how often for routine de-worming

[jim from sydney]

as a general rule, at what intervals should precautionary de-worming take place??? and which brand is the best?????
cheers...Jim.

[Trebs]

As no other posts have been made, I'll have a go.

Obviously deworm any new fish in quarantine. If you suspect worms then one method of treatment I have been told is effective is to add ground up dog wormer tablets and add it to your bh mix. This is predominately used to treat tape worm. The good thing about this method is that it is cheap and reasonably easy to administer. Obviously this will only work on fish that are eating, but if you are talking about as a precautionary measure this should be fine.

I'd look at doing the above every couple of months. Does depend on what comes out of your fish. If you do this a few times and no worms come out than you can ease off.

I don't know what the mixing/dosing rates are. Hopefully someone else can advise. I do know of several discus keepers with large collections that use the above method.

As far as flagellates are concerned, it seems to be the consensus that they are always present in discus and only need to be treated when slimey white feceas are observed. I'm not entirely sure on that one.

Another good option is to use para-cure which I mentioned to you before. The advantage with this one is it does not need to be ingested and treats for tape worm, gill flukes, flagellates and anchor worms. If anyone has any info on how effective this particular product is I'd be interested to know.

IMO, it's the tapeworm which is the biggest threat to your fish so getting rid of that needs to be a top priority if it is present.

[kalebjarrod]

I have only recentley started 6 monthly wormings

this was after georges from G & S recommended it, it does make sense.

[Dave76]

Sorry to jump into the thread like this. I've got six new discus one week into quarantine at the moment. All I have added to the water is a bit of salt.

They are all eating ok and seem happy - should I dose a round of para-cure to be on safe side - or take the 'if it aint broke don't change it' approach ?

Thanks

Dave

[africandiscus]

'if it aint broke don't change it'

Good call. How many of you take medicine just randomly if you are not sick?

[Merrilyn]

Interesting thought. Would you recommend we stop worming our dogs and cats too?

[mtchye]

Resistance to drugs from overuse is a contentious topic.

However its a different issue in animals compared to humans as many animals can become infected but show little symptoms in the initial stages. They are also more likely to become infected with parasites etc due to the nature of their environment.

Animals are less able to communicate their discomfort and thus I think bearing in mind the end results of untreated infections that the most common infections it is reasonable to prophylactically treat periodically.

Praziquantel is a very specific and effective med for gill flukes and tapeworm.

The formalin/formaldehyde treatments also are effective, but much more dangerous for the fish and biofilter.

Roundworms/nematodes are one parasite not often treated for by discus owners. However if you keep other imported fish like tetras/guppies it is well worth treating for this.

The treatment is levamisole HCl, and that is similar to praziquantel in that it is safe and very effective + very hard to overdose.

As for hexamita... That one is hard because metronidazole is expensive and non specific and conceivably could cause more problems with resistance. I would say since the faecal transparency and whiteness is a relatively easy way to spot it that you would only want to treat with metro once in the quarantine stage and any time later if needed when symptoms arise.

What do you more experienced discus keepers think?

Cheers
Vincent

[Merrilyn]

You simply cannot follow the "if it ain't broke - don't fix it" theory when it comes to living creatures because of one small problem. How do you know it ain't broke. Unless you have suddenly developed xray vision, you don't know what is going on inside. The chances of your fish arriving in your tank WITHOUT being infested with worms is minimal. Think about the number of fish your discus has been in contact with before it arrived in your hands. Each contact is a possible source of infection.

Thirty years of breeding and keeping discus has taught me not to take chances when it comes to precious fish. I worm my discus in the quarantine tank, and again before I put breeding pairs together. I think you'll find most serious breeders do the same thing.

[jim from sydney]

I worm my discus in the quarantine tank, .

thanks for all of this info....now how do you do this, and what to use. I hate chemicals but then hate loosing my little beauties as well...so better deworm.
presently i have 3 discus in a 3ft tank. cheers Jim.

[Trebs]

Quick update, I did suggest para-cure but have since heard a number of bad things about it. I don't really have enough info to elaborate but my LFS where dead against it. Also it's copper based so not good for catfish.

Hopefully someone will be able to give their thoughts on para-cure?