does this ram have parasites

[wicca27]

try feeding peas. if they are blocked up for lack of a better term lol feeding peas (canned frozen or fresh) with the shell/skin removed will help them get back to normal. ive done this with several kinds of fish in the past and would be a good way to know if it was that or parasite.

on a side note both male and female have the same fin shape?

[@marko@]

wicca, check out the last few pages of my 20 gal journal and youll see plenty of pics of both.

caught the female defecating. mostly clearish stuff with a dark blob. do this pics reveal anything?

[HD Blazingwolf]

I would treat internal parasites with a food based medication.. usually the best and only treatment for stomach type parasites..

unless i missed something there??

[@marko@]

wouldve already fed medicated food, but i cant get her to eat at all.

[msawdey]

if she wont eat... its time to treat the column then...

As far as the parasite... can you see anything sticking out? Any worm or anything like that?

If not, prazipro or Quickcure may be the way to go. If you see a small pink worm, its Callamanus. Which is a whole different post.

[@marko@]

this is the 3rd day of a API general cure treatment (parziquantel and metronidazole). and she is still slowly getting worse. i will try levamisole in a few days. it works against callamanus according to what i have read, and is very safe, too. i did not so far see any such worm sticking out though, i just dont know what else to try, and doing nothing didnt work.

[msawdey]

I wouldn't treat with lev until you see worms sticking out. It's not that safe. I just went through a dosing regime with it following Charles instructions. There is a recent post on te forum

[Jeffww]

Have you tried using garlic to get it to eat?

[mordalphus]

Levamisole is good because it only paralyzes the parasites and they are pooped out. But it doesn't kill them, you need to vacuum them out or treat with another medication that kills them. I used Levamisole on camallanus worms and then followed it up with a fenbendazole treatment to kill any worms that fell to the bottom of the tank.

[msawdey]

Originally Posted by mordalphus

Levamisole is good because it only paralyzes the parasites and they are pooped out. But it doesn't kill them, you need to vacuum them out or treat with another medication that kills them. I used Levamisole on camallanus worms and then followed it up with a fenbendazole treatment to kill any worms that fell to the bottom of the tank.

Thats not true actually.... http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/Camallanu...Procedure.html

I literally did like last week. It does kill the callamanus and you actually do see the fish evacuating the worm. Often, the worms become white and are clearly dead.

[@marko@]

so i was intently watching the fish willing them to be better, and notice some white dots on their pectoral fins. probably nothing, but maybe ich? ich could stress them into not eating... here are some pics, what do you guys think

[Mumford]

Are there more dots in person? I can't see more than 1?

[msawdey]

its looks to me maybe its more of a stress thing and the fins are sort of coming apart. I know I have seen that in my fish. The big thing here is getting her to eat. Her color is definitely still there which makes me think she is not all that stressed out, but then again, the fins are showing otherwise. Does she have any fin splitting anywhere? I still think she has an internal parasite other than callamanus

[marko d]

I will say if it is callamanus, small fish are verrrrry sensitive to levamisol. Larger fish don't seem to take it as hard. I lost 5 neon tetras in the span of about 30 minutes after adding the 2nd round of levamisol. Good luck with everything, hope it turns out for the better!!

[The Trigger]

Might be fungus. First ram I ever had got fungus on the dorsal fin a couple days after being in my tank. Did nothing but water changes and it eventually cleared it up on it own. So yeah it could still be a stress thing