What are these?

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CherylMcN

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jun 8, 2019
Messages
3
1~ I noticed some black on the fins of my giant danios. On closer inspection they look like a thin parasite. Can anyone confirm what they are (see photo)? The fish is acting normally. Whizzing around the tank with the others. No flashing. Staying at its normal swimming level.

2~What are your tank parameters 0-0-40. 75 degrees
3~ 36g bowfront, been running for 6 months
4~What type of filtration are you using? 2x aqueon quietflow 50s (250gph each)
5~ 5 giant danios (3"), 4 cory's (2"), 2 mystery snails, 2 synodontis petricola (3" - will be moved to 75g when they get too big)
6~ water change twice a week (wed, sat). Last change today. 30-40% each time.
7~ Had the danios for 5 months.
8~ The petricola's were the most recent additions, roughly a month ago. Neither they nor the Cory's show any signs of whatever this is.
9~Flake food, frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, dried blood worms, dried brine shrimp, they also nibble on the vegetable and shrimp bottom feeder pellets (brands are omega one and hikari), rarely I put in some repashy cubes.
 

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It's not. They are definitely a parasite, some kind of worm. I managed to remove a couple from the fish last night after reading about anchor worm removal and they were wriggling once removed, curling in on themselves. They dont seem to have the split end of an anchor worm though. At least, what I was able to remove was a perfectly straight worm.

Editing to add: I got the snails around the same time as the petricola's so it is possible that, whatever the parasite is, came in with one or the other of those.
 
I can pretty confidently say that these are leeches at this point. I found one on the fin of one of my other danios. Placed it on a bounty paper towel and it moved around the way I would expect a leech to move (bunching up and then reaching out with its noodley head). Each dot is about a millimeter on the paper towel. When I squashed it in the paper towel, there was quite a bit of blood from it.

Editing to say: After reading through a bunch of different articles, AAP Dyacide (Dylox) is a recommended treatment to kill leeches so I am going to try that. It doesn't say if it will harm my plants but, it is dangerous to my Cory's, synodontis and snails, so I'll be moving them out during treatment.
 

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potassium permanganate will kill them. Not sure what it will do to your BB though.
 
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