Is this Ich leaving the fish body?

[R.Rose]

I have been monitoring my fish health and pond water quality since my pond disaster. This past week I noticed some white spots on a few of the fish. I treated the water with TETRA'S POND FISH TREATMENT formaldehyde QUININE HYDROCHOLORIDE for 300 gallons and would add another 200 in 2days so the fish aren't shocked and can adjust. Also if the previous treatment is still strong I fear overdosing with this stuff.
When I totally cleaned the pond and refilled it in June i put this treatment in for 650 gallons. These black fish were the survivors and they had ich or costia and grey slime. The conditions cleared up under 2 weeks time. The water temperature was staying at 67 degrees and just this week warmed up to 70 degrees. I took chemistry tests and the ammonia is 0, ph is high 7.5 tp 9.00 varies. Nitrites are 0. Phosphorous falls under to over 2.0. I drained 200 gallons off this weekend and added treatment for 300 gallons. I am not sure how long this chemical stays effective. I called Tetra and they said it doesn't last that long and I should be safe to add a full dosage. One of the things I learned ifrom this forum is don't trust sales people so does this chemical really lose its potency over a month's time and would I be safe to dose up to 1000 gallons. I have 2 1800gph pumps running as fountains for aeration. This chemical deprives oxygen in the water. Myu pond is 1000 gallons.

Today its nice and sunny and I can see very clearly to the bottom of the pond. I notice that where the white spots were there are strings hanging they seem stiff and do not appear to wave in the water current and i was wondering if it was a worm parasite. To me it appears that the fish had a run in with a mini porcupine. Is this the Ich leaving their bodies? As the fish raced to get the food some of the white stuff came off. If it is ICH, this would be the time to kill the free swimming stage.

The frogs disturbed the pea soil in the lily pots. That is what the brown spots are on the bottom of the pond. Can any one agree that this is Ich?

 

[R.Rose]

I took a closer look at some of the other pictures I took this morning and stared at the Fish Health book page 96 og anchor worms. The books' pictures show a light brown worm except for the black goldfish at the lower left corner, the worm appears white like on my fish. I found this picture i took that looks like 2 egg sacks. Observing my fish these worms seemed to be almost 1/2 inch long. What threw me was the tuffs of material that I took for Ick. Some of the my photos do show a wound where the worm is attached. This is were i get confused. Do tuffs of cotton as seen in the pictures posted this morning. are caused by the anchor worm, or is it a fungus from its borrowing? Or a combo of Ick, worm and fungus?

Will formaldehyde in the Tetra Pond Fish Treatment kill the free swimming form of anchor worm? I found a product Jungle Anchors Away pond treatment. I also read that the attached worm should be removed from the fish. I was unsuccessful at trying to net one of the fish to take a closer look... I hate to drain the pond (700 gallons) down to 12 inches to catch them. But whatever it takes to get rid of this problem. Since the pond clean out where did anchor worm come from? I have not added any new fish.

I found an earlier post for treating anchor worm and quoting Dave:
"you should have been told how to treat anchor worm not remove them as best you can because if not treated correctly they will reach plague porportions in your pond (I've seen a goldfish that was covered from head to tail by them) they should also have told you to treat the wounds left behind to avert any secondary infection from the wound site .
Ok s here is what you have to do, first off you must sedate the fish then physically remove the adult stages ith tweezers ( be sure to sterilize them first ) * whether you like it or not you will have to catch the fish, once this is done then paint the wound site with malachite green and spray with propolis (you can get the propolis from any health food store).
Next you have to treat your pond not once but two or three times (sometimes more dependant on the infextation), you will need to go back to your fish store to buy the treatment if they suggest an organophosphate based treatment like superverm refuse it as it will kill your goldfish so you need to get hold of the latest non organophosphate treatments and treat your pond accordingly .
I hope for your sake you take this onboard rapidly because you dont want to let these get out of hand .
Question - If the worm is broken by tweezing it out what happens to the part stuck inside the fish? Say that I eliminate the larva stage in the water and leave the few on the fish..will the anchor worms stuck in the fish eventually die?

What is organophosphate does it have a common name to ask for in stores? I wanted to find out if Jungle labs Anchor Away Pond Treatment contains this ingredient and the web search took awhile and this is what I found from another forum from a person who needed to treat their aquarium for anchor worm.

" Jungle Labs - Anchors Away

I bought some "Anchors Away" for my 240 gallon tank. The active ingredient is diflubenzuron (Dimilin).

