# My fish are suffering, thinking about putting them down



## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

His stomach is almost twice as large and no matter what I do, he won't eat the food. He has internal parasites. He looks so miserable and doesn't swim and just stays at the top barely moving. :-( Also, Poseidon is on his side and he's bloated. This is the second time he's been sick. They're both suffering and it kills me to see them like this. Is there a human way to end their suffering?


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm so sorry about your fish!! I think you've done everything you can for them. You can't force them to eat the food if they don't want to eat. Here is a sticky about humanely euthanizing fish, if this is what you decide to do. http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/tropical-fish-diseases/how-humanely-euthanize-fish-698/


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

> he won't eat the food. He has internal parasites.


You can treat their water, 
They don't need to eat.
You don't need to Euthanize them!
I can tell you a good parasite med to use,


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

Poseidon passed away.  Eclipse is in medicated water (the Jungle Parasite Clear medication) and his stomach is still getting bigger.


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

> (the Jungle Parasite Clear medication) and his stomach is still getting bigger.


In my own opinion and experience This is trash, 
You want a good parasite medicine, Buy this
*Levamisole
*If you live in the USA you should have no troubles getting your hands on some,1 tsp treats 50 gallons, remove charcoal and carbon before treating, let it set in the water for 3 days and two nights, may cause the water to cloud, If the fish are too infected their is the possibility it will kill it,
However I have had very few die of this, Some was so full they exploded out their sides, and to think I originally thought these fish fat or just bloated!

You don't have to worry to much about over dosing your fish on this stuff, The fish seem totally unaffected by it, except it works on alot of different Parasites

I'm in Canada and it's abit hard for me to get my hands on it, However I did find two sites that ship here,
http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/catalog/586.html


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

Ok, I think Kelly recommended that to me also. She said I could get it at a vets office but would Petco and Petsmart have it? I'm treating my other 18 because a couple are starting to show stringy poop. I don't want to put my other fish at danger with Levamisole if they don't have it. Would the JPC be good enough for my other fish?


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

You need to treat everything!
Parasites are contagious in most all cases, some extremely so such as the "camalanus parasite"
which is more prominent in fish then most are aware of.
and it's highly contagious! one drop of water from an infected tank will spread it to all occupants.
Levisole is really safe, I treat all my fish with it regular and any new fish I get,

It works great and as I said fish seem unaffected by it.


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

If you have a parasite that jungle clear is not killing you probably in fact have the *"camalanus parasite" *& your fish will all end up dying,

*Levamisole* is the best wormer you can get! the sooner you do it the more fish you will save!

A net, your finger, syphon hoses, using the same buckets, I can't stress how easily and highly transferable this parasite is,
The medicine will kill it but you still ain't home free,
You'll need to disinfect everything! nets, hoses, buckets, and more,
If need more details ask



> Would the JPC be good enough for my other fish?


If the jungle clear parasite med isn't working on one it won't work on any of the others, your just wasting time and money.


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

Ugh, this is a nightmare. Where can I get Levamisole? What should I use to disinfect everything? I run scalding hot water over everything now especially the net.


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

If your in the USA which I presume you are you should be able to get the med fairly easily,
A vet I presume should be able to sell you some,
Both places I found it under was for Birds/pigeons.
The two sites I purchase from are here
http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/catalog/586.html Located in the USA
http://www.vetshoponline.com/Worm-Enda-Plus-30-ml-P161C149.aspx Located in Australia I believe.

Before you think about disinfecting you need to start treatment,
3 days and 2 nights the meds need to remain in the tank,
(During this time disinfect your nets, hoses, etc.)
As I said the water may turn cloudy, that's normal,
Make sure all charcoal/carbon is removed from the tank,
(you will need to retreat again in 2 weeks time)
Once the treatment is tru you need to do a very diligent Vacuuming of the bottom substrate,
to get all fallen worms/eggs, or they can reinfect your fish again.
(This is where I prefer smaller aquariums, easier to break down and clean,)
So many people seem to have this worm come back to haunt them because they never cleaned good enough after treating, 

*Disinfecting*, 
Hot water is worthless, You need to do a good Javex water soak, Then rinse well before using.
I keep a bucket full of water going here that I soak everything between uses, approx 1/8 cup of javex to a bucket full of water is what I use, Then a Water only bucket for rinsing, Then let air dry before use. That works good for nets, syphons ornaments fake plants, gravel etc, 
For cleaning the aquarium take a algae scrub brush safe for aquariums (or a clean cloth) scrub the tank clean inside and out then soak the cloth in the javex water and wash the aquarium down real good and let it set a min, Then rinse, rinse and re-rinse before setting back up.

your own hand can transfer parasites from tank to tank,
If you put your hand in a tank for whatever reason, Wash it good and rince well before putting your hands in another,

Think this is bad, Try looking at all the tanks and fish I have,
It came back on me the first time, What a nightmare! I almost gave up.

So the next time I did it I wasn't having this come back!
I treated everything as required. But instead of Vacuuming I removed every fish, 1 tank at a time put them in a holding tub, Stripped the tanks of everything so no worm got missed anywhere! 
My fish slowly went back to bare tanks with just the watersprite, Slowly over several days they got their decor back as I got it disinfected.
What a headache, took me days and days to complete.


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## sstacy19 (Jan 20, 2010)

I am so sorry!! This is terrible:-(


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Oh my. I'm so sorry you're still dealing with this. I'm sending good fishy wishes your way and keeping my fingers crossed for you. I hope you're able to save some of your buddies.

RIP Poseidon. You were loved.


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

I cleaned 7 tanks today (I clean all by hand) and everyone is doing great. They are all pooping normally and eating. There's just one fish, my oldest that had a little stringy poop but I saw him poop today and it was back to normal. I would think if it was that contagious that all of my fish would have it by now. It's been a couple weeks.


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

If you have a parasite, as you stated.


> He has internal parasites.





> (the Jungle Parasite Clear medication) and his stomach is still getting bigger.


I am not there, I only know what you state,

If it was the Camalanus parasite everything would be indeed infected!
Did you know it can take 6 months before it even begins to show itself?
Not all fish will show it in their poo either until they are more heavily infected.

Obviously if all is well then maybe you didn't have a parasite as you thought.

Do a search on the camalanus worm, It's oft times refered to by people as the Devil's worm.

I'm glad things appear better for you,
Hopefully all will continue well for you..


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

Here's my first thread with pictures when I first saw Eclipse's stringy poop. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=37581 I'm really hoping it isn't a parasite, but I've had him for 5 or 6 months and have had no problems, but like you said, it could take 6 months until it showed. Thank you so much for your help and I will definitely look into more about it so I'll know what to look for and I'll be ready!


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