Post antiparasitic tx for roundworm, Betta not doing well

syren said:

I do have a heater, and it stays fairly consistent. It is an under the substrate heater (hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I hadn't gone that route, hopefully it doesn't quit out on me otherwise I'm in for quite the headache of getting it out and replacing.) But it does the job well. Occasional fluctuations by 1-2 degrees depending on the weather outside. (He's about 8 feet away from the front door so I know there's a draft.) But the water always stays above 76. (usually sits at 77/78 Fahrenheit)

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Yes, under gravel heaters aren’t the best... I tried one out in my 2.5g tank a few years back, and it ended up warping and dying. I was able to return it though.

When/if that heater breaks and you get a new one, definitely get a regular, adjustable heater.

Update 2/20

Tank is looking great, Grosso not so much. Unfortunately appears he has permanent eye cloud from his parasitic ventures, so far hasn’t affected his ability to see/hunt which is a plus.
He has gotten to the point where he is now refusing all pellets/flakes and will only consume fresh frozen or live food.(you gotta be kidding me ) I picked up some flightless fruit flies to add a variance until his other types of fresh frozen food comes in and I’m feeding him every other day switching between blood worms and fruit flies (next day air on the other types of frozen food, but I have different pellets and flakes coming. This is now the 5th different pellet brand I’ve purchased in an attempt to get him to eat some kind of balanced diet.

Nothing I ordered is freeze dried, it is all frozen fresh. Brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and daphnia. Couldn’t find frozen mosquito larvae and I will not keep those in my house since I am allergic to bites. (Not to mention, ewwwwww mosquitos lol.)

Boy genius decided last night that a jail break was in order and leapt out of his tank. (I have a glass lid but broke the plastic piece that you cut to fit your equipment so now there is a 1 inch gap) which he has never done before. In the process he managed to smack his face directly into the glass and also tore a fin. He has a good amount of bruising on his lower lip/jaw but is still able to eat. (I am 100% positive he gave himself a concussion, he was not swimming correctly afterwards for about 30 minutes.)
He hit with such force that I originally thought someone threw a rock at my window. I was half asleep on the couch and it woke me up. Luckily, he had about 3 seconds out of the tank before I realized what happened and promptly scooped him up and set him back in there. Covered the top of the tank overnight with plastic wrap in case he attempted it again, but he didn’t so I removed it and adjusted the lid to only give him a little under a half inch on either side. Going to have to buy another lid to get a new plastic piece and be more gentle when cutting space for the equipment. My cat will not hesitate to eat him and I’m glad I got to him before he did.

Still waiting on new plants to come in, did not have an option for express shipping so changes are soon to be in order and he will have some more coverage. Also going to attempt to get some moss to adhere to the lava rock to add some more green and take away from some of the sharper edges. He is back to his favorite dock spot (by his heater, under the spider wood), so I feel safe to assume he is on the mend (especially after his leap of faith.) Disappointed I could not fix the eye cloud, though. (And that split in the fin drives me nuts)

Tank looks much better.

Very good you were able to save him when he jumped out. I have personally never had a Betta try to jump, but every Betta is different.

@Colin_T may have some advice on the cloudy eye.

PheonixKingZ said:

Tank looks much better.

Very good you were able to save him when he jumped out. I have personally never had a Betta try to jump, but every Betta is different.

@Colin_T may have some advice on the cloudy eye.

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I have never had a betta jump out of a tank on me. I couldn’t believe it, I was borderline offended ? (after all that work to get you back to health and you decide to throw it all away??? I’m kidding.) and thank you, it’s been a process slowly scrubbing all the plants/substrate to not disrupt the bacteria but also get everything cleaned back up from all the medications/get the algae back under control.
I can’t believe how much power his little body has. His poor face, I was scared he might have broken it so I popped him in his critter carrier and fed him a bloodworm to make sure he’d still eat after it happened (thanks pal, I totally needed an adrenaline rush at 1:00 AM).

Almost want to try and teach him to jump through a hoop now that he’s learned he can jump out of water.

And Colin, any advice would be greatly appreciated if this is a fixable issue. Right eye is great, left does have some clouding that has gone down but there is a section that almost looks like a cataract that has not gone away since the beginning of this fiasco. I was hoping getting a more balanced diet (since he’s now decided to be insanely picky) would help resolve the issue. I no longer think it is popeye since there is no inflammation.

How is your fish doing?

Firstly, I'm not an expert in fish diseases but I will just share some information based on my knowledge.

For Internal worm treatment, you can use Flubendazole.
I have never use Fenbendazole, so I can't comment on this.

