Parasites getting better or not?

[azvictoria]

Hi All,
After reading Colin T's article on stringy poop, I'm convinced one of my angels has some internal parasites/worms. I think it was caught early - the fish became a bit lethargic and had slight swelling in the abdomen, but was eating/swimming normally. It's in a hospital tank with Paracleanse (metro/pariz together). This is the third day, and there has been a lot of white poop, not too stringy, for two days and now it's less. Is this from the medication working or is the condition getting worse? Under treatment, do they really expel a lot? The abdominal swelling has decreased, the fish seems to have more energy but isn't eating, although acting interested in food. None of the other fish in the main tank have any symptoms. I recently introduced new nerites, but no other fish.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Your angel can go at least a week without food, so it not eating shouldn't be a worry.
It does sound as if your fish is on the road to recovery, so just let the treatment run its course.
Keep the tank free from waste and your fish unstressed.

 

[Colin_T]

If the fish have intestinal worms, they don't normally stop eating. When successfully treated for worms, fish will become very skinny within 12-24 hours after the first dose of medication. Quite often you can see the worms being pooped out. Then they slowly start to gain weight over the next month or so.

If the fish has stringy white poop and has stopped eating, it has an internal bacterial or protozoan infection.

 

[azvictoria]

If the fish have intestinal worms, they don't normally stop eating. When successfully treated for worms, fish will become very skinny within 12-24 hours after the first dose of medication. Quite often you can see the worms being pooped out. Then they slowly start to gain weight over the next month or so.

If the fish has stringy white poop and has stopped eating, it has an internal bacterial or protozoan infection.

Thanks, Colin. The fish did eliminate a lot over 2 days and became slim pretty rapidly like you said. It looked almost like tapeworms and they were all over. I did the 5 course treatment and kept the tank clean, but the fish is weak. It didn't stop eating until it was in the medicated tank. There has been no more white poop since days 2-3. The fish is now out of the medication and I'm not sure what to do next - I'd really like to save it.

 

[Colin_T]

just keep the water clean and try to get it eating. See if eats frozen or live foods. If you can get it eating, feed it 3 times a day for a few weeks.

 

[yiaodamna]

I don't quite understand, your fish takes meds already or not? Also, it is super strange for me to hear that fish is interested in food but it doen't eat any.

 

[Avel1896]

Hey there
Keep in mind that living bloodworms can carry pathogens of various diseases, are high calorie feed with a high content of animal protein that can cause if too abundantly given, intestinal inflamation, so feed bloodworms parsimoniously.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

parsimoniously.

Word of the Week!

 

[Avel1896]

I had to spell it in my mind before I wrote it