Eel and Lion Parasites

[piranhaman00]

Hello,


Can eels and/or lion fish get external parasites such as crypto and velvet? Is it safe to treat for internal flukes/worms with general cure on eels and lions?

thanns

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lions yes and eels are generally resistant but I wouldn’t rule them out from getting any

 

[lion king]

They are very resistant to protozoan diseases, eels almost completely. When lions do contact velvet or ick their health and tank conditions are already in question. Treating with gc is a good idea as they do many times come in with internal parasites and even flukes. If you are good at observation then no meds at all is alwaysthe best recourse. They have a better chance when initially in an observation tank, and absolutely no copper, and it is not wise to obtain from a source that runs copper in their system.

 

[piranhaman00]

They are very resistant to protozoan diseases, eels almost completely. When lions do contact velvet or ick their health and tank conditions are already in question. Treating with gc is a good idea as they do many times come in with internal parasites and even flukes. If you are good at observation then no meds at all is alwaysthe best recourse. They have a better chance when initially in an observation tank, and absolutely no copper, and it is not wise to obtain from a source that runs copper in their system.

What about internal parasites with eels? How would one diagnose if fish is eating well, how would one treat?

 

[lion king]

What about internal parasites with eels? How would one diagnose if fish is eating well, how would one treat?

Eels do come in with internal parasites and treatment would be general cure, fritz paracleanse, or a combination of prazi pro and metro; in the water column. Not eating is one sign and many people let it go by saying it is normal for eels to have a hunger strike. Then their appetite will get somewhat voracious and the person thinks, oh yeah they are eating. Then they stop eating again, for the last time. While it can be difficult to get a new addition to eat, it is important to get them eating, tempting with live food if necessary. If you can't get them on a regular feeding routine within a couple of weeks, I would treat. It seems to be so common, it's not a bad idea to treat prophylactically. They can live for a few months with internal parasites before it kills them.

 

[piranhaman00]

Eels do come in with internal parasites and treatment would be general cure, fritz paracleanse, or a combination of prazi pro and metro; in the water column. Not eating is one sign and many people let it go by saying it is normal for eels to have a hunger strike. Then their appetite will get somewhat voracious and the person thinks, oh yeah they are eating. Then they stop eating again, for the last time. While it can be difficult to get a new addition to eat, it is important to get them eating, tempting with live food if necessary. If you can't get them on a regular feeding routine within a couple of weeks, I would treat. It seems to be so common, it's not a bad idea to treat prophylactically. They can live for a few months with internal parasites before it kills them.

My lion seems to be shedding its skin, is this normal?

 

[lion king]

My lion seems to be shedding its skin, is this normal?

Yes, you may see a little fading in color, chalky like, maybe even cloudy eyes. Sometimes their appetite my wane for a couple of days. They may flash and may even see bits of skin floating around. Most times you don't even notice. This may just be a normal thing and sometimes a tank chemistry change may spur it. This is one of the attributes that makes it difficult for protazoan diseases to attach.

 

[piranhaman00]

Yes, you may see a little fading in color, chalky like, maybe even cloudy eyes. Sometimes their appetite my wane for a couple of days. They may flash and may even see bits of skin floating around. Most times you don't even notice. This may just be a normal thing and sometimes a tank chemistry change may spur it. This is one of the attributes that makes it difficult for protazoan diseases to attach.

Thanks, what about eel with cloudy eye? Twice a year or so she gets a single cloudy eye, I’m sure from damage, clears on it’s own. This cloudy eye seems different than usual though. It’s just a single eye, this usually means damage vs disease right?

 

[lion king]

Thanks, what about eel with cloudy eye? Twice a year or so she gets a single cloudy eye, I’m sure from damage, clears on it’s own. This cloudy eye seems different than usual though. It’s just a single eye, this usually means damage vs disease right?

Yes a single eye usually does indicate an injury. They can bang and rub their eyes on rocks and such. Good water quality and a good diet it will clear up in it's own. Especially with the fang tooth eels being a bit more dynamic, in the confined spaces of captivity in can happen. If it is happening often they may be in a tank too small or inadaquate spacing of rock for cruising.

 

[piranhaman00]

Yes a single eye usually does indicate an injury. They can bang and rub their eyes on rocks and such. Good water quality and a good diet it will clear up in it's own. Especially with the fang tooth eels being a bit more dynamic, in the confined spaces of captivity in can happen. If it is happening often they may be in a tank too small or inadaquate spacing of rock for cruising.

