Miss Mouse

Hi guys,
one of my very old white cloud mountain minnows has a gill fluke. I noticed it this evening and put him in the quarantine tank with a homeopathic remedy for worms and parasites. Tomorrow I'm going to pop down and get him sonething stronger from the pet shop but are there any other things I can do to ease his discomfort? He looks like he's going mad with pain - jumping around and rubbing and gasping with this horrible worm hanging off him... I cant bare to watch him, its really upsetting

Gray

Hi
I was given this bit of information re Gill fluke from a friend who keeps koi. I hope it helps.

Treatment: Most sites will give you an elaborate procedure for treating with harsh chemicals that, in my experience, do more harm than good. I've found a much better way. Go to your local fish store and get something made from copper. I recommend Had A Snail, (pictured below) but medicines like Coppersafe work too. I have found that it will end the almost immediately. It also has no effect on your fish, unlike malachite green and many other antiparasitics, which are extremely hard on them. The only drawback is that you must remove all your invertabrates: The reason it's effective is that it kills ALL invertabrates, from the ICH parasite to shrimp. Invertabrates include snails, clams, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and crabs. Note that you should treat for at least 5 days, as the hatching period of fluke eggs (unaffected by copper meds) varies from 2-4 days depending on the water temperature.

regards
Graham

Miss Mouse

Thats FAB thank you so much Graham! I'll pop over to pet shop now and have a look at what they've got. There are no invertabrates in the tank as it's just a 5 gallon quarantine tank with a few plants but thanks for the warning And thanks again for the help!
Ursula

Miss Mouse

All cured! WHEW!