# HELP fish lice



## lioness501 (Jan 9, 2007)

i stupidly brought home a fish that looked ill to try and save it, my lfs has been having a few probs. that goldfish died, on closer inspection i noticed it was covered in lice. now have found out that the lfs has it bad! great! now i have noticed my poor goldfish godfrey has them too  i cant let him die, how do u treat lice? i have alsorts of meds here but none of them treat lice. is he gonna die??? ive noticed the other fish nibbling him, i also noticed that with the fish that died. i know this is completely my fault, wat can i do? please help asap


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## lioness501 (Jan 9, 2007)

no worries, just go off the fone to the lfs and they said to take godfrey down there and they will take the lice off and also give e some free treatment!! i like it wen they r helpful!


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## The-Wolf (Mar 15, 2007)

first off it is not the louse that kills the fish, it is a bacterial infection
that gets into the wounds left be the louse.

there are a couple of ways of removing the louse from the fish,
the first should only be tried if you are competent in your own ability.

using a thumb od fingernail lift the louse from the rear and in a gental froward motion slide it towards the edge of the fin/body and then into your finger. 

the second method is a salt water dip.
make a salt bath with sea salt or aquarium salt (do not use table salt)
10-30 grams per litre of tankwater and dip the infected fish into the bath for *no more than* 5 mins. if the louse has not fallen off, return the fish to freshwater for 10 mins and then repeate the process untill it falls off.
if at any time the fish rolls onto its side in the salt bath immediatly return it to freshwater.

what you should do with the louse is squish it or put it into boiling water.
do not flush it, throw it in the bin.

now you need to treat the tank for the louses eggs and laval stages.
the best over the counter med for this is PARAZIN P by waterlife products
and should be redily available in the pond department of your LFS.
not a cheap med but well worth it.

HTH


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## lioness501 (Jan 9, 2007)

he is a goldfish tho, will he tolerate salt?
i have rock salt will that work?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

lioness501 said:


> he is a goldfish tho, will he tolerate salt?
> i have rock salt will that work?


It should be able to.


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## lioness501 (Jan 9, 2007)

i got the lice off myself last night, i couldnt stand the way the others were chasing him around. it wasnt easy but i got there in the end, and they were gross, gave me nightmares lol. now off to lfs later for some treatment! thanks


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