hozzie

I have anchor worms brought in with a guppie from the fish shop, as he has orange and white fins i missed the worm until he was established in the tank with the others. i live in dread of my clown loaches getting worms as I cant catch them!!

I have been removing the worms by hand (not easy on something so small and wriggly) and am now on my second brand of medication claiming to kill anchor worms. I tried 'aquarium treatment 12 from interpret contains sodium chlorite! which did as it promised and killed all the plants and sent tank into a cycle..grrr - but the worms have reappeared (removed 4 yesterday) so have just dosed with Parazin....scary!

Does anyone have any advice? or tricks i have missed? the meds say not to change water for a week although before using it I cleaned the tank thoroughly. Have let the cycle settle down again and todays readings are

ammonia 0, nitiites 0, nitrates 20, pH 8, temp runs at 76. tank is my first one.

fish shop promised to treat their guppies and not sell anymore but i noticed no sign of treatment and they have either sold lots or they have died..... On a brighter note have found another fish shop attached to the tourist aquarium so now i have a choice on my little island

happy new year to you all.

TFA101

a salt bath might work as a remedy, but not a full treatment. the parasites hate the salt and are irritated by it

hozzie

thank you

i have no knowledge of using salt... what is the amount to use and how long to leave the fish in the bath etc?

Helene

gremlin

Start with about 1/8 or 1/4 tsp salt per gallon of water and dip them for about 30 seconds twice a day. You can slowly increase the time up to 5 minutes in the salt bath. I wouldn't go longer than that as that should be long enough to get any benefit. Once you are at the 5 minute mark, you can slowly increase the amount of salt per gallon by 1/8 or 1/4 tsp increments. I wouldn't go over 1 tablespoon per gallon.

hozzie

Thanks to all

I eventually bought some Parazin online as its not available here on my little island, used it, removed remaining worms and a week later there were no more worms. 6 weeks on i havent seen a worm, fish are all well and water tests fine, also plants survived intact.

It was a last resort but it worked well. Strangely the Guppies were the only fish affected with anchor worms (and how!) and they have gone on to have their usual fry fest with no ill effects.

Helene

agabr123

That's great!!! Congratulations and good luck!