shih-tzu mom

Hi: all again, i had a lady come in that works with goldies she is one of them aquarists.[practicing] and looked at peek-a-boo and said right away he had anchor worm; she looked at meds i had here and thank the lord for clout it does treat anchor worm and she told me how i think??also the other fish has it too. These 3-are from big ales the 1- that died and these other 2, so i hope i don't lose these 2.lol. she said the other one had it bad to kill it. so i am stripping their tanks and throwing away gravel filters ect;anything that it might survive on. all the time i thought it was scraps. any suggestions? bella

Lucy

I'm glad someone could finally narrow down what was going on.
Did she recommend you sterilize the tank?

shih-tzu mom

no, Lucy, i mentioned it before she did as i did read on parisites ect; thanks for replying. now in sterilizing can you use bleach and vinegar to rince lol?and then rince well before fish goes back in and how long for treatment it says 1-2-should be enough bella

Lucy

If I remember correctly it's 19 parts water to 1 part bleach.
Rinse really well with water until you can no longer smell the bleach.
OD the tank with dechlorinator.

Follow whatever directions are on the package of medication.

Good luck!

Butterfly

Just remember don't mix vinegar and bleach. It causes a gas that will take your breath away.
Carol

shih-tzu mom

Butterfly, do you mean you can't rinse with vinegar after you rinse the bleach all out? thanks in advance.bella

soldieroffortune1974

You have to remove all traces of the bleach before adding ANY vinegar and vice-versa.

Vinegar is acetic acid,mixing it with bleach creates chlorine gases.The level of toxicity depends on how much is mixed,but 1 tsp of vinegar w/ 3 tsp bleach is toxic to breathe, and 3 times that amount is potentially explosive.

Do NOT mix bleach and vinegar of any amounts.

shih-tzu mom

Well, i never intented to but i thought to rinse with vinegar after the bleaching and rinsing.Anyhoo-this anchor worm started as a white spot like an injury, and on the disease page there was nothing about any white spot other then ICH-and i have saw ich before and of course they didn't have that.

The white spot came out and i could not figure this out-until this lady came to buy aquarium from me and told me what it was. There is nothing on the disease page regarding this being a white spot.
A little confusing when your'e looking for something and not just on our page, but on a lot of diff; sites. bella

Shawnie

I think you have had just about all the issues a fishkeeper can have...almost LOL ...wonder why you have so many ? is the fish store you get your fish from not a good one?

I hope your babies do well and get healthy soon! and stay that way!!!

shih-tzu mom

Shawnie; i am thinking the same thing and hearing more bad things about them like ich, in some perchases, people have made so i am wondering myself. This is a great store -but the more i go there the more people complaining about sick, dead fish ect. sooo maybe no more purchases from there lol. and yes, i think i have had it all - so i hope no more.bella

gremlin

Anchor worm is no fun at all to deal with. We had it in our pond when I was a teenager. One of the neighbors had gone fishing and brought back some live sunfish. They didn't want the fish to die and the kids couldn't stand the thought of eating their fishies, so they just tossed them in our pond without saying anything to us. We didn't even realize it until a couple of days later when we saw the anchor worms on our fish. It was a pain. We removed the anchor worms from each fish as we transferred them to a holding tank (a children's swimming pool). Completely emptied the pond and threw out all the plants and everything. Scrubbed the cement with a bleach solution. Filled and drained the pond about 30 times over the course of the next week. Went over each fish with a fine toothed tweezer before they were allowed back in the pond once it was set up again. Shortly after that, the pond started leaking into the house. My Dad figured the bleach scrub and the constant draining and filling allowed the cement to dry out enough to crack. That's when I got my first preformed pond. We lost about 1/3 of our goldfish and about 90% of our mosquito fish and all of our plants from the anchor worm. Here are a couple of web sites on them:
http://www.geocities.com/steevward/anchorworm.html
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Anchor%20Worm.html
http://www.absolute-koi.com/prod529.html

shih-tzu mom

Wow,Gremlin a lot of reading there thank you, i wish i had that link when this all started. They say to remove with tweezers, aghhh, i will have to treat with meds as i'm not that brave to sedate them lol i suppose if i had to, i could but really don't want to. it looks bad. and yet in the pic's they are green and red but these little guys are white and that is what threw me. lol. thanks for the links bella

