How to treat bacterial infection & planaria worms simultaneously?

[elbereth]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the long post. Those of you who take the time to read this, many thanks in advance.

I suspect my polypterus delhezi has some of infection: he's become less active and is eating less than usual. I raised the tank temperature and thought I'd treat with aquarium salt. But while doing a water change today, I noticed what I'm sure are small planaria on the glass. (I'm 100% certain they're not detritus worms.) I suspect they were brought in by the plant I bought a week ago. (I did soak in a strong solution of potassium permanganate but looks like it was ineffective.)

So here are my questions... (If you could refer to the number in your posts, I'd really appreciate it. I'm panicking as it is and this will help me stay organized.)

1. How to distinguish between bacterial or fungal infections? I understand from the sticky on polypterid diseases that fungal infections can manifest themselves as whitish streaks on the body and my delhezi has been paling lately especially around the head and upper body, which I attributed to the pale substrate. I can't tell if that's all it is or if its a fungal growth because he's a light gray to begin with: any "whitish streaks" would blend in. (And I can't get a good picture because he's taken to hiding all day. Will try to post one asap.)

2. Would aquarium salt be strong enough for something like this?

3. Is there an antibiotic treatment that will help my bichir AND kill the planaria?

4. If not, and I have to treat the bichir and tank separately, could I move the delhezi into the QT tank currently occupied by my palmas polli and treat them both? (For the palmas this would be a preventative treatment.)

5. I treated both the palmas and delhezi with PraziPro as a preventative measure 3 days ago. Would treating with another medication be too stressful? Can I afford to wait?

Any advice would be much appreciated, as always.

 

[magpie]

kno4te

 

[elbereth]

After some more observation, I'm hoping that my delhezi is not as ill as I initially thought. He swam around a bit after lights out (though still not as much as he used to before) and his appetite is improved. (I forgot to mention in my earlier post that he'd been eating poorly for the past few days.) That said, even if the infection is minor I'd like to nip in the bud. So any input on my five questions would be most helpful.

As for the planaria, I'm planning to treat the tank with Clout. Will it stress my delhezi out or should I treat him too as a preventative measure?

 

[magpie]

I wish I could hellp you!

J jaws7777 tlindsey ?

 

[tlindsey]

I wish I could hellp you!

J jaws7777 tlindsey ?

magpie thanks but the only way I personally would control the Planaria by feeding less and vacuuming the substrate every wc. I personally don't like using meds.

 

[kno4te]

Bacterial infections can vary in presentation. It could be just the fish not eating to it being upside down, gills rapidly breathing and red fins. Fungal infections are usually secondary infections from removal of slimecoat and bad water. A scrape or bite plus bad water can start to show fungus. Look like fluffy cotton wool spots.

Let me just add without cultures and skin scraping it’s hard to tell what’s truly going on with the fish.

Salt is an irritant and can help with small fluffs of fungus with clean water not so much with bacteria. Salt baths do well.

You can kill the planaria with meds but maybe a bad idea as it’ll increase the ratio of bad water quality. Planaria are best treated like tlindsey mentioned.

Would separate the del even from ur polli. Don’t want to give ur p polli something ur delhezi has. Not a good idea to expose fish to meds. If ur unable then do what you have to do.

Treating with the prazipro is fine. Would wait and watch the delhezi. Post pics and water parameters.

 

[elbereth]

I wish I could hellp you!

J jaws7777 tlindsey ?

Thanks magpie. I appreciate the thought.

 

[elbereth]

Bacterial infections can vary in presentation. It could be just the fish not eating to it being upside down, gills rapidly breathing and red fins. Fungal infections are usually secondary infections from removal of slimecoat and bad water. A scrape or bite plus bad water can start to show fungus. Look like fluffy cotton wool spots.

Let me just add without cultures and skin scraping it’s hard to tell what’s truly going on with the fish.

Salt is an irritant and can help with small fluffs of fungus with clean water not so much with bacteria. Salt baths do well.

You can kill the planaria with meds but maybe a bad idea as it’ll increase the ratio of bad water quality. Planaria are best treated like tlindsey mentioned.

Would separate the del even from ur polli. Don’t want to give ur p polli something ur delhezi has. Not a good idea to expose fish to meds. If ur unable then do what you have to do.

Treating with the prazipro is fine. Would wait and watch the delhezi. Post pics and water parameters.

Thanks for the info. Could you give me some more info on skin scraping or refer me to a good source?

As for the dead planaria resulting in bad water quality, I'm prepared for vacuuming and huge water changes after the treatment. I know its better to avoid meds, but I don't see how I can control them with water quality alone because I'm already being as diligent as I can be. I do water changes every 2-3 days and if I'm not vacuuming enough its because the PFS doesn't vacuum well. I'll try a different substrate in the new tank. As for feeding less, my bichir is not eating as well as he used to anyways, so that's taken care of for the moment.

The other reason I want to treat the tank is because worms really creep me out. So much so that if I knew about aquarium worms when getting into the hobby, I would've have thought twice about it. I can tolerate detritus worms but not the planaria. I'll observe my bichir for the next week and if he continues to improve, I'll be treating the tank with Clout. The only question is: should I keep him in during treatment or move him to a temporary tank? I never quarantined him when I got him so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to treat him as a preventative treatment?

 

[kno4te]

I’ll have to look up soemething for the scraping. These are usually done at a vets office. Attempt to narrow down what’s causing the problem.

I would completely separate it. Just to make sure what it has doesn’t transmit to the other poly. Since there’s no obvious source and just randomly treating may not help. Then expose it to more meds that aren’t helping. Plus reduces the risk for resistance.

A period of starving and Epsom salt(1tbsp per5g one time) can help to improve eating. Clear out the gut and refuse.

 

[elbereth]

If you mean separate the delhezi from the palmas, they are already: the latter is in a QT tank.

Thanks for reminding me about the risk of resistance development. I'll move the delhezi to a temporary home if I treat his tank for planaria then. Especially since it seems like I might've overreacted with the bacterial scare. Either that, or turning up the heat helped. He's eating better today.

I've also come to suspect that his symptoms may have been caused by the thuja wood I placed in his tank recently. I couldn't find any info on thuja specifically being toxic in aquaria, but it is a conifer. And seeing his symptoms, I took it out. Guess I'll be doing a huge water change tomorrow! Pity though: he really liked hiding behind that wood.