The Puffer Forum

ugh. There are parasites in at least one of my tanks. They came in with the stupid ghost shrimp my mom brought home from work. rawr. She swears there's no way they came in from them, but it's the only thing that's been added to my tank. So now I'm worried my puffer might have them too since he's been eating the shrimp (though before feeding him anything I always look it over to make sure there's nothing unusual) he's still going to get treated though. My mom is bringing home some meds tonight for them.

I put the ghost shrimp in separate containers, I'm sure it's no use now, but still. I went to check on them a while ago and it looked like a piece of string had fallen into the bowl, so without thinking I picked it up. until it started wriggling. T_T slightly traumatizing. so I threw it in a separate cup and added half a bottle of PH up in hopes of killing it. I don't even know if that'll kill it, but it made me feel better.

I kept putting off getting a quarantine tank, and now I'm kicking myself for it. Lesson learned.

Anyone know what these are? They're bright white and pretty long (3-5in.) and they're very thin.

were they external or internal?

Internal. One of them somehow burrowed out of the ghost shrimp I guess. I wish I had a camera, you can actually see them inside the shrimp.

intestinal worms. there is specially medicated foodstuffs containing an anthelminthic that will over come these parasites, which are then flushed out from the fishes body. however, they happen in all fish so i dont know if their are specifics for different species or just one kind of food.

Would you happen to know what it's called? Or at least what I could treat my puffer with?

are you in north america?

Have a look in the library in the hospital section there is an article on treating internal parasites. There was a product called flubenol which has been used by several members with great success however I dont think it is currently available anymore.

It is always best to quarantine anything for a few weeks whether it be tank mates or feeders just in case they have any nasties.

My mom brought home something called Coppersafe because a "biologist told her it would work". But I'm pretty sure she has no idea what she's talking about, so I don't really want to use it. It says it's for "Ich, Velvet, and other external parasites". Except I told her four billion times that they're internal.

I'm in the US. Is there something else I can buy?

Think someone used Jungle Parasite Clear or something like that with some success in a thread a few weeks ago.

zombiefetus wrote:My mom brought home something called Coppersafe because a "biologist told her it would work". But I'm pretty sure she has no idea what she's talking about, so I don't really want to use it. It says it's for "Ich, Velvet, and other external parasites". Except I told her four billion times that they're internal.

I'm in the US. Is there something else I can buy?

coppersafe does work. it will change the color of your water and for a better effect you may need to take the carbon out of the filter (if you have any) i dont like doing that but it helps

I don't think coppersafe is for internal parasites.

Usually for internal parasites you want to feed the fish some food treated with internal parasite medication (GelTek works, I use the metronidazole/levimasole method myself, lots have had good luck with Flubenol but as was said, there might not be any available, see the sticky post in this forum about puffer safe dewormer).

I have no idea what your shrimp have, that's something I've never heard of before. Best of luck with it, and keep us updated.

should I try the medication I have then? what dosage should I use?

For a parasite dosage it is best to go with the full reommended dose for the size of your tank, a lesser strength could not kill off all the parasites and give them time to build up a resistance.

Do not use copper in your main tank! Copper is extremely toxic used incorrectly & will absorb into your substrate/rockwork, leaching out at the wrong time, causing huge problems. You would also need a copper test kit to use with it. It is not for IPs.

Read the article we have on IPs in our Library.