Electric Blue Acara causing trouble?

[OliveFish05]

The black worm culture could have worms before you got it. If you want to restart the culture you can but it depends on how clean the replacement black worms will be. If they come from a waterway that is frequented by water birds, they probably have worm eggs in or on them. However, most of the things that carry parasitic worm eggs in water are small crustaceans like Daphnia and Copepods, so the black worms, hard to say, might be ok, might not be.

Well the black worms were purchased from my LFS, but I’m not sure if they get them from a wild source or culture them themselves

 

[OliveFish05]

Are the worms harmful? How easy are they to spread? Would they have spread to my axolotl just from switching over the filter media? How big are the worms? I am not sure where to get Flubendazole to treat my fish?

 

[Colin_T]

Intestinal worms suck the blood of the animal they are living in. If there are only a few worms the animal is usually fine because they don't lose much blood. However, if there are lots of worms in the animal's digestive tract feeding on blood, the animal/ fish can suffer from low blood levels, low blood pressure and eventually the animal or fish dies from lack of blood.

The worms can spread with contaminated water, fish or through food.

The round worms in fish are usually 3-10mm long and quite thin.

They might have spread to the axolotl with the filter. If the fish didn't have many worms when you moved the filter media across, it might be ok. But if the fish had lots of worms and had been in the tank with the filter media for a while, there might have been a few that got moved across with the filter media.

Do a google search for Levamisole or Flubendazole. You can sometimes get it form Amazon or Ebay, and a lot of pet shops sell it but not always under the name Flubendazole. Just look for fish dewormers and see if the active ingredient is Levamisole or Flubendazole.

 

[OliveFish05]

Intestinal worms suck the blood of the animal they are living in. If there are only a few worms the animal is usually fine because they don't lose much blood. However, if there are lots of worms in the animal's digestive tract feeding on blood, the animal/ fish can suffer from low blood levels, low blood pressure and eventually the animal or fish dies from lack of blood.

The worms can spread with contaminated water, fish or through food.

The round worms in fish are usually 3-10mm long and quite thin.

They might have spread to the axolotl with the filter. If the fish didn't have many worms when you moved the filter media across, it might be ok. But if the fish had lots of worms and had been in the tank with the filter media for a while, there might have been a few that got moved across with the filter media.

Do a google search for Levamisole or Flubendazole. You can sometimes get it form Amazon or Ebay, and a lot of pet shops sell it but not always under the name Flubendazole. Just look for fish dewormers and see if the active ingredient is Levamisole or Flubendazole.

Hmmmmmmm ok, thank you. How would I know if there were a lot of worms or not?

 

[Colin_T]

How would I know if there were a lot of worms or not?

you don't.

 

[OliveFish05]

This has Flubendazol as its main active ingredient! Mostly affordable too. It says it is effective at wiping out pest snail populations... I have a single olive nerite, should I remove him? Can he carry worms? Should I just get him his own little planted bowl while a treat the tank? I don't know how to tell if those are worms or not, are you able to tell from the one picture? Would it help if I got more photos focusing on the suspected worms, or are you pretty certain?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085Z1QF2Y/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[Colin_T]

Snails become an intermediate host to intestinal worms in fish. the snail picks up the worm egg and the fish eats the snail. The fish get worms from the snail. If the snail is not eaten by the fish, it won't give the fish worms.

The fish can also get worms from eating live crustaceans like Daphnia and copepods. And fish can get worms directly from the water.

If you use Flubendazole, remove the snail/s you want to keep and rinse them under tap water. Then keep them in a separate tank while treating the main tank. After you have finished treating and done several big water changes, you can rinse the snail again and put it back in the main tank.

Fish infected with thread worms will sometimes have thin hair like things sticking out of their butt. The thin hair like things can be red, cream or white in colour. Sometimes they are semi transparent. The blue acara in the picture has several thin hair like things sticking out of its butt. This looks like and is consistent with a thread/ round worm infection.

 

[OliveFish05]

Snails become an intermediate host to intestinal worms in fish. the snail picks up the worm egg and the fish eats the snail. The fish get worms from the snail. If the snail is not eaten by the fish, it won't give the fish worms.

The fish can also get worms from eating live crustaceans like Daphnia and copepods. And fish can get worms directly from the water.

If you use Flubendazole, remove the snail/s you want to keep and rinse them under tap water. Then keep them in a separate tank while treating the main tank. After you have finished treating and done several big water changes, you can rinse the snail again and put it back in the main tank.

Fish infected with thread worms will sometimes have thin hair like things sticking out of their butt. The thin hair like things can be red, cream or white in colour. Sometimes they are semi transparent. The blue acara in the picture has several thin hair like things sticking out of its butt. This looks like and is consistent with a thread/ round worm infection.

Ohhhhh ok. Thank you! When I separate the snail into his own container, is a one quart pickle jar (cleaned well) ok for him? Should I snag any plants from the tank for him? Would worm eggs be on the plants? Should I bleach dip any plants I move to the snails container?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't take plants until after you have dewormed the tank otherwise you could transfer worms or worm eggs into the snail container. After you have dewormed the tank for the first time, you can then grab a few plants if you like, rinse them under tap water and pop them in with the snail.

The snail will need clean water so change most of the water in its tank each day.

 

[OliveFish05]

Don't take plants until after you have dewormed the tank otherwise you could transfer worms or worm eggs into the snail container. After you have dewormed the tank for the first time, you can then grab a few plants if you like, rinse them under tap water and pop them in with the snail.

The snail will need clean water so change most of the water in its tank each day.

Ok, thank you so so so much!

 

[OliveFish05]

So I've been feeding the acara every day, and no more tetras are missing. I counted just now, and turns out I missed one! There are 13 Bloodfin tetras. Is it likely the acara is the culprit for the disappearance of the others? If so, should I rehome him? I don't know that I want a fish in my tank who eats his tank mates if he misses a day of feeding

 

[Colin_T]

If you have another tank, then move the acara into it. Otherwise the remaining tetras will be living in fear of being chomped.

 

[OliveFish05]

If you have another tank, then move the acara into it. Otherwise the remaining tetras will be living in fear of being chomped.

Ok... I have an empty 10 gallon tank that’s not set up, but I don’t have a place to set it up. My LFS would take him, but should I treat him for the worms first?

 

[Colin_T]

The other fish will have worms too so you may as well treat them all for worms and then rehome the acara.

 

[OliveFish05]

I was looking more into that medication and apparently it isn’t safe for scaleless fish! So now what? Is there any way to get rid of roundworms without medication?