Internal Parasite Medicine Question

[JeanLuc2]

Hi,

So this is kind-of an extension of my previous thread "Emergency!!!!". In any case I did as you guys suggested and went out to get some medicine to hopefully treat an internal parasite. This is the medicine I bought http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...uctId=11147153 . I went to PetSmart semiconfused but figured that I could probably figure it out. So, I asked the head of the fish department and thats what she suggested I get and told me that since I have a 2 gal. bowl that I break it into quarters.

When I got home I broke one tablet into quarters, and put one quarter into my boy JeanLuc's bowl and hoped it would do the trick as I watched it fizz off. It has been a few hours now and I am noticing that he is doing somewhat worse. Earlier he was active but yet sleeping all the time with one of his gills propped open slightly all the time. He had also been flaring at absolutely anything; something he doesn't normally do.


What can I do to alleviate this problem if there really is a problem? I am planning to clean his bowl on Thursday before I leave extremely early for my flight to New York City. I will not be back until Tuesday, and I am going to be leaving instructions with whoever is charged to take care of both him and my parakeet while my mom and I are both gone.

[SillyCone]

Add 1 tablet to each 10 gal. of aquarium water

If you put half a tablet in a 2G that's like 2.5x times the dosage for him.

Try cleaning the water, you can easily buy epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) at any pharmacies (they don't sell at pet stores) and follow Old Fish Lady's prescription. You should trust her, she is the best expert or at least the most active here in the forum.

Also, epsom salt is cheap :P.

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

In an emergency with bloat...get him in a small QT container that can be floated in a heated tank to maintain a water temp in the 76F range....get some Epsom salt(Not aquarium salt) 2tsp/gal and pre-mix in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water and start 50% water changes every hour for 3 hours with this water and then 100% daily for 10 days
If you have IAL or dried oak leaf add this to both the QT and the treatment water.....
Good luck

[JeanLuc2]

I didn't put half of the tablet in I put a quarter in like the lady at the pet store said. I am going to put him in his extra bowl once it cools down and see if he does any better. We are going to get a lot of tornadoes possibly today so he is going to get moved a lot. I have his QT cup ready to go and I hope I got all the soap out from the accidently soap cleaning. We will just have to see.

[DarkMoon17]

Technically, you are still overdosing. 1/4 tablet treats 2.5 gallons, not 2 gallons. Get him into clean water. To give him the correct dosage, put 2.5 cups of dechlorinated water in a container and dissolve a whole tablet in that. Then add 1/2 cup of the pre made treatment water to his tank. The dosage would be 1/4 cup per gallon. Save the rest of the premade medicine water for later treatments. You should not break those tablets into pieces because that increases the risk of overdose. You can combine the treatment with epsom salt at 2tsp/gal to have better results. Make sure you are doing 100% daily water changes.

Some medicines are light sensitive so you should cover the tank and the rest of the pre made solution with a towel.

I truly hope you don't have any tornados :(

[Here Fishy Fishy Fishy]

God Bless you JeanLuc2... keep safe out there! And good luck with your Betta. :)

Clean, conditioned and heated water will help in the near term. OFL can help with the rest; you'll need to fill out the forum questionaire so she can figure out what will help the best:

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

[JeanLuc2]

Hi guys,

Uh...I didn't know that breaking it into pieces actually makes for more of a risk of overdosing nor that I accidently overdosed and I didn't know it.

We didn't actually get any tornadoes in my county. However, we did have a scary half hour or so where this storm came in and then started trying to rotate. Sky turned green and everything but we never got a tornado warning. It left as fast as it came and all was calmer for the rest of the evening. We got really lucky.


Housing
What size is your tank? Usually 2 gallons but right now he is in his 1 gallon cleaning bowl for the moment.
What temperature is your tank? Roughly 80 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? The 2 gallon one has one but it is not in use due to his overt amount of curiousity.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes, it's a bubbler with an air stone. Not in use atm.
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Top Fin Color Enhancing Betta Bits
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day 2 to 3 pellets. Currently giving him 3 pellets hoping to help to encourage him to get better.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime for Freshwater & Saltwater by Seachem. 2 drops if QT cup or 1 gallon bowl, 4 drops if 2 gallon bowl.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? I don't have a test strip, clueless where to find one, and don't trust the people at PetSmart to give me accurate results.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He is essientially the same. His color changed a few months ago to make his Wild Type coloring more evident. Overall he has just gotten skinnier but still eats like a pig. Also, one of his gills is partially open most of the time.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? LOVES to sleep all the time. More sluggish, and is somewhat partial to sleeping on his side. Definitely not as active as usual. He is typically a lazy boy but usually loves to do laps around the bowl. He hasn't done laps recently.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? About 2 weeks ago.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Tetra Parasite Guard. I tried to cut the tablet into a quarter and put it in his bowl like the lady at PetSmart said to do. He hated me totally with a passion.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? He has had tried to get sick but never this bad.
How old is your fish (approximately)? 8 months..got him in late August/early September.



Please keep in mind that I am leaving for NYC early on Friday morning and will not be back until sometime in the afternoon on Tuesday. (I am playing in Carnegie Hall on Monday afternoon with my college's symphony...YAY!!!!) I am trying to find him a loving babysitter to feed him while I am gone.

[DarkMoon17]

I'm very glad you didn't have any tornados!

Will your pet sitter be able to continue treating him for the internal parasites? If you keep him in the 2 gal he will need at least one water change and remedication during the time you are away...

If you premix the medication like I said above it will make everything much easier for you and your pet sitter.

[JeanLuc2]

I am honestly not sure I am going to ask my neighbor to try to do the medicine given how badly the last time went. I think I am just going to ask her to feed him and I will start doing the medicine again once I get home. He is doing better now that I am not medicating him at the moment so I don't really want to bother him too much with the medicine since he hates it with a vengence at the moment. I will try starting the premixing before I leave my house extremely early tommorow morning.

[DarkMoon17]

Are you going to leave him in medicated water or unmedicated water while you are away? The problem with not continuing treatment is that you are allowing the parasites to become more resistant to the medication... But you also don't want to accidentally overdose him again. If you aren't going to treat him while you are away then when you get back you will need to start the treatment over again (you can't just continue where you left off sadly).

[JeanLuc2]

I left him in unmedicated water given his freakout with the medicine...believe me it was a horrible sight to watch. He is in safe hands with my neighbor who is taking good care of him. Yes, I realize that the parasite(s) will likely build up some sort of resistance to the medicine and that I will have to start over. After I get back then I won't be leaving again for another week & a half to two weeks and hopefully by that time he will be over whatever he has.