Is there a doctor in the house? PART II
Mon, 08/16/2010 - 12:39
So I'm staring into my freshwater refugium this morning while eating my bowl of cereal, and notice a tiny 1/4" long thread-like white worm that twitches. This interests and concerns me because for the past year all of my cichlids in the tank have gone through bouts of significant flashing and rubbing on the rocks. I now have a new Fahaka puffer in there, and yesterday noticed him starting to flash as well, so it is clearly transmissible and not exclusive to the cichlids. I've tried cranking up the salt concentration to 1.002 SG for weeks at a time, with no real 'cure'. Thoughts on what this worm might be, and if it is associated with the flashing I see in my fish?
Thanks
Greg
Tue, 08/17/2010 - 07:40
#2
I agree with Dennis and don't think the worm is causing the problems. A little bit of flashing can be normal or caused by stress based on aggression, etc. Do you have a water testing kit and use it regularly? Nitrite or nitrate build-up can cause flashing as can a variety of parasites, but I think the salt would have helped with those.
Wed, 08/18/2010 - 15:14
#3
Thanks for the responses guys. Aggression is definitely an issue in that tank, with the Green and Gold severums taking turns pinning each other in the corner, the black convicts chasing each other incessantly, and the gold severum and Jack Dempsey mouth wrestling, but given puffers' fragile nature, and recent introduction to the tank, that really concerns me. Agreed, as our mantra in the lab goes, association is not causation, so the presence of the worms and the flashing might be purely coincidental.
As for my water conditions, ammonia and nitrite are always zero, and the nitrates tend to run about 80-ish, but I'm hoping my new planted refugium will drive those down further. I would think that duration of high-level salt treatment would be effective as well, but my Green Severum has had a fair amount of fungus problems that resolved very slowly, if at all, with the salt treatment. Currently she has one spot on each fin that is clearly some sort of white fungus. It does not seem to be progressing, but is worrisome nonetheless.
Greg
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 08:54
#4
In the past I had these guys (http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/planaria_white_worms/) in my tanks, and like Dennis and Samuel stated, the fish would eventually eat them. I do not know if it is the same type of worm, but it sounds about right. Normally they are due to over feeding.
Regarding the fungus problems and our fish, have you thought about setting up a quarantine tank to medicate your fish? I think we discussed this before, but it really helps in the instances where the problem is not with the whole tank. I had the unfortunate need to medicate a 125 gallon tank, and it can get expensive. With a small 10 gallon you can more easily control the dose, salinity, temperature, or the like. Also, for fungus issues, I have had great luck with the Melafix and Pimafix products. They are natural and have worked wonders.
One thing, and this is just my opinion, but that Convict and Jack Dempsey are going to cause issues with any "weaker" fish. I have kept both and it came down to whether I just wanted them, or if I wanted to have some other fish. As your tank gets established and territories marked, the aggression will only grow from my experience.
I hope things turn out OK for your Greg, it sounds like you are certainly on the road to recovery.
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 14:59
#5
Thanks for the info on the worms noob. I saw them (one) in my refugium, so I'm sure the baby guppies that are in there made short work of them. I just wanted to make sure they weren't boring into fish and setting up camp.
I did have a quarantine tank set-up for a while, which I was using to treat my Green spotted puffer after my fugu almost bit him in half (he recovered). The problem is, it's a 20 gal, and the fish with the fungus, my green severum, is almost dinner-plate sized...so you can see the issue there. Although the salt seemed to work well before, this was pre-refugium, and again, the plants would probably not be happy about the excess salt. Perhaps I'll swap out the current plant occupants and sub in some of my brackish species for the treatment phase.
As for the 125 gal, with the Jack Dempsey and Black Convict, they have lived together with all of the other inhabitants for years, some of which are approaching 5 years old. The only newcomer is the Fahaka puffer, and I'm confident that he can hold his own against anyone. It's actually been quite entertaining - for the first week or two the cichlids ignored him so much that they would swim through him rather than around him. Then he began 'sampling' the tails of the darker fish at night, so most steer clear of him...except for the convicts, which push him out of their territory when he wanders in. They don't bite him but literally nose him while swimming until they have pushed him to where they feel comfortable. The only fish the Dempsey ever bothers with is the gold severum, and they just square off and mouth wrestle, but lately he hasn't even been toying with her. I think he's been traumatized by the puffer nibbling on him, even though the nibbling was very minor. My only truly territorial fish is the female convict, but she is exponentially smaller than everyone else, and is all-consumed by chasing her male mate around the tank. Unlike my puffers though, I have never seen anyone damage each other over the five years that I've had them. My only true concern with that tank lies with the Fahaka and what happens when he gets bigger and can inflict serious and lethal damage... Like you said, Cichlids get territorial as they get older, but puffers get downright evil and sadistic.
I use to have small white worms like you described, my fish ate them all after a while. Either we had worms that look the same but are are different or the worms are not the problem. All I could find in my books are Thread Worms or White Worms. It says that both are harmless. I also went on line, typed in "thread worms aquariums" and found that most say that worms do no harm.
Try "Animal World>Freshwater Fish>Fish Disease and Treatment". Hope some of this helps.
DGS