Need advice treating parasite

[Blackpearl]

I have just lost a platy that has symptoms of internal parasite (thin fish, listless, loss of appetite, I mean the fish totally ignores any food). I have just dropped a Parasite Clear to the tank and the fish was gone the next day.
Now, I observed the other platy always have its fins close to its body, and the gills seem to be widely open. According to a brochure from Wal-Mart, this is another symptom for parasite and can be treated with Parasite Clear.
Considering the other platy died the day after I dropped the Parasite Clear tablet in, I'm not sure if I should perform the same treatment.

Any advice / suggestion on how to deal with this?

To answer some of the commonly asked questions:
1. The fish mentioned above both came from the same store, Petland, approx. 2 weeks ago.
2. The tank size is 15 gal.
3. I vaccumed the gravel and 50% water change as soon as I found the first fish died, Sunday 2 days ago.
4. Last night I tested my water, ammonia is 0 nitrite is .1. I dont have test kit for nitrate.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Blackpearl,
I'm sorry to hear about your fish.

I'm wondering if your fish have ich. Sometimes ich does not show up as white spots on the body, but instead infects the gills. A medicine that I have used before on a betta is Clout, from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. It didn't hurt the betta. He got better! If the fish do have internal parasites, Clout can be effective for that too. Pepso Food is the best way to clear up internal parasites, but since your fish won't eat, I would try the Clout. Clout helps ich and all sorts of parasite and protozoan infestations.

Another med I came across while searching is Binox, from Jungle. I have not used this particular med, but I have used meds from Jungle before and had good results. The description for Binox says: A water treatment that helps stop fish death and wasting when nothing else will help. It conditions weak fish by reducing skin bacteria, cleaning infected gills, clearing cloudy eyes, and is recommended as the safest conditioner for weak, dying, scaleless fish and catfish.

You could still use this for the platies. It says safe for scaleless fish because they are especially sensitive to medicines. According to the DrsFosterSmith catalog, Parasite Clear and Binox do not have the same ingredients.

Just to be sure, read the article on Ich on this site: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32 Look at the pics and see if this helps. Good luck!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Blackpearl,

An t-iasg is correct. If your fish's gills are abnormal, ytour fish isn't eating, is listless, all of these...sounds like ich of the gills. Parasite meds will help to do the trick, and definitley wouldn't harm I don't think. I have had success with Maracide from Mardel in the past, and have heard good things about it. Check out the freshwater ich article here, and see if you think this is what your fishie has.

How is the skin of your fish? The scales are normal, there is no growth of anything anywhere, colors are normal?

Other than that, sorry for your loss and all :|

 

[Blackpearl]

Thank you. I've seen the photos in the ich articles but so far I have not seen any white spots. The skins are normal, scales are normal, colors are normal. I stare at the fishes for at least an hour everyday. If this is ich, maybe the ich is still in its very early stage
But regardless, I will try either Binox or Clout, whichever is available in LFS. I was looking for Pepso Food last weekend and couldnt find any. Maybe I wasnt looking hard enough.
I'll keep you all updated