Internal parasites...?

[carbonxxkidd]

One of my 11 sorority females has been showing signs of internal parasites - clamped fins, long white stringy poop...

What is standard procedure with this? She is in a planted tank with shrimp, snails, otos and corys and I am scared to medicate the entire tank but I have her in QT for the time being. Going to pick up some medicated food later today - should I be doing AQ or Epsom salts too? Thanks!

[carbonxxkidd]

Housing
What size is your tank? 29g heavily planted
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 10 other females, 6 corys, 2 otos, MTS, Ramshorns, Amano and ghost shrimp

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Mostly NLS pellets, but they get frozen food almost every day (tubifex, blood worms, brine shrimp, daphnia) some live daphnia, and she tends to eat the shrimp pellets for the corys
How often do you feed your betta fish? Every day, usually twice

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1-2 times a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH: 8.1
Hardness: 200 something, can't remember the exact value
Alkalinity: 200 something, can't remember the exact value

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Clamped fins on and off, stringy white poop
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? See above
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Clamped fins a few days ago, poop today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? In QT, haven't done anything else yet
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? I've had her for about 3 months

[AyalaCookiejar]

I've treated internal parasites successfully with pellets soaked in metro. I let them dry before I feed them so they don't sink right away. Also, NLS is not good for soaking so I use omega one pellets for this.

It might be a good idea to treat all the girls. Internal parasites are contagious and are usually caused by feeding frozen or live foods...

[carbonxxkidd]

Will using the medicated food harm my plants or anything? That's the one thing I'm most worried about. I have heard about parasites coming from live food, but not frozen. I thought freezing was supposed to get rid of all that stuff?

I do have omega one pellets as well as NLS, but my girls aren't a big fan of the bigger size. Where do you buy metro - I've never heard of that? Thanks so much!

[AyalaCookiejar]

I'm not sure how much of the meds in the pellets will get into the water... You may want to ask Callistra or Sakura8... I'm not sure about that. I would think that there would not be a high concentration of meds in the water.

If you can't get them to eat the food then you'll have to add the meds directly to the water. But I would at least try feeding them, and probably mix the metro with garlic juice since it doesn't make the pellets taste too great.

I had to purchase metro online from drs foster and smith but you can also look for general cure by api which most pet stores should have.

Edit: also, soaking the food will soften up the pellets if the girls have trouble eating them due to their size, but my VT usually spits them out if I don't let them dry before I give them to him.

[callistra]

I would try not drying them.. if you just soak them in regular water they probably got spit out because of the taste. I always use garlic guard and they don't spit. If they dried a lot of the meds probably left, along with the taste and so they're more palatable. But if it worked, I'm glad.

This is how I do it..

Small amount of this in cup (like a cm in a bottom of a solo cup): http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...m?pcatid=12022
5 Drops of this in the cup: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=4998
One level scoop of this: http://www.amazon.com/Seachem-641-Fo...qid=1362267261
One level scoop of this: http://www.petmountain.com/product/m...le-5-gram.html

The garlic guard actually works against the parasites naturally, and it along with the vitachem boost the fish's natural immune system. The focus helps binds the meds and more is absorbed by the fish making it more effective, and it is also antibacterial so it will fight against any secondary bacterial infection.

Soak 15 minutes. Mix up at least once a day, if not twice a day before each feeding. I feed 4-6 split up (2-2 or 2-3) for 4 weeks. One day a week I feed nothing.

[carbonxxkidd]

So there's nothing I can try that I can find locally at petsmart or petco? :(

[callistra]

There's stuff you can try but I haven't seen any success with it. And with the small amount of success I have seen there has always been relapse. This is what I know works.

[carbonxxkidd]

Well, I'm going to try the Jungle Anti-Parasite food since I can find that at Walmart. So far, she's refusing to eat anything in her QT cup so hopefully that will change...

[callistra]

That was discontinued years ago.. are you sure it's still at your local walmart? I would double check the expiration date. I believe what was left of their stock expired last summer..

If you can find it and they will eat it, that should work. Feed twice daily except one fast day a week for 3-4 weeks and at least one full week past the last symptom.