Possible parasite on firefish

G

Grumpyfish

Premium Member
Hi everyone, I’ve had a kole tang and a firefish in quarantine for almost 2 weeks.  Last night I was finally able to get a good look at the firefish (who normally hides when he sees me), and I noticed what looks like a curly white worm coming from the gill area on his right side. I could not tell whether it was actually coming out of his gills. He does not seem to be acting abnormally (no flashing or swimming funny), and he is eating.  I’ve attached a few photos.  (Sorry for the crappy quality.)  Any idea what it might be? I dosed PraziPro according to the directions.  Until last night, I had not dosed anything because I wanted to make sure they were eating well first.  My plan is to leave in the PraziPro for a week, do a big water change, and then start dosing Cupramine for the recommended 2 weeks.  If anyone has a better suggestion, I’d love to hear it.  I thought about a freshwater bath, but I’m not sure whether that’s any better than the meds. Thanks!View attachment 4187 
 
Not sure what that is, never seen that before.What your doing is what I would do. If it doesn't go away I would do the freshwater bath next.
 
Prazipro does its thing within the first 24 hours and pretty much dissipates after 48 hours. You should follow up with a second treatment within 5-7 days to kill any eggs that may have hatched before they become adults. There are some Praziquantel resistant worms. A fresh water dip for up to 5 minutes may dislodge it. Heat RODI water in preferably a black bucket (flukes turn white when they fall off) and aerate well for 30 minutes prior but remove the air stone prior to adding the fish. You can add a splash of tank water to raise the Ph. As a last resort--if the worm is large enough--you might attempt manual removal with twizers. Incidentally, your Cu treatment needs to be at a therapeutic level for 30 days to effectively kill off ich or velvet. Alternatively, you could transfer the fish (and only the fish) after 14 days to a clean QT at least 10' away. You have to get everything right for this to work. Cross contamination is a risk. 
 
Thank you, Smo. I appreciate the help. I didn't know that Prazi dissipated after 48 hours, so I will definitely retreat in a few days.  At this time, I plan on treating with Cupramine starting next week or the week after (after a big water change and running carbon for a few days).  I wish I had the room to set up another tank for doing a tank-to-tank transfer, but I don't.  If the Cupramine doesn't work, I'll figure out somewhere to put one temporarily (that is, if my wife doesn't kill me first). As for the freshwater dip or manual removal, the fish doesn't seem to be in distress and is eating like a pig now, so I'm going to hold off on those for now and see if the fish heals on its own. Also, I'm starting to wonder if the "parasite" isn't just a piece of skin hanging off, perhaps from the fish running into something sharp in the tank. I haven't been able to get a really good look, but it hasn't changed or gotten worse as far as I can tell. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking :)Thank you again.  
 
[For anyone still interested, I believe I have identified the parasite: Serpentisaccus Magnificae][It's a species of copepod that theoretically only infects firefish (hence the “Magnificae” in the name). The stringy things protruding from the gill area are egg sacks. The beast itself is embedded deep in the fish. Apparently ending up with a fish infected with one of these is fairly rare, so I guess I just got lucky. ][From what I can gather, treatment options are limited. Conventional treatments for parasites (Cupramine/copper, freshwater dips, PraziPro, and so on) might help with the eggs, but they might not work on the parasite itself because it is embedded deep in the fish. Manual removal is another option, but that likely won’t end well for the fish if you try to remove the parasite itself and not just the egg sacks. ][At this point, I’m undecided as to what to do next.  Given the likelihood of success, performing surgery seems pointless and cruel.  I’ve been dosing PraziPro, but after tomorrow’s water change, I may try a freshwater or Formalin dip and then start a Cupramine or ParaGuard treatment.  If I can’t help the firefish, I at least don’t want the kole tang infected (lesson learned: never quarantine two new fish at the same time). If that doesn’t help, I may put the firefish in a small tank by itself until nature takes its course. ]
 
What about Levamasole or the other internal dewormers?There are a couple other common ones, but I mention that one because it works on intestinal parasites even without being added to food.
 
