Sera Nematol

[ccskitten]

Hi guys

Well yesterday I dosed my tank with SERA Nematol for worms. My tank is well airated and I have kept the lights off as directed in the instructions. Thing is my fish are not doing too well.

What I thought was my healthiest and loveliest fish (sailfin marble molly) has passed away, my other silver sailfin is currently swimming upside down, my guppy is hardly alive, a platy is having a hard job coming away from the gravel and my algea eater does not look very well. The fish that I was concerned about to start with are looking not too bad.

I have to do an 80% water change first thing in the morning to get the treatment out.

Has anyone experienced this before?

I have an 180l tank and I dosed enough for a 140l to account for substrate and decorations so I do not think I overdosed. I'm really concerned I am going to lose my whole stock.

Before dosing I tested the water: -

Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
Ph - 8.2

I then did a 50% waterchange thoroughly vaccing the gravel.

I'm not very happy tonight

Cindy

 

[WILDER]

How long have you been using the med.
It could be that they were to far gone to save as internal parasites do alot of damage to the internal organs.
Are the fish having breathing difficulties.
Some meds can knock fish for a while.
is the water really rippling well at the top of the tank.
I would carry on with the med as internal parasites kill fish and pass on to others.

Dosage says Add 1 ml sea Nematol per each 40 litres.

So you have added 3ml to 140 litres.

 

[ccskitten]

Hi Wilder

It is the first time I have used the meds. I had a couple of fish pass on during the week after getting very thin and flicking and rubbing on the substrate. I dosed the tank yesterday.

I have a massive airstone and also the filter causes quite a bit of rippling so I don't think airation is a probably.

The fish aren't breathing heavily they are hardley breathing at all. Very lathargic.

Fingers crossed that the remaining fish hold on until I change the water tomorrow.

Thank you for your reply.

Cindy

Sorry, I added 3.5 ml

 

[WILDER]

Check the fish gills over to see if there pale with excess slime, or red and inflamed.
Any excess mucas on the fish body.
Fish can flick with internal parasites, but just want to make sure there not an external parasite aswell.
They could of been weak due to the internal parasites and they couldn't tolerate the med.
Keep going and just hope no more die.

Once fish are really skinny the damage has been done, and the meds to late.

 

[ccskitten]

Thanks Wilder, I feel a bit better having been reassured I am doing the best thing for my fish in the long run.

I can't see anything wrong externally on the fish. They look healthy from the outside apart from a couple being on the skinny side.

How often would you suggest treating in the future. Obviously I will need to replace the fish that I lost at some point. Shall I quarantine them and treat for worms before adding to my main tank?

 

[WILDER]

yes it always best to worm new fish anyway and especially livebearers like guppys. So yes Quarantine them and worm.
I think you have to retreat the med you are using, when is that.

Once fish get really skinny the damage has been done to the internal organs, bacterial infections on top.

Let us all know how you get on.
Good Luck.

 

[ccskitten]

I need to retreat in 3 weeks.

Do you think I should get new fish, treat in quarantine, add to main tank and then do the retreat together? My tank is looking so bare right now.

Should I treat for internal bacteria too? I have interpet no 9 but have never used it.

 

[WILDER]

Get you some info.
You could do that yes worm them once then just retreat with the others. Though you would have to get them this week. To time it in nicely.

It says here to treat with medicated food.

http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm
Look under camallanous worms.

 

[ccskitten]

Cool, well i have the week off of work so I can justify trailling round maidenhead aquatics tomorrow.

Thank you again Wilder. You are a star.

 

[WILDER]

Hope the rest make it.
Good Luck.

 

[ccskitten]

Me too but I will be surprised if the sailfin and platy make it. Fingers crossed they do.

At least the rainbows are happy. They are amazing fish. Nothing seems to bother them!!

 

[WILDER]

I think they were to weak to cope with the med myself.
Not nice but when there really thin they don't usually make it.

 

[ccskitten]

Hi Wilder

Thank you for your help the other night. I didn't manage to get any fish this week as Maidenhead Aquatics wouldn't sell me any. They said they do not sell fish to people who have recently had deaths in their tanks. They wern't interested to know that I had a quarantine tank for the newbies. Ah well.

Anyway, I am still concerned for my surviving fish. They are still looking really poorly. The fish I was concerned about before I treated have all passed on but the fish I have left I have only had for a few weeks and looked perfectly healthy before treating.

I have left:

1 sailfin molly - can not swim upright, spirals around the tank and gets stuck to the filter all the time
2 femail molly's - both restless, resting on the plants
5 platy's - restless, always on the bottom, swim to the top for food and nose dives back down again. 1 is constantly trying to hide under the rocks and decor. 1 seems fine.
1 balloon molly - has been fine up until today when she is resting and flopping onto her side on the bottom of the tank
1 guppy - Constantly hiding or floating near the filter
1 neon - very old (hence only one left) but seems fine
1 BN - Fine
1 CAE - Fine
2 Rainbows - Fine

I did the 80% waterchange on Monday and have done another 30% today. Before water change today stats were:

Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

I know that, like you said, the damage had already been done before I treated them, but I can't bear to see them in this state. Is there anything I can do to perk them up a bit.

 

[WILDER]

Do you back up with a bacterial med.

 

[loubega]

hi there, i had an outbreak of worms about a month ago, i lost 2 rams and 2 angels.

i dosed with wormer for discus fish i found on ebay, even though i lost 4 fish and prob my dwarf rainbow the others were saved. what did the fish look like before they died? did they have bloated bellys?

i would dose with no9 as well, it wont do any harm! the life cycle of the worms are long, so even QT them for a week or so its not long enough. I strongly suggest not adding any other fish for a bout a month.

I have not added any more fish since my outbreak, and that was about a month back......just make sure they a re all
gone before re-stocking. The worms leave the host, which ha usually died and sink to the bottom of the tank where it is usually eaten by another fish and the process starts over.