my stock is going

[newbie hob]

about 14 days ago my fish started dropping dead one after the other, all of water readings are normal but i did start a daily 20% water change but no change they kept dropping dead one after the other every other day and didn’t seem to ease any suffering on my fish most of them where spending the whole time up on the top then i would find them the next day in the plants or at the filter dead, I had to take all my plants and ornaments out, trying to figure out what the problem is.

I treat my water with JCL water conditioner, a shot of melafix (5ml) and some salt on every change which is every other week; i have two filters in my aquarium (as in my signature)

a while ago i posted a query in this forum about a strange looking bug or parasite in my filter, but i didnt get any feed back and since it was green ugly looking thing I thought nothing of it and it might have come with the plants or something.

anyway today while checking up on my fish i found three stuck on the filter but still breathing i got them out to my hospital tank, upon close inspection i found something like a tail sticking out of the gills, some had three of these things and another had one, i put the molly in my hand and with a tweaser i pulled these things from the gill after a lot of bleeding this thing came out and guess what it is the same thing that i found in the filter few months ago. it looked like the molly was happy for the damn thing to be removed, i did the same thing for the other two endlers and kept them in the hospital with some antibiotic in it.

i only have 4 fish left besides those three in the hospital tank, which they don’t seem to have them yet, my question is what are those things and how can i get rid of them??? and keep them away?? i lost some of my very best looking fish of endlers guppies and mollies.

Can anyone help me please

 

[Nospherith]

Sorry about your loss hob. I really have no idea what this parasite could be. The only thing that I can think of at the moment is damselfly larvae, but that is so unlikely and I don't think they attack fish gills.

So maybe it's larvae of some sort. Again, I don't know but you need to get rid of whatever it is.

I can't really suggest anything. I would probably move all fish to hospital and drain the tank for a few days via intense gravel hoovering and check all equipment for any signs of whatever it is. If found, exterminate.

Any way can you post a pic of it? This is really interesting... Don't worry I'm sure someone knows what this is and how to get rid of it. Have you spoken to your LFS people?

 

[SPLiSH]

Sorry to hear about your fishies.

Yes, this evil parasite would be worth posting a pic of... I've heard similar stories about bettas, but the parasite was coming out the other end.

Hope the remaining fish recover!

 

[newbie hob]

thank you very much for your concern and answers, i went to the LFS and he said the only parasite that can be seen with a naked eye is the fishlice, and he gave me some medication that is used in pond parasite treatment its called (parasite Guard by junglelabs) and i should treat the tank for three weeks, one dose every week.

since i am desperate now iam ready to do anything to help the poor fish, this noon time i was able to spot some more in my tank, on my sailfin molly and another guppy who was at the bottom of the tank, again with the tweezers i pulled them out (guppy from the gills, the molly from its sailfin) they did seem to feel better when i took them out. i was able to take a picture but you really cannot see the details they look like dark strings here while out of the water, but to go into details they are light green in color with a split tail that keeps moving while in the water.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It looks like an anchor worm to me; apparently using "jungle parasite guard" and "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals" will remove them, heres some pics of anchor worms;

close up:

http/www.fishpalace.org/anchorworm_johnchilders.jpg

infested guppy:

http/www.fishpalace.org/anchorworm1_jj4himsympaticoca.jpg

hope this helps you a bit

 

[newbie hob]

Yup those are the ones, thanks a lot, i started medication yesterday, yet i lost another fancy guppy male , and seems another endler on the way after medication i will have to start a new collection.