If flukes were the cause how long could I wait to treat? I think it’s an injury and I have a lion in the tank with her so I don’t want to use meds. I want to see if it will heal on its own, it’s very light cloudy and not puffy.

 

[lion king]

If flukes were the cause how long could I wait to treat? I think it’s an injury and I have a lion in the tank with her so I don’t want to use meds. I want to see if it will heal on its own, it’s very light cloudy and not puffy.

Flukes would likely show in both eyes and they would also likely be doing this head shaking thing. You would use prazi pro and lions can tolerate it fine, just make sure your dosage is correct, dosed to water volume not tank size. You can also split the pp dose into 3rds and dose over 24 hrs. Repeat after 5 days for any hatched eggs. Lions can also get flukes so you would want to dose the tank. How is everyone's appetite? A lion with flukes may go off feeding and hang at the surface of the water.

 

[piranhaman00]

Flukes would likely show in both eyes and they would also likely be doing this head shaking thing. You would use prazi pro and lions can tolerate it fine, just make sure your dosage is correct, dosed to water volume not tank size. You can also split the pp dose into 3rds and dose over 24 hrs. Repeat after 5 days for any hatched eggs. Lions can also get flukes so you would want to dose the tank. How is everyone's appetite? A lion with flukes may go off feeding and hang at the surface of the water.

Here’s the full story,

I took in a small blue tang that was supposedly QT, and who I thought was big enough to survive the eel, she currently resides with two clowns and some damsels that she doesn’t bother.

The tang was doing well but at one point I noticed a white stringy poop , although the tang had many normal poops so not sure, I’m also not 100% convinced that white poop always means internal issues. I also so the tang flash once, but my other blue tang in diff system flashes for no reason other than being a blue tang.

Anyhow, the eel ended up eating the tang one night, and a few days later developed a single cloudy eye, not sure if it’s coincidental or not.

Eel and lion eating well, other fish have no symptoms.

Thanks for any more advice!

 

[lion king]

Here’s the full story,

I took in a small blue tang that was supposedly QT, and who I thought was big enough to survive the eel, she currently resides with two clowns and some damsels that she doesn’t bother.

The tang was doing well but at one point I noticed a white stringy poop , although the tang had many normal poops so not sure, I’m also not 100% convinced that white poop always means internal issues. I also so the tang flash once, but my other blue tang in diff system flashes for no reason other than being a blue tang.

Anyhow, the eel ended up eating the tang one night, and a few days later developed a single cloudy eye, not sure if it’s coincidental or not.

Eel and lion eating well, other fish have no symptoms.

Thanks for any more advice!

Curious, white stringy poo is pretty much internal parasites, which in turn, means that the eel has them now. It can literally take several weeks for an infection like this to progress to death in an eel. A proactive response would be the best approach even though you do have time. Treatment is always easiest when the parasite load isn't as large. What will happen is the parasite load will increase to the point in which it will interfere with his appetite, then they will stop eating. After that they will get a very voracious appetite, basically starving to death due to the parasites consuming everything, then they will stop eating for the last time. This can take a while; because eels have a reputation for going on hunger strikes, many people miss this and in turn it ends badly. Lions don't eat poop therefore they can't catch the internal parasites from the eel, but other fish many times will graze on the poo which in turn means they can catch it. Lions can tolerate the treatment that is needed, which would be general cure or fritz paracleanse. These 2 contain both prazi pro and metro which covers the widest range of worms and internal parasites. While prazi pro alone may work, depending on the type of parasite, metro may be needed. As stated above, be very careful of dosage, again to the water volume not tank size. I keep repeating this because I have found so many cases of failure, which almost always points to an overdose.

 

[piranhaman00]

Curious, white stringy poo is pretty much internal parasites, which in turn, means that the eel has them now. It can literally take several weeks for an infection like this to progress to death in an eel. A proactive response would be the best approach even though you do have time. Treatment is always easiest when the parasite load isn't as large. What will happen is the parasite load will increase to the point in which it will interfere with his appetite, then they will stop eating. After that they will get a very voracious appetite, basically starving to death due to the parasites consuming everything, then they will stop eating for the last time. This can take a while; because eels have a reputation for going on hunger strikes, many people miss this and in turn it ends badly. Lions don't eat poop therefore they can't catch the internal parasites from the eel, but other fish many times will graze on the poo which in turn means they can catch it. Lions can tolerate the treatment that is needed, which would be general cure or fritz paracleanse. These 2 contain both prazi pro and metro which covers the widest range of worms and internal parasites. While prazi pro alone may work, depending on the type of parasite, metro may be needed. As stated above, be very careful of dosage, again to the water volume not tank size. I keep repeating this because I have found so many cases of failure, which almost always points to an overdose.

