Parasites IN fish!

Recently, I've been seeing some of my fish pretty listless in their behavior. I thought this was because of the major skimmer / heater / tank meltdown that occured to my tank when i was out on vacation (and my sister was watching out for) that killed half of its inhabitants.

Today, while inspecting my Flame Hawkish, I noticed that there was something moving on him. Strange I thought, so i looked closer and sure enough there seems to be some worms or parasites INSIDE of him. He is constantly trying to rub himself against the rocks and stays by the fans all the times, and now I know why.

What should I do? What meds should i give, if any? I'm seriously thinking of just nuking my whole tank and starting all over. I'm very worried about the remaining fish and thinking of transfering them to another tank to clean this one out entirely.

 

It's important for you to verify that the parasite is actually internal. If it is, just use some praziquantel. I like Prazi Pro by Hikari.

 

It is internal...very sad to look at him suffer like he is now....I will check out Prazi Pro. Is this common? The only thing I can think of that caused this is a recent live rock i bought from my LFS to seed Coraline algae growth.

 

Yes, it's very common. If your dog or cat ever got worms, it's the same stuff. However, Prazi Pro is stabilized to do better in a saltwater environment. hikari prazi pro - Google Search

 

Thanks so much! Is there anything else you can recommend if I can't find the Prazi Pro at my LFS?

 

Just want to thank you Curt! One small dosing of Prazi Pro seems to have done the trick! Smeagol aka the Flame Hawkfish seems to be doing much better after one day! His coloration is starting to come back (it was very faded, almost white before!) and he seems to have regain his appetite and playfulness!

 

Glad it helped. Prazi Pro is a nice thing to keep around in your fish "medicine cabinet".

 

Once again Inwall to the rescue. K+