Black molly with worms

[Cichildlife]

Do not do a 100% waterchange do a 50 to 60% water change at most if you did a 100% waterchange you wouldnt have any bacteria in your tank that would make it livabe for your fish. Ok? Also how do these meds work, iv never herd of them.

 

[ocminpin]

What will happen to the ness over time? Do they just disappear? I visualize stuff in the water and not having it be clean ... Could be my imagination!

 

[DragonFish71]

You'll want to take out any carbon from your filter.

As for dosing the food, you're doing fine. There is no clear dosage amount. I can just tell you what worked for me.

Don't change too much water, that can add extra stress. I usually only change about 30% for doing these treatments.

 

[DragonFish71]

Do not do a 100% waterchange do a 50 to 60% water change at most if you did a 100% waterchange you wouldnt have any bacteria in your tank that would make it livabe for your fish. Ok? Also how do these meds work, iv never herd of them.

The safeguard is a dog dewormer that happens to have the right medication, fenbendazole, that kills this parasite. Panacur, a horse dewormer has the same stuff. Through all my research, fenbendazole came up as the #1 way to kill the camallanus worm, which is a nematode. It just happens to be a very hard one to kill.

After treating 3 cases (in different tanks) successfully using the Safeguard, I always recommend it now.

 

[DragonFish71]

And just a FYI, QTing new fish is highly suggested, but camallanus has about a 6-10 week incubation period from what I found. So longer QTing is recommended.

 

[ocminpin]

To QT a fish ... Say I get a new Molly... I can use a 10 gal set up with filter etc the same things my other tanks have... Plants, substrate ... And leave the new fish in there for approx 2 Mths for signs of any problems...
And to help prepare a QT Tank I can add an extra filter to my already established tank to grow some beneficial bacteria for my QT tank...right?

 

[DragonFish71]

Exactly.

Ever since I found out about the long incubation time, I've been QTing for 2 months.

 

[ocminpin]

RE: taking out carbon from my filter... Do I just take the entire filter out and let the water run thru the plastic or tear open the filter and get out the black carbon and slide filter cartridge back in?
I feel silly asking so many questions, but this is all new to me... And you never learn if you don't ask, right?! thanks so much... I feel safe being guided by you guys.. And FYI to ME.. FMI? lol will it be possible for my pregnant females to have any live babies born after these treatments?

 

[ocminpin]

Oooohhhh AND I had been using my net in the infected tank, the fry tank with 65 Molly fry, and betta bowl (soon to be 5 gallon tank)....
I got a new net... When do I start using it? Tank (s) still infected....? **sigh**

Can I treat fry? 2 wks, 3 wks and 4 wks old... What to do there?

My betta Lucy... Is in a 1 gal container... Soon to move to 5 gallon cycled tank... I do 100% water changes with her weekly... Treat her
With food meds and do a 100% change?

 

[librarygirl]

Not sure about the carbon inside the filter pad (is it a filter pad with the carbon inside)? I'd slit the pad open and take the carbon out and put the filter pad back in (it has the beneficial bacteria on it so you don't want to get rid of it).

I'm not sure about the transfer of toxins through the net. I suppose it's possible. Maybe treat the molly tank with the tabs and the parasite food since that tank clearly has parasites and try giving the medicated food only to the betta. The fry...IDK, I would't give them meds but I'm not experienced with them yet (hope to be soon, I'd love some babies lol).

 

[ocminpin]

Yes i would think the fry are too young for medicated food...
Take them out and do a drastic cleaning? Boiling their gravel rocks? I used to do every other day full bowl changes on them before I got the fry tank and they tolerated it well and didn't act any differently... I just want to reduce the chances of that horrific worm infesting these little guys... I know 100% water changes aren't good but is it worse to let the worms establish themselves in the fry tank?
I just want to do whats best and I appreciate all your advice greatly! I'm not making a move yet till deciding what to do...

 

[ocminpin]

Do you see a problem If a female has live fry at this point putting them in the fry tank with the others?

 

[librarygirl]

You could just keep the fry tank clean, I agree with that. I wouldn't try to dose the fry with anything. Just keep anything you put into the infested tank away from the fry tank.

So, the female gave birth and you want to put her into the fry tank? Is it the mother? Is it from the main tank that has the parasite? If it's from the main tank I wouldn't put anything from that tank in with the fry. I'd treat the whole main tank as the others said with the tabs and the food, the betta with the food, and just keep the fry tank clean and see what happens.

Good luck, this is a lot to take on. I hope everyone gets better soon!

 

[ocminpin]

No the 3 pregnant moms-- Dalmatian Molly, silver lyretail and creamsicle lyretail haven't given birth... YET...
If they give birth to live fry what can i do with them? Isolate in a bowl for a few days and see what happens?

 

[GuppyLover]

Sorry you have to battle with camallanus worms They are tough little buggers. Dragonfish has a great method!! I used it too, and while it was to late to save my two angels, a guppy, and a molly she saved the rest of my fish. I hope you can conquer the worms!! Good luck!!

 

[ocminpin]

Thank you!!

 

[librarygirl]

No the 3 pregnant moms-- Dalmatian Molly, silver lyretail and creamsicle lyretail haven't given birth... YET...
If they give birth to live fry what can i do with them? Isolate in a bowl for a few days and see what happens?

Oh. Wow, three pregnant fish! Um, are they in the main tank with the sick molly? That's a hard call....I honestly don't know. I guess you could isolate the pregnant fish from everything else (if you have another tank lying around lol) and then once the fry drop give the moms the medicated food? And isolate the fry? Geez, sorry, this is beyond my expertise and Idont' want to give you bad advice. Maybe send Dragonfish a private message and ask her what to do, since she gave you good advice earlier.

Sorry.

 

[ocminpin]

Yea... The black Molly is pregnant too but I assume they aren't alive by now with the infestation of worms.... Or she'll abort... My other one that died last week i watched abort the entire egg sack... Weird..

 

[ocminpin]

Here are my six sickies....

* Female Black Molly
* Female Dalmatian Molly
* Female Silver Lyretail Molly
* Female Creamsicle Lyretail Molly
* Male Dalmatian Molly
* Male Gold Twin Bar Platy
(One is the lonliest number... I know, I know... )

They've quieted down with their dewormer dosings... Were "sleeping" on the bottom this morning and slowly came alive and were swimming around after the lights came on...
They're looking at me like, "dude.. We KNOW what you're putting in that food!!" they're slow to go after the BBS... any other live frozen food that would be good to disolve meds in? Their tank is so murky after meds in water...


View attachment 55860

 

[DragonFish71]

Try adding some garlic juice to get them to eat it. It helped with my angels who were being snobs. I guess the fish can smell the meds that soak into the frozen foods.

I wouldn't suggest moving anyone out of the main tank. Sadly, if one is infected the others can be as well. You might have to (for lack of a better word) sacrifice this round of fry from the pregnant moms to kill off the worm. I know, it's a horrible thought, but it might happen that way. I don't want to give you false hope that they will give live birth.


Just for future reference I always keep Safeguard, vitamin supplements and garlic guard on hand. Not only do I make my own fish food, it also helps in these situations when you're trying to get your fish to eat medicated foods.

Fish Foods & Supplements: V3 Triple Strength Vitamin Supplement by H2O Life

Fish Supplements: Seachem Garlic Guard