Why is it sold for pond use only? It is the only source of pure dimilin I could find for treating my anchor worms. I followed the directions for the gallonage that they recommend and treated.

Hopefully this will solve my problem because three dosages of Parasite Clear didn't solve the problem.

This is what Jungle Labs had to say.

"This is a highly effective product and quite strong so only suggested for ponds the dosage is for largerwatercontainersbut youraquariumis very large. You will want to keep a close eye on your fish and quickly put the carbon back in and do a 25% water change if you see them getting into trouble. Be mindful of the dosage which would really be only 5 teaspoons. It could take a week before you see anything happening with the anchor worms. Do a 25% water change and then add 5 more teaspoons every 6 days for three times. Do not use with snails or other crustaceans."

 

[R.Rose]

I dont like using poisons in the pond. What if I put the fish in a quarantine pool without treatment for as long as it takes for the female anchor worms attached to them to die. There shouldn't be any males to mate with in the quarantine pool. Would all the achor worms die in the pond without a host?

 

[Dave 54]

I dont like using poisons in the pond. What if I put the fish in a quarantine pool without treatment for as long as it takes for the female anchor worms attached to them to die. There shouldn't be any males to mate with in the quarantine pool. Would all the achor worms die in the pond without a host?

Oh if that were true R.Rose but sadly the juvinille stage and the eggs that are laid by the females still need to be taken care of otherwise your going to have record levels of Anchor worm attached to your fish again .
I would recomend you remove the adults treating the wound area where the worm was attached to the fish with Malachite green and propolis spray, the heads have to be removed so get the head out from where it is even though you snapped it in half
The tweezers should be around the head when you prize it off the fish not jhaslfwy down its body as you seem to have done .
Once this is done treat your pond with the Anchors Away treatment and hopefully you'll get them first time around .
However I note your using one treatment on top of another "in future do not do this", common sense should always be applied when dealing with treatments.
Yes you can use two chemicals together but not two seperate treatments .

Dave

 

[R.Rose]

Dave thank you for replying. I noticed these white spots on 2 fish over a week ago they were faint and flat and thought it maybe the start of ick that they had previously. Before this weekend the spots appeared on 2 other fish and that is when I treated for Ick. Tetra company per my phone call said that it was safe for me to retreat the pond a month after the initial one. I put in treatment for 300 gallons to gradually add 200 The pond water warmed up to 70 degrees and yesterday morning i saw these stiff white things sticking out of the white spots that are fuzzy.

I feel safe that you saw the pictures and the close up of it and Identified it as anchor worm. I am calling the help line at Tetra company to see if I can add Dimlin or how long I have to wait for the ingrediants in Tetra'sPond Treatment to become inert or less potent. I checked my fish and it looks like a few worms are gone or the fish are eating them off each other? I have observed a few times of fish pecking at the body of the others. I hope ingesting these worms dont cause an internal problem for the fish. Will post reply from Tetra Co.

 

[R.Rose]

The rep at Tetra said that Pond Fish Treatment loses its potency in 3 to 4 days thats why the directions say re-treat if fish symptoms have not decreased. It contains formaldehyde, quinine - hydrochloride. He said that I should be safe since I put in treatment for only 300 gallons in a 1000 gallon pond. I have only used this product and nothing else not even salt. The frist time was when I cleaned the pond after my fish deaths in June and only put in treatment for 650 gallons of water and the surviving fishes illnesses cleared up. I searched on the web and other sites have stated that furin or formaldehyde based meds only stay portent for a few days.
"However I note your using one treatment on top of another "in future do not do this", common sense should always be applied when dealing with treatments. " - Dave
It must have been dumb luck over 30 years of not having major pond problems. Time ran out and I am kind of discouraged about next year with hopes of adding after quarantining new fish. Since anchor worm may survive over winter guess I should wait for 2016.
I will have to order the Anchors Away product and wait for delivery in 5 days. I think that will assure that the Tetra pond treatment potency is nil.

My water is very clear and the fish see the net coming at them....I rest the net on the bottom and they go up to it and any slight movement and they are scurrying. How does anyone catch 3 inch fish in 1000 gallons of water?
I cant even trick them with food stay over the net and then lift. I will have to remove the two snails before treating with Anchors Away or they will be killed,.