I should add, Levamasole works, at least the times I've used it (freshwater, but it has marine uses as well) by paralyzing the worm, which after however long kills it.  With intestinal parasites the fish will generally pass the worms.  With worms that have made it into the body cavity (as in this case) there is a risk to the fish as the worm is now dead and decomposing inside the host.  If the fish is big enough relative to the worm, the fish's immune system will take care of it, if not you may lose the fish.  Still better than getting other things infected, including more worms in the same fish IMO.Note that Levamasole may knock out other smaller inverts (snails, brittle stars, hermits), and as a benefit tends to knock out some flatworms and nudis (retreat at appropriate interval(s) if going after eggs).
 
Sorry for the late reply, and thank you very much for the suggestion.  A dewormer never occurred to me.  (I'm not much brighter than my fish.)  I'm not sure about Levamasole, so I think I'll try Seachem MetroPlex instead. It can be used to treat the tank or just the food.  If he won't eat the treated food, I'll dose the tank. I'll pick up some tonight on the way home. The fish are in a QT, so no worries about killing anything else except a few bristleworms that hitchhiked in on the sponges I transferred over from my DT's sump.  As for losing the firefish, I think that will happen anyway if I don't do anything. Over the weekend I noticed him acting a little sluggish and hanging out near the surface in one corner. He may be struggling to breath. He's still eating, but not that enthusiastically.  Thank you again! 
 
I suggest API General Cure. It contains praziquantel for treating gill flukes and some internal parasites and metronidazole which is good at eradicating internal parasites...even ones that praziquantel doesn't treat. You'll want to perform two full rounds spread 7 days apart (4 total doses, each round contains two doses spaced at 48 hour intervals). Metroplex and possibly Kanaplex would be good to follow up as antibiotics. Metro also treats internal parasites when combined with Seachem Focus to bind it to food. Since none of these meds taste good you may also need to add garlic to the food. 
 
Thanks, Smo. I didn't get to the LFS last night like I had hoped, but I'll try again tonight and start treatment tomorrow morning.  I've been dosing ParaGuard every morning, so today's dose should be gone by tomorrow morning. I do have a question about General Cure. Considering how often it is dosed, I am guessing that General Cure stays active for 48 hours, and the second round 7 days later is to catch any recently hatched parasites. Can I still do a water change as long as it's not within 48 hours of dosing? 
 
It's been almost a month, so I wanted to post an update.  I treated the QT with API General Cure and fed frozen food treated with MetroPlex and Focus for about 3 weeks. I saw no change in the firefish's behavior, and I can clearly see that the parasite is still alive and well. I did not want to just flush her (she's still a beautiful little fish), and I certainly didn't want to put her in the DT, so I set her up in her own 5-gallon condo. I already had the tank.  I just added sand, rocks, and a heater. And I made her a little house! So far, she seems to be doing fine.  In fact, she seems more active and alert than before. If she continues to do well, I may upgrade the light (it's pretty weak) and add a few corals.  View attachment 4580
 
Wow sorry that parasite is still there.So awesome of you to setup a tank just for that one fish, that is so cool of you. :)
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I read about Levamisole when I first started researching treatment options.  I don't remember exactly why I chose not to go that route, but I'll look into it again. Either way, I'm not sure that I want to try anything new, especially if it means moving the firefish back to the QT. She's already stressed enough from the move and frequent water changes. (I made the stupid mistake of moving her to the new tank too soon, and nitrates are up.)  Also, the parasite is large enough that you can actually see its outline under the fish's skin. I'm worried that if I managed to kill the parasite, it would take the fish with it. This hobby is so much fun. 
 
If it's laying eggs, are you concerned about the pods eventually overwhelming the fish?One of my books recommends formalin 1ml/20L, a combo of formalin/malachite green at 25mg/L or Trichlorfon at 100mg/L for parasitic copepods.It says the meds will kill young pods when they hatch but not the female so several treatments over a period of several weeks are needs to eradicate all the various stages of the life cycle. Administering antibiotics was recommended as well.I also wonder if an Interceptor treatment would have any effect. Since red bugs are a pod, I wonder if the parasitic pod would be affected...Bummer about this but good reminder why quarantine is important. 
 
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