Parasite or..?

[Lisak1]

Anybody have any idea what this is on the sides of my big guy?

 

[WaterGardener]

Anchor worms? Do they stick out from the body?

 

[Lisak1]

Sort of? They kind of undulate went he swims but more like from the water flow than like a worm moving. And the don’t have the characteristic split tail of an anchor worm.

 

[WaterGardener]

When I blow up the picture, it seems there are "Y" shaped tails. Hard to know from a picture though.

Maybe catch him and get a closer look?

 

[Lisak1]

Ah I see what you're saying .. some of them are sort of split at the back. But they're so irregular. And they things I've read say worms would show signs of irritation where they are attached to the fish. So weird.

 

[WaterGardener]

I think what you see with anchor worms are the females' reproductive organs. That is what looks like a worm. The "Y" shapes are egg sacks, so all the "worm" looking parts may not have those, at least not all of them at the same time.

I'm not sure you could see any skin irritation on the fish until the worm falls off. But it does seem like they would flash to try to get them off.

 

[GBBUDD]

What ever it is and i could see where anchor worms could be the culprit as they are at the overlap or the weak spot of the scale. Koi Market is in the process of a new meds division for treatments.

 

[Lisak1]

No flashing or signs the fish is bothered by whatever it is.

@GBBUDD - good to know! I’ll check it out.

 

[WaterGardener]

To be on the safe side, I would treat for anchor worms. I understand that it's difficult to kill the ones attached to the fish,but not so hard to kill free swimming juveniles.

 

[GBBUDD]

i wonder if a pp dip wouldn't be helpful and while you have the fish in a net take some tweezers if they are tubular then you probably found the culprit