Internal Parasites??

[bbrown]

I lost a german blue ram yesterday (actually I euthanized it). It had been sick for a week and was dying a very slow painful death. This fish stopped eating and his eyes were protruding (no scales protruding). He had some colour throughout and made a comeback after two days of melafix treatment but then declined again. I now have another sick ram in the same tank. Here is an outline of his condition:
good colour
not eating (1 day)
listless
white stringy poop which took a long time to finally pass

Weekly water changes (25%) - last one Sat. May 21st
No ammonia - no nitrites
PH 7.6

Started melafix treatment on May 21st.

I suspect it could be internal parasites and I would like to treat the entire tank (20 gallon) which contains blue rams (3), cacatuiodes (4) and a sailfin pleco. What medication would be recommended and is it OK to treat the whole tank?

 

[FMJnaX]

You do have internal parasites, IME, and it is a wise idea to treat the entire tank. I use the Jungle anti-parasitic food. It doesn't cloud the water or interrupt the biological cycle. I'm not sure about the requirements of your fish, but it should be fairly safe to use. If you don't go with it, then get something with metro. in it as this is the anti-parasitic ingredient. You will need to treat for at least a week (the Jungle food states a full 4 weeks) to ensure that you kill off all parasites in all stages of their life cycle.

 

[Toirtis]

I will second the Jungle....all their anti-parasiticals work like a charm. I believe that PetsMart is probably your best bet here in Calgary to buy the stuff.

 

[mattrox]

Doing a search for white stringy poo with the button on search all terms brings up some posts that you might find interesting reading.

 

[bbrown]

Update

It has been a week now and the rams appear to have fully recovered. In fact they spawned on Sunday A.M. Morning A.M. there are still some eggs although about half seem to have "disappeared". As far as treatment, I was unable to find any Jungle products in Calgary so I used Prazipro which contains praziquantel. I treated the tank for one week.

 

[Menagerie]

Glad to hear they are doing well! I would was never able to find Jungle things in Calgary and went with various SeaChem products.