Seeking some suggestions on internal parasite treatment

[trevorhiller]

I was doing some tank maintenance today for some hair algae and noticed that my clown fish had long pieces of poop hanging off them. I tried to snap a video quickly, forgive the poor quality as I was in the midst of cleaning the rocks and glass so the tank is a mess. As soon as I turned my flow back on, this poop broke off and I was able to snag it with a pair of tongs to look at under the microscope. It looked like poop to me, but with a recently fish loss and now this, I don't want to take any chances. I feel like treatment is in order to make sure.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

EDIT: This video uploaded like garbage to youtube, but I can send it to you if you want to see in better detail if it helps diagnose. Just message me.

Clownfish seem ok otherwise, but I recently lost a new fish after 11 days that I had added to the tank for no apparent reason. Running theory was acclimation stress because clownfish were asymptomatic. I watched the clownfish for about 10 days after the loss and never saw any symptoms, now of course I have a replacement fish on order due to be shipped any day and I see this--SO FRUSTRATING! Anyway I want to treat to be safe and want to see what your recommendations are.

1. Prazi vs Metroplex vs API general cure (I have prazi and metroplex on hand, would need to order general cure-although I suppose I could dose prazi to the tank and food soak the metroplex for a similar effect)
2. Food soak or treat the tank? I understand food soaking is better, but I will need to order some focus as I don't have any.
3. Do I pull the clownfish out to a hospital tank to treat them or treat in the reef?
4. Regarding the new fish on order, do I isolate them from the clowns until treatment is finished? I've got a 60 gallon reef and 10 gallon QT tank setup so if I need to separate them, I need to make a decision on who is going to be where.

Appreciate the insight

 

[MnFish1]

My answer - I dont see anything worrisome in the video. 2. You shoudl QT all of the fish at the same time - with copper followed by Prazipro. This is only because of recent fish loss - but you didnt give tha much information about that.

Then leave your tank fallow for 45- 76 days depending on the protocol.

Only saying this since you're ordering fish - and have questions about QT - you might as well do all of them at once. If you're just going to drop the new fish in - you can ignore this.

 

[vetteguy53081]

before assuming internal issue, by chance are you feeding mysis shrimp, brine shrimp or both ?
If so, often these foods will mimic internal issues where it does not exist. If you are feeding those shrimp based meals, stop feeding them these foods for 5 days and add Hikari marine cuisine or LRS fish frenzy to the diet and color of poop will change

Other symptoms with internal parasites are :
Loss of appetite
fish with pinched stomach
lethargic behavior

Video show a lot of suspended matter. What filtration are you using ? What is your maintenance schedule?

 

[trevorhiller]

My answer - I dont see anything worrisome in the video. 2. You shoudl QT all of the fish at the same time - with copper followed by Prazipro. This is only because of recent fish loss - but you didnt give tha much information about that.

Then leave your tank fallow for 45- 76 days depending on the protocol.

Only saying this since you're ordering fish - and have questions about QT - you might as well do all of them at once. If you're just going to drop the new fish in - you can ignore this.

The fish I previously ordered were QTed fish from a reliable source as are the replacement. That was why there was a low suspicon of disease previously. I lost a Tomini tang after 11 days in the tank. He just seemed to die with no warning signs. At the time I questioned if it could be some hidden internal parasite and everyone thought no because it wouldn't kill a fish that quickly and the clowns hadn't had any symptoms. But now with this poop that looked kind of white to me I'm reconsidering whether they could have something. The clowns had come from Petco.

 

[Derrick0580]

Try metroplex with focus

 

[trevorhiller]

before assuming internal issue, by chance are you feeding mysis shrimp, brine shrimp or both ?
If so, often these foods will mimic internal issues where it does not exist. If you are feeding those shrimp based meals, stop feeding them these foods for 5 days and add Hikari marine cuisine or LRS fish frenzy to the diet and color of poop will change

Other symptoms with internal parasites are :
Loss of appetite
fish with pinched stomach
lethargic behavior

I have frozen brine shrimp but I haven't fed that in over a week. I had cut back on feeding because of a hair algae bloom and have only been feeding TDO pellets and ocean nutrition formula 2 flakes for the last week.

 

[Spare time]

If you are worried, you can dose prazi in the tank without issues.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I was doing some tank maintenance today for some hair algae and noticed that my clown fish had long pieces of poop hanging off them. I tried to snap a video quickly, forgive the poor quality as I was in the midst of cleaning the rocks and glass so the tank is a mess. As soon as I turned my flow back on, this poop broke off and I was able to snag it with a pair of tongs to look at under the microscope. It looked like poop to me, but with a recently fish loss and now this, I don't want to take any chances. I feel like treatment is in order to make sure.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

EDIT: This video uploaded like garbage to youtube, but I can send it to you if you want to see in better detail if it helps diagnose. Just message me.

Clownfish seem ok otherwise, but I recently lost a new fish after 11 days that I had added to the tank for no apparent reason. Running theory was acclimation stress because clownfish were asymptomatic. I watched the clownfish for about 10 days after the loss and never saw any symptoms, now of course I have a replacement fish on order due to be shipped any day and I see this--SO FRUSTRATING! Anyway I want to treat to be safe and want to see what your recommendations are.

1. Prazi vs Metroplex vs API general cure (I have prazi and metroplex on hand, would need to order general cure-although I suppose I could dose prazi to the tank and food soak the metroplex for a similar effect)
2. Food soak or treat the tank? I understand food soaking is better, but I will need to order some focus as I don't have any.
3. Do I pull the clownfish out to a hospital tank to treat them or treat in the reef?
4. Regarding the new fish on order, do I isolate them from the clowns until treatment is finished? I've got a 60 gallon reef and 10 gallon QT tank setup so if I need to separate them, I need to make a decision on who is going to be where.

Appreciate the insight

Soaking food is pretty much useless - the dosage is completely unknown when you do that. Gel diet with a prescribed dose works, I have an article on medicated food posted here.
Brown feces are of no concern. The white feces can be a sign of bacteria or protozoan, but also diet change, starvation and sometimes, no reason at all.
Metroplex in the water will cover some gut protozoan issues.
Prazi only treats flukes and cestodes and neither of those cause white feces.
Jay

 

[trevorhiller]

Thank you everyone, I think I am going to continue to monitor them and see if I notice any more concerning feces. It could have just been that the flow was off and that's why it was hanging off the fish. I just sort of freaked out because of the new fish on the way and don't want to lose more fish.

They do look perfectly fine otherwise, so I don't want to go dumping anything in my tank without being sure and it sounds like food soaking might not be as easy/risk free as I thought.