Most pet shops carry Praziquantel, which is used to treat cats & dogs for tapeworm. But they also do fish specific medications that contain Praziquantel and it's used to treat tapeworm and gill flukes in fish.
Levamisole might be harder to find but most shops should be able to get it in. If they can't, then google it or buy it online.
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Fish can have intestinal worms their entire lives and never show any symptoms if they only have a few worms inside them. When the fish are heavily infested with worms is when you notice the problem.
Infected fish will usually eat well but not grow as quickly as other fish.
They might lose weight if there are a few worms in them but can look fat if there are lots of worms in them.
They start to do stringy white poop.
Depending on which worms are infecting the fish, you can sometimes see thin red hair like things sticking out the fish's butt. These are Camallanus round worms and sometimes stick out the fish's butt when there are lots of them in the fish.
Most aquarium fish from Asia are infected with worms and livebearers are notorious for having them. I don't normally recommend treating fish unless they have a disease, but I do recommend all new fish are treated for intestinal worms and gill flukes when in quarantine.
Fish can pick up worms from eating live foods that have been contaminated with poop from waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans, wading birds). The most common sources of live foods that carry worms are small crustaceans like daphnia, copepods, shrimp, as well as aquatic worms like blackworms and tubifex worms. Plants growing in waterways that are frequented by birds can also carry the worm eggs or larvae on their leaves and in water. Fish that eat infected fish can become infected by the worm eggs in the fish they ate.
If you culture your own live foods at home and prevent birds or other animals contaminating the cultures, you can have safe, disease & worm free fish foods for your fish. But if you collect live foods from the wild there is always a high risk of it being contaminated. Collecting from areas where there are no waterbirds or from ponds that fill up in winter but dry out in summer, is less risky.
Levamisole might be harder to find but most shops should be able to get it in. If they can't, then google it or buy it online.
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Fish can have intestinal worms their entire lives and never show any symptoms if they only have a few worms inside them. When the fish are heavily infested with worms is when you notice the problem.
Infected fish will usually eat well but not grow as quickly as other fish.
They might lose weight if there are a few worms in them but can look fat if there are lots of worms in them.
They start to do stringy white poop.
Depending on which worms are infecting the fish, you can sometimes see thin red hair like things sticking out the fish's butt. These are Camallanus round worms and sometimes stick out the fish's butt when there are lots of them in the fish.
Most aquarium fish from Asia are infected with worms and livebearers are notorious for having them. I don't normally recommend treating fish unless they have a disease, but I do recommend all new fish are treated for intestinal worms and gill flukes when in quarantine.
Fish can pick up worms from eating live foods that have been contaminated with poop from waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans, wading birds). The most common sources of live foods that carry worms are small crustaceans like daphnia, copepods, shrimp, as well as aquatic worms like blackworms and tubifex worms. Plants growing in waterways that are frequented by birds can also carry the worm eggs or larvae on their leaves and in water. Fish that eat infected fish can become infected by the worm eggs in the fish they ate.
If you culture your own live foods at home and prevent birds or other animals contaminating the cultures, you can have safe, disease & worm free fish foods for your fish. But if you collect live foods from the wild there is always a high risk of it being contaminated. Collecting from areas where there are no waterbirds or from ponds that fill up in winter but dry out in summer, is less risky.
