Giant Gourami - Anchor Worm

Hello, everyone.

I am new here. And I am here because my Giant Gourami's are infected with Anchor Worms. They have been affected since a week and a half and I have tried every medicine available in Karachi. Nothing helped though. They are active and eating well. But they have so many worms anchoring their whole body. I am sure if my gouramis were any other fish, they would be in heavens by now.

Could you please tell me any antibiotic to cure them? Any other help? My aquarium is a 30 gallon with a pair of 4" size Giant Gouramis. I have one (Tray-type) biological filter, one hang-on type power filter and a UG filter. Two/Three inches of fine silica gravel. Temperature around 30/32 C.

The carrier of the anchor worms must have been the feeder-guppy, 300 of which I put in my tank every Sunday (and they are all gone in 3 to four days).

I have another planted tank of the same specification with 3 Black ghosts, 7 Discus, 2 Angels, 8 Tetras, and three gravel cleaner fish. All seem to be working very well and are healthy and colourful. I hope the worms would not travel to my Angel/Discus aquarium or will they?

Other than the feeder guppy, I feed my fish freeze-dried blood worms, flakes, high-grade pallets (floating type), Sinking pallets, also I feed my Giant Gouramis chopped bananas (wich they love to eat).

Tell me how to get rid of those messy anchor worms!

Aefroze

 

:? just a few questions. you said you put 300 of feeder guppies? how big is the tank? 1" rule! also i have been studing anchor worm but i have never seen a case of it, could you post a pic?

Look at your fish try and see if any of the anchor worms have a "sack" at the bottom of the worm, this is very important because it is an egg sack and if it hatches could cause a worse probolem. Not many people have been able to cure anchor worm, when the worms are cured there is still a large possibility that the fish will die from secondary wounds caused from the worms. to get rid of the worm it can be dangerous with the method. they say that a good cure is to take the fish in the hand and toutch the parasites with a small pencil or brush that has been dipped in a rather strong treatment of potassiam permanganate. But with small fish you should be careful to not let the treatment toutch the skin. Then when done put the fish back and the worm will fall off itself. To treat the wouds you can use a toutch of mercurochrome solution for disingfection. (use strength 1:10)

 

I was told by a good friend of mine that worked in fish for awhile that the last life cycle of anchorworm has been impossible to cure since they banned a certain treatment because they were worried it would get in the eco-system.

 

I've heard of that treatment too.

-Chelle

 

yup, it does a nice job but the risk is high and its not always easy to find the right chemicals.

 

Hmm... well. I have seen and treated anchor worms before with a medicine available locally and the results were perfect. This time it seems to be a different case. I don't feel it is feasible to catch my fish in hand and remove the worms manually - my fish are large enough and will try their best to come out of my hands and most probably get injured. Although they are still eating well and swimming as usual, the anchor worm situation is getting worse. I can now see the whips of the worms even indise the fish's mouth when they open it. Gills and head are no exception. I have tried treating with low concentration of Pharmaceutical grade Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) but still no result. Shall I try putting some salt? My tank is a 35 gallon one. It has a tray-type biological filtering system, a hang-on type power filter, and a UG filter. When I treat my fish, I keep the filters off and the air-stone running at full capacity. Are there any antibiotics known to treat these worms?

Also I have decided not to put any more feeder-guppy this week. When I feed my fish feeder-guppies, I give them no other food except for bread worms, as a treat. Photos ... not feasible. I have a webcam capable of taking photos, but my PC is on first floor of my house, while my aquariums are in my bedroom on the second floor.

Aefroze

 

You really need to leave your filters running. Otherwise you'll have an ammonia spike. If you're worried about the meds being removed, just take the carbon out of the fitlers.

And definitely avoid store bought feeder fish from now on. Store bought feeders are the #1 way of introducing diseases & parasites into your tank (as you have learned). None of your fish require diets of solely live food/feeders so there's really no need for them. But if you really want to use feeders, it's best to breed your own.

This article recommends using salt, so I'd give that a try.

-Chelle

 

i looked up the cure that i had noted earlier and it turns out most of the stuff you need has been banned. :shock:

 

u said u have 3 black ghosts... black ghosts make electric fieldswhen hunting for food. they shouldn't be kept with other electric fish. The also get to be pretty big. How big is the tank w/ the black ghosts? 7 discus need about 70g 2 angels need a 20.

 

thats interesting. so it actually shocks?

 

Well, yeah heres a link


http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Dis ... pCatId=857[/u]

 

something is wrong with the link.

 

Try this


http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Dis ... pCatId=857


-Chelle

 

yep that one works

 

My tank which accomodates my Discus and Black ghosts is a 30 gallon tank.

 

Sounds like overcrowding to me.

 

Yup, not only is it overstocked, it's stocked with fish that are extremely sensitive to poor water quality.

-Chelle

 

Yes, I understand that the tank is overcrowded. I try my best to maintain the water quality. I have an excellent bilolgical filtration system and lots of plants. As a result, one black ghost that was less than 1 inch size when I purchased it some eight months ago is now an eight inch lovely black ghost.

Discus fish are a new addition to my tank but they are doing well. Mortality ratio is extremely low and generally the fish are quite okay.

Also, I am planning to get a 150 - 200 gallon tank soon.