The internal infection could come from plants or live food.
The fish may even have internal infections for some time before you noticed the symptoms, probably before you bought it.(if you have bought it for less than a month)

As for cloudy eye, it could be caused by the internal infections.
It could also be due to injury to the eye that caused bacteria infection.
Is there any sharp object in the tank?

My suggestions for treatment:
1)Epsom salt - before treating with Praziquantel or Flubendazole. Epsom salt can relieve bowel obstructions due to overeating.
2)Flubendazole or Praziquantel - treat a few rounds (probably 1-2 weeks minimum)
3)Salt : 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons (20 liter) of water for bacteria infection(for 1week.) Or other antibiotic.

Anyway, here are some useful information:



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085TQ75Z5/?tag=ff0d01-20

Lajos_Detari said:

How is your fish doing?

Firstly, I'm not an expert in fish diseases but I will just share some information based on my knowledge.

For Internal worm treatment, you can use Flubendazole.
I have never use Fenbendazole, so I can't comment on this.

The internal infection could come from plants or live food.
The fish may even have internal infections for some time before you noticed the symptoms, probably before you bought it.(if you have bought it for less than a month)

As for cloudy eye, it could be caused by the internal infections.
It could also be due to injury to the eye that caused bacteria infection.
Is there any sharp object in the tank?

My suggestions for treatment:
1)Epsom salt - before treating with Praziquantel or Flubendazole. Epsom salt can relieve bowel obstructions due to overeating.
2)Flubendazole or Praziquantel - treat a few rounds (probably 1-2 weeks minimum)
3)Salt : 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons (20 liter) of water for bacteria infection(for 1week.) Or other antibiotic.

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He is doing fairly well, now. He is eating (but as I said before, refusing all pellets/flakes/crumbles and only eating fresh frozen/live. He spits all pellets/flakes/crumbles out, even if soaked in garlic.) The metro/prazi combo seemed to do the trick as far as the roundworm is concerned (although I can't say the fenbendazole didn't work either, I'm sure an ingestible form would work better.) I'm not too concerned at this point with him developing parasites again from fresh frozen, I'd rather see him eat than starve and go through this a second time. I imagine starving to death is a poor way to go.

He is BAR (bright/alert/responsive) and seems to be back to normal. Very active, going back to his usual dock spot and is responsive to movement/sound outside of his tank. It appears to me that the marking on his eyes are in fact corneal scarring, since it is on the outer portion of the cornea and not deeply set back or spread throughout the cornea, like a cataract. The cloudiness has pretty much resolved aside from two small pin point like areas. (My first Betta was a LFS rescue that had severe popeye, he was similar in appearance once he was back to 100%.)

He is no longer bloated/fat in appearance but is not atrophied, either. I believe he picked up the roundworm from plants I had purchased that were improperly quarantined/treated then placed in his tank. The time frames do not match up from point of purchase to active infection, and the life cycle of the roundworm fits into the time that plants were purchased and placed in his tank. I can only assume he ate larvae/eggs and that's how this all developed.

At this point I am leaving him be in his main tank and watching developments as each day goes on. As we say in the veterinary field, stress kills. So I am letting him be his little fishy self and mend on his own unless I think he needs intervention again (he is very sensitive, any movement makes him very angry/stressed). As far as sharp objects goes, he has lava rock in his tank and a piece of spider wood, but there was never an obvious abrasion, and the potential corneal scarring matches up on both eyes perfectly. My concern was possible blood poisoning due to the worm burden and the fact that I hadn't seen him pass any material. (this was also when he was not eating.) But he is now producing healthy stools and no longer appears to have hemorrhaging on the abdomen.

If I run into this issue again, or if he decides to do another 180 on me, I will follow with your directions and see how it goes. Thank you for your input, knowledge is power!

Some additional info for you:

Metro Discus Medication (metronidazole) - Wattley Discus​

Learn how to use Metro Discus Fish Medication to treat internal parasites (Hexamita). If your discus are having symptoms Metro and this article will help.
wattleydiscus.com

SimplyDiscus.com: Emaciated Discus and Capillaria Worms by Ardan Huck​

When a fish exhibits signs of emaciation, (i.e. caved in sides, eyes sunken in) it is possibly being starved by intestinal flagellates (a protozoa such as Spironucleus or Hexamita) or intestinal worms (tapeworm, nematode, capillaria, oxyuridia).
www.simplydiscus.com

SimplyDiscus.com: Nematode (Roundworm) Infections in Fish by Roy P. E. Yanong​

Nematodes, or roundworms, infect many different species of aquacultured and wild fish. Small numbers of nematodes often occur in healthy fish, but high numbers will cause illness or even death.
www.simplydiscus.com