Butterfly

Exactly Whichever you use first rinse well then you can use the other.
I have personal experience with this so I know it's so
Carol

shih-tzu mom

Butterfly-could you not use a little ammonia to clean tank and rinse very good as you cycle with it. and then use vineager after to rinse, just a few drops of ammonia i would think it would do the same thing as it is a cleaning chemical thanks in advance.bella

Butterfly

Probably so, i just usually have bleach and vinegar on hand but not ammonia. Just make sure the ammonia doesn't have any soap in it.
Carol

shih-tzu mom

No, Carol, it doesn't ,it is the kind you cycle with lol pure ammonia so i do have that on hand right now and thought i would use that and rinse well of course. thank you for your reply very much appreciated bella

gremlin

I learned the hard way too. They do look white, I think the green and red is because they were under a microscope. We never sedated the fish when we removed the anchor worms. Sometimes it took two of us though, one to hold the fish just under water (so it could still breathe) and the other to use the tweezers. I was pretty good at holding the fish still while either my Dad or one of my older sisters would use the tweezers.

shih-tzu mom

Hi: Gremlin, the one fish is clear now and the second one i can still see it so i may have to call on you to remove ,with tweezers if the meds don't work for him. i can see it with a thread like thing hanging from the white mark not good lol.i did a 90% water change yesterday and retreated with meds and i will do it again today and hope that ends it. bella

gremlin

It is very simple to remove them with the tweezers. Gently hold the fish in one hand just under the water. Use the tweezers to grasp the anchor worm as close to the fish's body as possible and pull gently - just like you would pull a sliver out of your finger. You will feel a little pop when the anchor worm releases from the fish and it may bleed a bit. That is when the medication comes in handy to help heal the wound. Throw the anchor worm in the trash (and disinfect the tweezers!).

Jess

Gremlin, thanks for the step by step procedure. We've never had to deal with anchor worms, but now know how. (adding to your reputation, thanks)

gremlin

Thank you. It has been a while since we have had to deal with anchor worm but I got to be a real expert and removing them. It was the fastest way to get rid of them. I am real careful about the fish I allow in my pond now.

shih-tzu mom

Thanks, Gremlin, it's begining to look like i may have to remove with tweezers as this little sucker is still hanging on to him. and that's his second treatment with clout.There is only me ,here myself so this is going to be a chore trying to hold and remove. lol I have to wait until later tonight when i get braver lol i hate the looks of the thing. But i hate the thought of what it might do to him if i don't remove it. It don't look like it is going to let go anytime soon. the smaller ones have dropped off but this one still hanging on.Anymore hint's Gremlin, for me trying to do it without help lol tks. bella

gremlin

Just be glad that your fish is not 11 or 12 inches long like our big goldfish or less than 1 inch long like our mosquito fish! Are you right handed or left handed? Right handed, hold the fish in your left hand and the tweezers in your right (left handed, reverse the directions). Gently, but securely, hold the fish in your hand with the anchor worm on the top so it shows between your fingers and the heel of your hand. Be careful not to restrict water movement around the gills. Hold the fish just under the water so he can still breathe, but close enough to the surface that you can see the anchor worm clearly. Using the tweezers, grasp the worm as close to the fish as possible and gently pull the worm out. You are going to be pulling the direction the worm is aimed out of your fish. Not at right angles to the fish, but like you would pull a splinter out of your skin - the way it went in. Don't jerk on it, because it may tear a larger hole in your fishie. Use a steady firm pressure and it should just tweak on out. If you were closer, I'd come do it for you, but I'm stuck in Arizona...As soon as you get it out, swish some clean water over the wound and let fishie swim away. Throw the anchor worm in the trash (or study it under a microscope if you want). The main things to remember are - slow and steady pressure to remove, and gently hold the fish.