What kind of parasite do i have in my flowerhorn's fish tank and how should i treat it?

Question

Hi, yesterday I bought small fish feeders from a pet store and fed about five to my flowerhorn. Five hours later my boyfriend notice alot little white worms floating around the tank. We didnt think it was the feeders. So quarantine our fish, and did clean out tank and add new water. We saw that the feeders were dying quickly so split them up in 3 of our tanks, w/ none of our flowerhorns in the tank yet. Minutes later, my boyfriend saw one of the feeders spitting up tiny white worms. Then we started to assumed the parasites came from the feeders. The next day I confronted the fish store owner and he said the worms wouldn't of grown so fast. And it wasnt from his feeders. The worms are in all 3of my tanks and start seeing them after I put the feeders in..Could it be the feeders that cause the parasites to grow in such a short period of time? Or is my tank contaminated already? What should I do now to treat my flowerhorns I dont really want to see anything happen to them. Thanks

Answer 1

Those don't sound like a parasite at all but instead the larvae of some small fly or midge. Odds are good the feeders had fed heavily on them at some point at spit them out from time to time and they ended up in all of your tanks. It's also possible they were in your feeder tank when you added the feeders and were then transferred to the main tank with the feeder fish.

One thing is for certain, the feeders would not have been spitting out a parasitic worm, it just doesn't work out that way.

Since most treatments for internal parasites are quite harsh on the fish, I would suggest you watch the situation carefully for any changes. If these are larvae, they will hatch within a few days and you will probably notice tiny gnats or midges near the tanks.

I surely wouldn't recommend any treatment unless you see significant signs of a parasite infestation in the fish.

MM

Answer 2

If you are pretty sure that you are dealing with parasites,one relatively harmless cure would be garlic,some old-timer fish breeders incorporate it in all their feeds,and swear that it will stop parasites. By the way,I don't like flowerhorn's because they are a silly hybrid,but nothing should suffer.