# anchor worm? or not what to do



## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

i have fish with what looks like anchor worm i have treated this tank with clout twice in about one month i am so upset from this i love these fish and wanted to see them grow but some how this nasty thing got into my tank and is making rethink having fish can someone please help me out before i completely get rid of the whole tank and put it in the closet. 
MOV04544.flv video by moonstra - Photobucket
if you cant see this i will try another way


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## cerianthus (Jul 13, 2008)

Hard to see. If it is, you can pull it off using tweezer and monitor the rest of tankmates.

Once you get it/them off and still alive, run test by adding anchor worm(s) to few containers with tank water and add different amt of med (whatever it may be which claims to treat anchor worm) to different container to see what and how high the concentration had to be to kill them.
What I found when I was young was that meds did not kill these in recommended dosage. It took few days to kill them at much higher concentration which may have also killed all fish. Well from my trial and errors.
But again, these trials and errors were performed more than decade ago and more effective meds might be available today along with same meds I used to use..

these sort of things are bound to happen to anyone no matter how well you maintain the tank.

Hope to see your tank continuously serves its purposes for long time to come.


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

bearwithfish said:


> i have fish with what looks like anchor worm i have treated this tank with clout twice in about one month i am so upset from this i love these fish and wanted to see them grow but some how this nasty thing got into my tank and is making rethink having fish can someone please help me out before i completely get rid of the whole tank and put it in the closet.
> MOV04544.flv video by moonstra - Photobucket
> if you cant see this i will try another way


i can add more pic. to show more of a view if thats what might be needed


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

here are the links to see the different pic i took of this fish. different angles and views i hope this helps to get a better idea about what i am dealing with
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04421.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04434.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04461.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04467.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04489.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04495.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04500.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04507.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04534.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/moonstra/DSC04537.jpg


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

ok folks those were my wifes posts and she is realllllllly upset over this whole thing..we need some advice so we can hopefully save the fish..... we are going to talk with our LFS today but as you know alot of these folks are out for a sale not the interest of the fish...


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## CamryDS (Oct 5, 2009)

bearwithfish said:


> ok folks those were my wifes posts and she is realllllllly upset over this whole thing..we need some advice so we can hopefully save the fish..... we are going to talk with our LFS today but as you know alot of these folks are out for a sale not the interest of the fish...


I remember when I found physical anchor worms on the fish, what I did was pull them out with a net and took a tweezer and pulled it straight out the body, try not to scrape the fish against the net. I then put them straight back into the tank, and never had problems with anchor worms again -- make sure you get the head and not just the tail, since the tail falls off. If it does fall off and you don't see the tail anymore on the fish, you'll have more anchor worms to deal with.

Here's a descrption and solution I found online:
http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/anchor_worms/


> The best treatment is to remove them by hand and quarantine the tank. You may have to do the following a few times. Tweezers work well for removing the anchor worms, try to grip them as close to the wound as possible. Pperiodically dunk the fish into the bucket of water to let him get a few breaths before continuing. After removing as many as you can see, use stress coat and pray.


it worked out well because I had rio flame tetras, and they were kinda dying at 1st, but after adding some novaqua, within 3 days they were fine -- no other fish had infections. this is before my big crash and I had to rework the tank to what I have now.


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