I cant find an answer to how long the female anchor worm attached to the fish lives. Could I treat the whole pond with Anchors away for 30 days that should wipe them out. Then drain the pond down to 12" which it will be very easy to net the firsh. Then pick off the worms? Put the propolis on the wounds and return them to the pond. That will be mid September.

I did find an blog that said amphibians can be infected with anchor worm. The frogs come and go from the pond.

 

[R.Rose]

I finally found a site that sold Anchors Away by Jungle Labs. I was all set to order it and an extra bottle should anchor worm appear in the future. $49.99 with shipping for two 18 Oz. bottles. I decided to find out if this product has an expiration date or when it loses potency otherwise wasting money because it does not work effectively. I called the Jungle Lab company which was bought out in 2008 and stopped producing Anchors Away. The rep said that she wouldn't buy it because it does expire and take a chance harming her fish. Does anyone know if diflubenzuron in Anchors Away chemical expires? This chemical interferes with the anchors worms' ability to shed their exoskeleton to grow and that causes death.
I think the next 2 products that also stunt the crustacean's exo skeleton from growing are:

Microbe-Lift Lice & Anchorworm for Pond Fish
or
Hikari's CyroPro

I am going to try to buy it from a local store this afternoon if they carry it or order it on line late tonight. I would like to learn if anyone had success using either of these 2 brands to wipe out anchor worm hopefully there maybe a post today. Thank you in advance will check this evening.

​

 

[Jon Nannen]

Just my input if you're having issues with anchor worms. I had an infection, from a fish store fish that probably infested my pond. I purchased Dimilin-X on eBay. I removed what worms I could from the fish, and treated my pond appropriately with the Dimilin-X. Probably a week to two weeks, I saw no more worms in my fish, and I stopped losing fish.

I didn't even remove all of the worms, which I know I should have, but I couldn't for the life of me catch the fish that were infected, but the Dimilin-X seemed to take care of everything.

 

[R.Rose]

Thanks for your input Jon.Its good that your fish's infestation is under control. How large are your koi or goldies? I couldn't find Dimlin, I purchased Microlift Anchor worm and Lice Treatment its a liquid. Its got this insecticide for crustaceans in it: iN-cyclopropyl-1,3,5 -triazine-2, 4,6 triamine. Same formula as IDI Express perhaps weaker (a form of Dimlin?) . Microlift requires dosing once a week for three weeks. My fish have a "mild" infection for now. I can't catch them, I have been trying and they see me coming and hide! The only way is for me to drain my pond and lose the cycled water. Refill it and put the stressed fish in uncycled water and then add the treatment I think is too harsh on the poor fish.
The Idi Express is $49.99 powder 1 oz. and 1 tsp treats 1000 gallons OMG. Over dose and the fish are dead. Scary stuff! A 16 oz bottle of Microlift is $12.99. I bought the Microlift then searched to get more info on Microlift and found a koi supplier that sells Dimlin also $49.99. I Probably get what I pay for the in how fast it kills the infestation. If I see no results in September I will order the Dimlin. I am cautious and respectful of the power of these chemicals.

I did lots of reading on anchor room and I wondered what would happen if s a few are missed on the fish. I read about sedating fish with clove oil to ease their stress. I have six goldfish 4 and 3 inchers. I dont trust myself to sedate them. A few fish keepers said that you can do more harm if you dont get the worm out all the way. The treatment will kill the free anchor worm swimmers by preventing them from molting to the next stage. The female adults die after releasing all their eggs and get ejected. I think Dimlin kills the eggs too. Thats why Microlift has to be added for 3 weeks to kills all stages of the free swmming worms. The concern is the secondary infection from the wounds

As a kid I enjoyed fishing. Most of the time catch and release. I remember removing this fish from the hook and feeling his heart beat. It stopped just as I bent down to put him in the water I felt terrible. Now I dont handle them at all.
Last time I fished was 30 years ago when I caught a large mouth bass only 4 inches long using a huge hook it was stuck in his lip. I purposely used a huge hook to avoid just that. No More Fishing I am done!
I hope your pond does well.

To my previous post up there somewhere. Anchor worm first appears and looks like ICK and can be mis-IDentified, as I did.

 

[Dave 54]

Sorry not replied to this been having our own set of problems but if your worried about anethatizing your fish read my thread about it it will tak you through the various stages of ,R Rose and using Oil of cloves is easier than using our own anethetic of choice MS222 which is more of an exact science so o speak however I digress heres the thread :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/anethatizing-you-koi-goldfish-the-various-stages-of.10493/

We hope this helps you

Dave