Worms In My Filter System?

So all the worms are red. Sorry I thought they were brown.
Do you feed any live foods.
 
So all the worms are red. Sorry I thought they were brown.
Do you feed any live foods.
No, the 'Planaria (Turbellarians or "Flatworms")' is described as grey/brown but there is a picture showing it to be red.

The worms in my filter are a very dark brown/black.

Frozen blood worm is the closest thing to 'alive' that goes in the aquarium; it is gamma erradicated. Rest of the food is flake food.
 
Sorry. Was getting confused.

Your tanks infested so it needs a med to get rid of them.

I surprised the other meds didn't work.

Keep doing gravel vacs.
Add the paragon med.
You might need to back up with some myxazin by waterlife afterwards. As parasites can cause bacterial infections.

Once fish start to yawn it means the gills might be infested.
 
Sorry. Was getting confused.

Your tanks infested so it needs a med to get rid of them.

I surprised the other meds didn't work.

Keep doing gravel vacs.
Add the paragon med.
You might need to back up with some myxazin by waterlife afterwards. As parasites can cause bacterial infections.

Once fish start to yawn it means the gills might be infested.

Well I have the pond version of Parazin with me. I've just called Waterlife and they say its fine to use in the aquarium so I'm going to get treating the water ASAP.
 
The only red worms I know of is anchor worm, camallanous worms. But camallanous worms are only red when there been feeding on the host.

Anchor Worm (a.k.a. Lernaea)

Symptoms:

Infected fish can be seen with whitish red worm-like threads, about � inch long. Trailing at the rear of female parasites are two long, tube-like egg sacs. The parasites can be found anywhere on the body of the fish, including the eyes, gills and fins. Raised ulcers may appear at the site of attachment. Consequently, secondary bacterial infections may occur. The tale-tale sign that your fish is infected will be if you notice it rubbing or scraping against objects in the aquarium. It does this in an effort to remove the parasite.


Cause:

The parasitic crustacean Lernaea. Lernaea burrow into the muscle and gill tissue of fish, often times reaching as deeply as the internal organs, causing severe damage. Heavy infestations can cause significant weight loss and death.


Treatment:

You should kill all visible worms by dabbing them with a cotton swab, dipped in Potassium Permanganate or an anti-parasitic medication. Then you should carefully remove them from the fish with tweezers. You should kill the parasites before removing them because if they have burrowed deeply, removing them alive could cause the fish pain and significant physical damage. Once you�ve removed the parasite, you should then dab the wounds with Methylene Blue to prevent secondary bacterial infections from occurring. It is highly recommended that you feed the fish with medicated food. The tank will also need to be treated to kill any unseen, free-swimming juvenile parasites. You can use Fluke Tabs, Clout, Paragon or Trifon for this.

I would treat with the paragon anyway.
Even if the worms are not red.
 
I think I should stress that I've only seen the worms in the filter system, not on the fish.

I've only seen the fish itch/flick, dart and yawn with no sign of any kind of worm on them.
 
Ok.
Keep a look out for red sores or red pin prick marks, as there a sign the parasite feeding of the fish.

Also anchor worm can come in colours of white, brown, red, green.

Do the worms stick to the glass also.
 
Ok.
Keep a look out for red sores or red pin prick marks, as there a sign the parasite feeding of the fish.

Also anchor worm can come in colours of white, brown, red, green.

Do the worms stick to the glass also.
Hey,

As said earlier, there is a red pin prick mark on the tail fin of the ram.

I've never seen any of them on the glass or swimming in the water.

As well as using Parazin, is there any apparatus which is effective at physically removing the worms?
 
I know I read about the mark on the tail. It could be the worms or septicemia.
Red pin prick dots can also be septicmia.

All I can think of is scooping them up with a net, or sucking them off the filter with a stringe.
 
I know I read about the mark on the tail. It could be the worms or septicemia.
Red pin prick dots can also be septicmia.

All I can think of is scooping them up with a net, or sucking them off the filter with a stringe.
Ok, can septicemia be treated with Myaxin and salt baths? I've already had the ram in a bucket containing tonic salt and that stopped the itching for a few days.

Unfortunately, I only applied the Protozin treatment yesterday so I can't really commence treating the water with Parazin until another 24 hours have passed according to the label on Protozin bottle.

I'm going to do a KH, GH and PH test of both the tap water and aquarium water. If they are fairly same I will take out 50% of the water and replace with freshwater, then put the Parazin in.
 
Ok, I've added the Parazin P in the last 5 minutes. Fish seem just as happy as before putting it in.

I've noticed on the Parazin bottle that it states 'it typically takes 2-3 weeks to destroy all stages of the parasite' when using Parazin treatment. As a result of this I'm not too sure what to do when it comes to doing a water change. I do a water change every 4-6 days which means if this treatment takes 3 weeks to work I will need to do at least 3 water changes WITHOUT removing the Parazin?!?

1 Parazin P tablet treats 115 litres of water, my aquarium contains 120 litres so if I take 30% of my tank water out which equates to 35 litres, presumably I will be required to divide the tablet into 3.3 bits and put this into the fresh water that I've replaced with the tank water? Is this how I would ensure I keep the treatment in or is there a better way of doing this?

Mark.
 
fenbendazole or flubendazole will kill all the worms in the filter and do a good job at any attached externally to your fish.

Fenbendazole is a powder worming treatment for dogs cats etc, you can get it at P@H for a quid or so. 0.1g of 22% per 10 US gallons - disolve it in tank water then add it to an area of high flow - it is safe for fish and inverts and filter bacs at this dosage. Your water will be cloudy for a few hours - Large water change after 3 days and put some carbon in to get rid of traces. Repeat process a week later to get hatchlings.

Flubendazole will get internal and external parasites and worms. Kusuri Wormer is a good product. I'd recommend it over fenbendazole.
 
fenbendazole or flubendazole will kill all the worms in the filter and do a good job at any attached externally to your fish.

Fenbendazole is a powder worming treatment for dogs cats etc, you can get it at P@H for a quid or so. 0.1g of 22% per 10 US gallons - disolve it in tank water then add it to an area of high flow - it is safe for fish and inverts and filter bacs at this dosage. Your water will be cloudy for a few hours - Large water change after 3 days and put some carbon in to get rid of traces. Repeat process a week later to get hatchlings.

Flubendazole will get internal and external parasites and worms. Kusari Wormer is a good product. I'd recommend it over fenbendazole.
What's this about waiting 2-3 weeks then?!? lol.

I want it in there as long as possible, while still being able to do water changes to primarily control the nitrate level.
 
I don't like leaving meds in the water column too long - from my experience it'll kill all the worms in 48 hours - add another day for luck then water change.

Do the same 1 week later - just to be sure - I don't imagine you'll see any evidence of worms after the initial treatment.

Do a really good gravel vac.
 
I don't like leaving meds in the water column too long - from my experience it'll kill all the worms in 48 hours - add another day for luck then water change.

Do the same 1 week later - just to be sure - I don't imagine you'll see any evidence of worms after the initial treatment.

Do a really good gravel vac.

Ok I see, I'll follow your advice. :good:

I have just spotted what appears to be two worms on the Rams fin. I've made a recording and I'm uploading it to YouTube now. I would appreciate it if someone could try to verify what, if anything, is on it's fin. From what I can see, the Ram has something on it's right handside fin and whenever it wants to itch itself it will itch it's right handside.
 

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