My husband brought home a small perch after a fishing trip in May. "Gill" has been happily living (alone) in our 55g since then. Today, we noticed black spots on his fins, so I looked up his symptoms on fishyfarmacy.com. This is what I read:
"Black or brown nodules appear on and between the fin rays and at their bases........
.......If the fish were captured in the wild, they could have encapsulated worm larvae (metacercariae)......
......Treat with De-Los"
I tried looking for the active ingredient listed for De-Los, but there was none.
Is this the right diagnosis to begin with, and if so, what medication should I use? Something for external parasites/worms?
2007-12-01 05:15:12 · 4 answers · asked by punchy333 6 in Pets ➔ Fish
Small black spots are a larval form of a parasitic fluke that attach to a fish to disperse. Unless you have a lot of them, these rarely cause any harm to the fish - they're just looking for a free ride to a new home. Since conditions in the tank rarely allow the flukes to survive to reproductive adulthood (birds and snails are needed to complete the life cycle), you won't have to worry about the number increasing.
I've kept a number of wild-caught fish (for a native fish display at a local university) and I never bothered to try and eliminate this - it's something the fish live with in the wild. If it bothers you and you want to treat the fish, any medication for external parasites should work. (I like fishyfarmacy for diagnosis, but they tend to suggest a very limited number of brands for treatment.)
NOTE: Nitrofuracin also contains an antibiotic which will upset the beneficial bacteria in the tank that cycle the wastes of your fish, leaving it open to potential ammonia and nitrite poisoning. Your problem is a parasite, and antibiotics won't affect them. Unnecessary use of antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistance, so future bacterial infections may be even harder to treat.
2007-12-01 07:02:44 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could also be ammonia burns, especially if you just set up the tank for the fish. I would first check the water quality, make sure the ammonia and nitrites are at 0 ppm, and nitrates under 20 ppm. If those levels are off, then I'd say that's the most likely culprit.
If the levels check out fine, then I would treat with a dewormer. That black spot on wild fish is caused by a trematode parasite I believe. Parasite Clear by Jungle Labs may work, it's main ingredient is praziquantel. That De-Los must be their own medication, can't find it listed anywhere else.
But, being it's a wild caught fish, probably wouldn't hurt to deworm it anyway. You could try a antiparasite medicated food-assuming he's eating pellet food, that'll help with any internal parasites.
2007-12-01 05:41:23 · answer #2 · answered by tikitiki 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes this sounds like the right diagnosis. This parasite is common among panfish, especially in river systems. Most of them live out their lives without having any serious difficulties from this infestation. I've never treated fish for this parasite so I'm not sure what medication would work. You also may want to check local laws. In most states it's not legal to keep gamefish caught in the wild as pets.
2007-12-01 05:24:14 · answer #3 · answered by brddg1974 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NITROFURACIN. Cures almost everything. It works wonders.
2007-12-01 06:21:34 · answer #4 · answered by Robert B 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