My better half has an aquarium. We posed this question on a MB on fish but have yet to receive a response. We were wondering if the Teeming Millions might be of assistance.
In short we have flukes. Here is what my spouse posted on the other board.
I have a new tank (2 months old). I have 7 zebra danios, 3 dwarf flame gouramis, 2 clown loaches, and one pleco. I’ve got a 55-gallon tank with a good start with lots of plants. I plan to add more fish but am doing it slowly. I’ve got flukes crawling on the walls of my tank. I’m pretty sure this is what they are – tiny white worms that look like scratches until you look close and see them moving. They can move freely in the water but mostly seem to go with the current. I do not see any evidence of fish distress. I only noticed the infestation today {6/7/01 - ed of spouse}. I had a small tank with this problem in the past and used these things called fluke tabs that I got from the pet store. Same thing, little worms on the side, took a sample into my local pet dealer, but the fish were fine, until I started the treatment. The tabs seemed to produce a lot of stress in my fish. All the fish hung out at the surface, they all lost color, and the neon tetras flat out died.
Should I treat the problem? The fish seem fine, but the aquarium has these itty bitty worms all over it.
How should I treat the problem? Fluke tabs again, accepting some fish stress and possible fatalities from the treatment.
How did I get these critters. I’ve added no new plants for 6 weeks. The dwarf flames came from a reputable place, are brilliant colored and active, but they’re the most recent addition (10 days ago). I did start some new food. I bought a bunch of different freeze-dried things like bloodworms, shrimp, and tubiflex worms. I figured that anything freeze-dried wouldn’t have anything alive left in it, but it is suspicious to me that I start adding some of these freeze-dried things (which the gouramis and loaches love) and I get little worms everywhere.
My water quality seems good on the basic measures. Ammonium has been at 0 for 3 weeks. Nitrites have been at 0 for 2 weeks. Carbonate hardness is at 5 degrees and general hardness is at 7 degrees. I don’t have a test for nitrates yet. Ph has been very steady at 7.4-7.6, regardless of what time of day I measure.
I had a major problem with overfeeding about 5 weeks ago. (new tank keeper, remember). I had fungus all over the plants, walls and bottom. I did a 50% water change, had to basically cycle the tank again, have been feeding much less, and seem to be doing better in this area. I do have a some algae starting to grow on my rocks, plants, and walls. I know that some algae growth is expected and have no idea what is normal or what is excessive.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you can recommend other MBs that specialize in fish, I’m sure we could make use of them.
Thanx,
Tinker
Reeder
June 11, 2001, 4:45am
2
Here is a link that dicusses flukes. What they are and the treatment.
http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/flukes.htm
Thank you. I will inform my spouse.
Thanx,