Parasites

[Mrw3ss]

Im in a tough spot. My LFS has two 6” orb pups in store that he ordered in a week or so ago. Haven’t had confirmation of them eating yet, and one has stringy white poo which I’m guessing means internal parasites. That same ray is also amazingly skinny. The second ray seems to be a little fatter, but we haven’t actually seen her eat. There were also small brownish colored worms in the tank about an inch long or smaller.

My problem is the store decided it was closing it’s doors over the weekend and the pups need a home. He said he will give them both to me if I can take them. I have room in my 220 with my current pup at least for a little while, but I’m worried about the potential parasites. Are internal parasites transferable? Is there any way to treat them?

Couldn’t find much info about this, and they need a home by tomorrow night.
Thanks.

 

[millerkid519]

Pictures?

 

[Mrw3ss]

I don’t have any at the moment. I can get some later.

I read that worms and such you see floating around the water usually aren’t harmful. Not sure how accurate it is.

Talked to the store owner and apparently the skinny one didn’t make it through the night. That was the one with the stringy white poo.

We have observed less about the other one, except that it isn’t as skinny.

If i get it eating food dipped in garlic will that help with the parasites?

 

[millerkid519]

Dieselhybrid has a good threads on here about medication and there is a sticky you could read to help. Without a picture or good description it is hard to say how to go about it

 

[Mrw3ss]

Just went and picked her up. The fuzzy stuff on the tail currently just showed up today.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Looks like saprolegnia opportunistic fungus that starts externally in stressed and diseased rays. Common on the tails and Barbs of recently transported rays. I would assume that Ray has any diseases that the other one that passed away was infected with.. You're looking at it uphill battle in a 220 gallon that I'm assuming already is decently stocked. filtration will need to be greatly increased and your water change regimen really cranked up high. You're also risking the transmission of any diseases that Ray has into your main aquarium. A 220 gallon will be a very very temporary solution with a major upgrade coming soon we're talking within 6 months. It's a challenge that I honestly probably wouldn't take on. Unless I had the space to do so properly. The ray will likely die given that it's been recently transported, has at least one infection or infestation, and isn't feeding regularly.

To treat, a good place to start would be to do an anti-parasitic so either praziquantel or levamisole. Next would be to treat the fungus which responds well to nitrofurazone and moderately responsive to melafix and pimafix. Clean water is really the key. The need to keep the water quality stable even the smallest amount of ammonia can kill a diseased or weak Ray.
You need to get it eating immediately that's the first challenge. maintain clean water and hope to treat the infections.

Good luck. But don't beat yourself up if you fail. This is a tough situation.

 

[Mrw3ss]

Thanks for the advice. Sadly for this ray I am her only hope for now. If She makes it through the next few weeks I’ll try to find her a new home.

I’ll try my best to get her to eat. It was a challenge with my first ray. Hopefully this one will come around.

Is there any chance the fuzzy stuff will clear on it’s own given a bigger tank and better water conditions?

 

[Mrw3ss]

And as far as the 220 being stocked it’s just my other orb pup and a 6” severum to clean up after him. Keeping it pretty bare until I get mine eating pellet food. I’m already doing water changes daily or every other day so that shouldn’t change much.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

You can treat topically with methylene blue. I would remove the ray into a small container with water that just covers its back. I would do this without exposing the ray to air. So don't remove from the tank with a net. Use the net to scoop it into the Container while under the water then remove the container from the tank. I would use a small sponge to manually remove the fuzz patches very carefully with safety at the Forefront of your mind. I would then use a dropper or Q-tip soaked in methylene blue and directly to treat the skin beneath the fungus patches you just removed. If those patches don't come off with a mild swipe that's okay just proceed directly to the treatment.

Nitrofurazone is a drug you can find online from a number of sources National fish farm is the one that I use. You can add it to the water column and it won't crash your biological filtration and it's very effective against saprolegnia and helps prevent the spread although it does take some time to treat on the specimen. Do not add methylene blue directly to your tank as it will negatively impact your biological filtration. Nitrofurazone will not have that effect.

Nightcrawlers is probably the best thing you could offer the fish right now chop them up finely. The ray will smell the blood and should feed. Try raw shrimp. Offer food to three four five times a day if you can do it. It's already at a low weight so you need to feed it enough


You'll definitely want to treat your tank with praziquantel or levamisole as you're likely introducing parasites to your existing stingrays from the new one you're trying to save. This is a risk you need to be very aware of. If you're not careful you could end up losing them both. This is a risk that you're taking. I respect you having a huge heart but you need to be aware of this risk

 

[Mrw3ss]

Thanks for all your advice. I acclimated the ray last night and tried feeding her with no luck. She just stayed hurried under the sand which I thought was to be expected. I woke up early this morning to find her dead in the corner of the tank. There was not much more I could do.

I think at this point I think I’m just going to go into damage control mode and treat the tank for any parasites she may have introduced. I removed the severum when I added the new ray to give her a chance to eat, so the only fish in the tank still are the ray and my failed cleanup crew of a syndontis cat hiding behind a rock somewhere.