Worms?? Help!!

[Big G]

Hi folks!!

I find myself in a bit of an awkward situation!!

My community tank has been looking nice and healthy apart from an abundance of algae, but suddenly I have a female Emperor Tetra who has a strange tape worm like creature wrapped around her left flipper (can't remember proper name now)!!

As said, it looks like a Tape Worm, but is outside the body! It is really thin, but very long and must be wrapped at least 2 to 3 times around the flipper! I cannot see a head or tail within the wrap, but it does not appear to be coming out of the body of the tetra!

Any clues??

To further add to this, I have been treating with some anti-anchor worm and anti Tape-worm (combined) treatment for the past 4 days and since I have had her seperated out, she has started to develop a Blister on her stomach area in front of her Ventral fins! Looking closely at this blister, I think I can see more worms inside her?? A lot more!! The Blister appears to be getting bigger pretty quickly, so I'm concerned that I'm about to have a death! Although I'm not so worried about the death of one Emperor tetra, i am more concerned that my other fish may already be infected without visible evidence!??

Anyone able to help?? I'm pretty sure its not Anchor worms, but am otherwise clueless!

To top it all off, I have a neon or two who appear to have one white spot each! One on the side of its head between the eye and gill which is around 2-4mm large, and the other under its chin (if fish have chins??) which is around 1-2mm.

There's only one dot on each, so i don't think its white sot, unless its just starting out??

What should i do about treating the tank?? This seems to be a little too wierd for me to diagnose accurately??

And to add to my troubles, I appear to have a few hundred litlle things that are hoping ontop of the water! They look like fleas, but are tiny tiny things! Are these harmful??

CHeers
Big G

[Singu]

hehe, its called a fin 

[tyronegenade]

Hello

Try 2 mL of the 1% potassium permanganate (Kondi's Crystals) solution to 5 L (4.5 mg/L final concentration). This is safe with (most) plants (kiss your Riccia good bye). You may need to dose several times if there are a lot of organics in the water. If the tank clears from purple to clear in less than 12 hours you need to redose. A water change is not needed.

This will upset snails but not kill them unless your double the dose (4 mL/5 L).

If this doesn't work then you will have to try Waterlife's Octozin which is a cocktail of anti-helminths.

[Big G]

Cheers Tyronne!!

I was told elsewhere to treat with Waterlife Sterazin, as it appears to be more like intestinal worms??

One thing is though that the label on the sterazin says that it can control intestinal worms/parasites rather than get rid of them. Any one used the sterazin for intestinal worms??

Cheers
Big G!

[Dirk Bellstedt]

Big G,

You can treat tapeworms with Praziquantel. This is contained in a medication used to treat dogs called Droncit, you can buy this from a vet. Use at 2.5 mg per litre. However, I fear that with the belly as extended as you described, I think this fish should be put out of its misery......

The white spot threat is actually more serious and I would watch the other fishes carefully to see if more spots develop. If they do get a good brand aquarium med to treat the whole tank.

Forget about the stuff hopping on the water. I also have these hoppers ever so often and they are harmless.

Kind regards,

Dirk