I can do prazi in water column and attempt to feed general cure.

How would you recommend feeding general cure to eel?

Alternative would be to remove eel to qt tank but that would be difficult in tank with coral and rock

 

[lion king]

The general cure needs to be in the water column, if this is reef it presents a problem. While prazi may do the trick, metro may be needed and it is not suggested for a reef, you may want to research this yourself. Using in food will not work for eels or lions for that matter, as the dose needs to be given daily. If you read reports from more experienced with meds they will state that the dosage is usually never achieved via food. I have suggested feeding a little bit every day with the meds for people that decided not to treat in the water column, it never worked.

 

[piranhaman00]

The general cure needs to be in the water column, if this is reef it presents a problem. While prazi may do the trick, metro may be needed and it is not suggested for a reef, you may want to research this yourself. Using in food will not work for eels or lions for that matter, as the dose needs to be given daily. If you read reports from more experienced with meds they will state that the dosage is usually never achieved via food. I have suggested feeding a little bit every day with the meds for people that decided not to treat in the water column, it never worked.

Interesting ok, I will have to remove the eel if treatment is needed.

She is still feeding well so I’m going to see if I see any symptoms ie stop eating before deciding to treat, I will dose prazi in the mean time.

Prazi with lion should be dosed slowly over 24 hours and maybe less than 2.5mg/L they suggest?

 

[lion king]

Interesting ok, I will have to remove the eel if treatment is needed.

She is still feeding well so I’m going to see if I see any symptoms ie stop eating before deciding to treat, I will dose prazi in the mean time.

Prazi with lion should be dosed slowly over 24 hours and maybe less than 2.5mg/L they suggest?

If you feel better dosing pp in 3rds that's fine. I have successfully treated dozens(or more) of every species of lion with pp, not splitting the dose. Everytime someone states they had a problem I always find they overdosed the drug. It is very important to establish the water volume, accounting for all displacement of rocks, substrate, etc. I know it sounds silly to keep harping on this, but you would be surprised how many people really don,'t get it. Distress is essily observed and remedied with a water change and the addition of carbon.

 

[piranhaman00]

If you feel better dosing pp in 3rds that's fine. I have successfully treated dozens(or more) of every species of lion with pp, not splitting the dose. Everytime someone states they had a problem I always find they overdosed the drug. It is very important to establish the water volume, accounting for all displacement of rocks, substrate, etc. I know it sounds silly to keep harping on this, but you would be surprised how many people really don,'t get it. Distress is essily observed and remedied with a water change and the addition of carbon.

Ya I’m comfortable not dosing to the tank volume.

Thanks for all your help, I’m going to dose prazi and keep on eye on things. Removing eel and dosing metro is last resort

 

[lion king]

Ya I’m comfortable not dosing to the tank volume.

Thanks for all your help, I’m going to dose prazi and keep on eye on things. Removing eel and dosing metro is last resort

You can dose pp and it may eradicate the issue if present. Just be aware if the eel goes of feeding, don't let it go too long before addressing. There is time to observe and react if necessary, as I stated earlier, the whole process from 1st exposure to the end can take as much as several weeks, I've even seen longer. You likely won't see stringy poo on the eel, but you may see what looks like white stringy shaved plastic looking remnants around the tank(that's the best way I can describe it).

 

[piranhaman00]

You can dose pp and it may eradicate the issue if present. Just be aware if the eel goes of feeding, don't let it go too long before addressing. There is time to observe and react if necessary, as I stated earlier, the whole process from 1st exposure to the end can take as much as several weeks, I've even seen longer. You likely won't see stringy poo on the eel, but you may see what looks like white stringy shaved plastic looking remnants around the tank(that's the best way I can describe it).

Ya I’m going to just wait and see if there even is an issue first, she is still eating fine, it’s just that cloudy eye I saw, but it’s already getting clearer and never got puffy so I think it was just an injury.

Will keep an eye out though.