aide teacher, she said "dunno much about fish but that's a tapeworm n your suggestion is spot on"

She passed another 2 inches! She was swimming around this morning. So I put her in the net to check her belly again and her tummy is still lumpy and her anus is still open. I'm hoping she can pass the rest. It's unbeliveable but I can put her in the net and turn her over with no wiggling. She is so calm. As long as I keep her head under water she will let me hold her. She's still not eating.

that's great....
she know's that your trying to help her tummy feel better....mommy's make ya feel better ya know......
that's such good news though....
that must be a very very long parasite to have gotten another 2 inches ...sheeesh.....
good work puffer momma.....

I just got another good look at her and there's more coming out. Tomorrow will be the 3rd day with the prazipro. I'll do a water change on Thursday night then I'll dose the tank with prazipro and epsom salt again. If she don't eat by then I'll try to force feed her. Get all the stressfull stuff done in the same day. Then she can rest for 3 more days. I have been dosing her tank with vit. c and beta glucan so I'm hoping that will help her. We shall see.

fishlady1958 wrote:that's great....
she know's that your trying to help her tummy feel better....mommy's make ya feel better ya know......
that's such good news though....
that must be a very very long parasite to have gotten another 2 inches ...sheeesh.....
good work puffer momma.....

The tapeworm head lodges in the small intestine, usually a few cm's (or mm's in a fish's case) pyloric sphincter. it starts absorbing the nutrients from the fish's food through its skin. As the parasite grows, it produces proglottid segments behind it's head. These segments contain both male and female reproductive organs, and self fertilize. As the worm grows, more proglottids are produced. Once the parasite reaches the end of the digestive tract, the "first" proglottid drops off into the feces for further perpetuation of the species.

In other words: Tapeworm gets as long as there are intestines. This tapeworm is probably Zoonotic (as in yes humans can get it too), BUT like a Zoonotic infection of roundworm, the fishy tapeworm larva gets lost in our bodies and burrows in our muscle tissue causing lots and lots of bad things, considering we aren't the proper intermediary host for the parasite. Shellfish are.

ED: From now on you should really wash your hands after doing WC's. Also if you are worried, invest in some disposable gloves and hold them shut at the wrist with rubber bands. (not enough to cut circulation) If you feed Elvis and Chong the same foods, I would treat them and do preventative treatment every 3 months as well. At least you don't use the same python between tanks, so that cuts off that specific route of proglottid transfer.

are any of your other fish in the tank having eating issues?

It's a precaution MatthewLaw, especially if this parasite is Zoonotic, it poses a health risk to her as well. Just like the American Vetrinary Association reccomends worming your cat/dog every three months regardless of symptoms or lack there of, due to possible Zoonotic infection to humans (Roundworm can cause blindness and/or possibly death in young children. And there's another Zoonotic landbound tapeworm carried by Deer that animals can get by ingesting deer feces *usually dogs since they eat anything*)

The only way to know for sure if this tapeworm is Zoonotic is to pretty much wait for the head segment to pass, put it in a jar with 10 parts formalin to 1 part tissue and take it into a vet for examination.

Even if it's not an aquatic vet, a normal vet can probably tell what kind of tapeworm. If not, He/she can probably reccomend you to a public health unit for proper identification.

Great help, Pandora!

Personally, since she's not looking thin I wouldn't force-feed her. She full of worms & probably has no room for food. Keep treating her, it's working. How's the ich?