Help-> my jewels

[tnmichx6]

My 2 jewels have become rather lazy. And isolate themselves from the rest of the community. I noticed tonight they both have this reddish like hairs sticking out their anus. What do I do? I have jack dempseys and convicts and kenyi and yellow labs. None of which have any of the issues. While taking These photos I notices my one female jewel has whitening over her one eye.? I am about to remove both the jewels . Any sugestions?
The one just floats at the top and the other lays on the filter for the current maker.

 

[tnmichx6]

Addition pics

 

[tnmichx6]

okay, i have done alittle research on these red hairs.... its a parasite. i have the 2 fish that have the hair like issues removed from the tank. however then one jewel isnt liking being removed. i need to treat and clean my 55 gallon tank. however i have some yound and fry and eggs in this tank. anyone have any ideas?

 

[Sa1nt]

I'm afraid they are camallanus worms, as you might have already found out in your research.
One of the nastiest parasites/worms you could encounter in aquarium.
I had to battle it few years ago and it wiped out half of my tank inhabitants.

I found the most useful medication is levimasole. The following links should help you.

I hate to say this but if you can see the red worms, it's probably too late for the jewel. Once you applied the medication, you should see the worms drop out from the anus. Most of my fish did not survive this process as the worms anchored themselves too deep.
You should treat the whole tank because they spread easily, please repeat as per the links.

Good luck, don't give up. They will eventually go away.

http://www.loaches.com/disease-treatment/levamisole-hydrochloride-1/
http://plecoplanet.com/?page_id=48

 

[tnmichx6]

We lost 1 jewel this morning. He lost a lot of his red and started getting that greenish color.- and just floating. The other one seems to be doing okay. I have her in a 2.5 gallon by her self. I noticed one of my kenyi looked like maybe he was getting ick. Treated them yesterday. Doing 80% water change today. We go the Jews about 2 weeks ago from pets smart. Even the feeder fish we got from them died in my daughters tank. As well as a sucky pleaco . I thought it was from the sand. I an starting to think that maybe their fish are sick? Can I report them?

 

[Sa1nt]

Sorry to hear about your loss..
Are you treating the remaining fish with any medication?
I'm not sure what's the return policy at pets smart. Other members may have more idea.

 

[tnmichx6]

Yes we're treating the fish. And I'm watching my other fish for any changes/ I don't want to return the fish ? Lol, but it should be illegal to sell sick fish. I have just about all my cichlids for over 2 years and have never encountered anything like this. Not even ick. What to do?

 

[Sa1nt]

I doubt they know/care that the fish is sick.
Good opportunity for them to sell you some medication too lol

 

[christine2012]

Petsmart has a two week policy with a receipt. I'm sorry about your fish!

 

[Soccerfish]

sorry that your fish got sick. however this is why its recommended to quarantine your fish. petsmart may or may not have have known they were ill, but you should let the pet care manager know. yes, they may not care and I am not sure if they can do anything. But for something thats not common, i would let them know.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

i worked at petsmart for more the 3 years not a single time in that 3 years did any of our tanks become infested with parasites honestly i don't even remember any diseased fish whatsoever not even ich Petsmart has a very strict policy on where they get their fish from and even more strict policies about selling fish (employees are suppose to ask probing questions like what kind other fish do you have what size tank do you have how long has it been set up and if a customer is trying to do something like put an oscar in a 10g tank they are to refuse the sale and could be written up/fired if they don't) and they a very lenient return policy

parasites can be transmitted in many ways in general ones that reside in the gastrointestinal tract are most likely taken in with their food do you feed them anything other than processed pellets or flake when you feed them frozen or live food you risk disease also make sure you wash hands before and after caring for your fish you would be disgusted if you knew how many different microbes we carry on our skin (most are transient but some colonize) and in our GI tract there are many microscopic deviants that for the most part are kept at bay by our normal flora so make sure you wash your hands/arms before caring for your fish

 

[christine2012]

i worked at petsmart for more the 3 years not a single time in that 3 years did any of our tanks become infested with parasites honestly i don't even remember any diseased fish whatsoever not even ich Petsmart has a very strict policy on where they get their fish from and even more strict policies about selling fish (employees are suppose to ask probing questions like what kind other fish do you have what size tank do you have how long has it been set up and if a customer is trying to do something like put an oscar in a 10g tank they are to refuse the sale and could be written up/fired if they don't) and they a very lenient return policy

parasites can be transmitted in many ways in general ones that reside in the gastrointestinal tract are most likely taken in with their food do you feed them anything other than processed pellets or flake when you feed them frozen or live food you risk disease also make sure you wash hands before and after caring for your fish you would be disgusted if you knew how many different microbes we carry on our skin (most are transient but some colonize) and in our GI tract there are many microscopic deviants that for the most part are kept at bay by our normal flora so make sure you wash your hands/arms before caring for your fish

Your post is so hard to read without any punctuation. Sorry.

You may have experience at petsmart, but you can only speak for one branch, correct? Ill just say, my first 10 GALLON tank was loaded with a Jack Dempsey, a Senegal bichir, a common pleco, and many other things. All at the advice of a petsmart employee.

Not to mention leaving dead inhabitants in with livestock for days. I've seen it. A lot.

And I'm not hating on petsmart, I get my fish from there. But they go straight to qt.

 

[RLBeausoleil]

The store I worked at was well kept, further more the polices were strictly followed. If not corporate would come in more often, we would have to complete more workbooks and take more quizzes until we straitened up. Even if a lack luster employee didn't care to properly educated a customer, it doesn't take much more then common sense to conclude a ten gallon would not make a good home for a fourteen inch fish named after a heavy weight boxer. Nevertheless a responsible owner researches before they buy and always puts any fish strait into quarantine no matter where they come from. My WC fish stay in quarantine for at least a month and anything that comes from a store or breeder at least two weeks.

 

[Nimo]

Pet smart and pet co both around where I live have people working in the fish department that have no clue about fish. How to cycle a tank or what is allowed to be housed in what size tank.
I agree that fish keepers should do their research they should QT and should do everything possible to take care of their fish but not all people even in this day and age have access to computers to do research and may not be able to get to a library to do research. And farther more when I first started fish keeping I was given a lot of incorrect information by the employees of pet smart learned lessons at the cost of fish lives. Someone who is new to the hobby may not know any better than to take bad information because most people expect stores to have knowledgeable employees on the floor helping them, and I personally would rather be told " I don't know" or " I'm not sure" instead of some one guessing and giving bad information.

 

[christine2012]

The store I worked at was well kept, further more the polices were strictly followed. If not corporate would come in more often, we would have to complete more workbooks and take more quizzes until we straitened up. Even if a lack luster employee didn't care to properly educated a customer, it doesn't take much more then common sense to conclude a ten gallon would not make a good home for a fourteen inch fish named after a heavy weight boxer. Nevertheless a responsible owner researches before they buy and always puts any fish strait into quarantine no matter where they come from. My WC fish stay in quarantine for at least a month and anything that comes from a store or breeder at least two weeks.

Like I said, first tank ever. And I trusted those people at petsmart, I thought they'd give me good advice. (They claim to be experts, no?) But you're right, its not an excuse, however I was 13 at the time, and that's really the only justification I have. But point being, I have been to some sh***y petsmarts. I wish they were all just like yours. But unfortunately they are not. Like I said, there are thousands of them, you worked at one. I have moved all over the east coast due to my husband being a marine, and I have been to some fine petsmart establishments, but I have seen them just the opposite as well. Its nothing personal.

 

[christine2012]

Off topic. Were going to get in trouble. Later!