Cat and Beta?

Question

Ok so i just found out my cat Duchess has tape worms (we will be taking care of that before spreads to toher cat and two dogs). Today i found her drinking out of my betas tank water. Is it possible for the fish to get worms or something and die because the fish is so cool looking its white, and its actually outlined in blue ive never seen one like that. Should i change the water right away??

Ok so i was reading a couple of answers and i do know that tape worms can travel through saliva

Answer 1

i am pretty sure worms spread through poop so your litter box would be ground zero. you should keep something over your fish because cats like to go fishing. you can get plastic canvas from most craft stores and walmart and cut it to fit over most smaller tanks.

Answer 2

I don't know about the cat transferring worms to a fish. I am pretty sure worms live in the intestines or in the heart (heart worm) and saliva is not a fluid the worms live in. My cat LOVES my fish water. She gets on the tank several times a day to drink. Your cat has probably been doing the same for a period of time. Since the cat has already had a drink, I don't think there is much you can do now. You probably run the risk of killing your fish adding chemicals to the tank and raising the osmotic pressure of the water trying to kill worms that might not be there.

Answer 3

G and Ajetter are correct in that the tapeworms are spread primarily through feces. The adult worms grow in your cat's intestines and pieces of it's body and ejected eggs are passed with the stool. That's not to say that your cat couldn't get eggs in its mouth from cleaning itself.

It's doubtful that the infection would spread to your fish in this way. I would examine the stools of your other pets, though. In my experience with household pets, if one's got it, so will some of the others. Clean all the litterboxes and keep the pets inside for a while.

Your betta sounds nice - a reverse butterfly coloration!