Dactylogyrus and Gyrodactylus

[gwand]

I think my yellow tiger endlers that arrived last week have an infection with Dactylogyrus or Gyrodactylus. Before death the tigers were at the surface breathing rapidly and listless. No swollen bellies. I have many neocaridina in this tank. Two questions. 1) can the shrimp become infected? 2) what’s the cure that will not injure the shrimp? Thanks.

 

[Uberhoust]

As far as I know the shrimp cannot be affected. I cannot thing of a treatment that will not affect the shrimp but I am not knowledgeable with most fish medications.

 

[GaryE]

I would expect copper to be in the meds, but what is available in the US is different from here. I think you'd have look at the active ingredients in the meds and remedies.

 

[MaloK]

A good part of Dactylogyrus or Gyrodactylus walks the line between being host specific and generalist parasites, the one infecting your fish are unlikely to infect cherry shrimps. That said depending on their attachment apparatus, some can infect shrimps and can also infect other species of fishes.

There is no treatment that is not harmful to shrimps themselves. Formalin baths, copper sulfate baths, and praziquantel are suggested.

I hope you never have to get down that road

 

[Colin_T]

Don't waste your time with salt baths, just treat the entire tank because that is where the parasites are (in the tank water and on the fish).

Shrimp don't normally get them but the worms can attach themselves to the shell of the shrimp and hitch a ride to a new location.

Treatment is with Praziquantel or salt. Salt is cheaper.

You should probably treat the fish for intestinal worms too. Levamisole will get rid of any round worms the fish might be carrying.

Section 3 of the following link has info on treating intestinal worms in fish.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.