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Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 05 Mar 2024, 17:22
by Longfincalico
I've been dealing with what seems an impossible disease, ancistrus fry get thin around 1-2weeks and simply waste away, after trying all the methods of raising them and finding some success along the way I've come to the conclusion that there is something wrong internally and after using a microscope I've come across this little fella, any ideea what parasite it it?

Ive added some photos below, some info about husbandry:
450 liter tank, 4 canister filters, weekly or bi weekly waterchanges using a 3 step filter, nitrate is 25, nitrite 0 and ammonia 0, feeding with sera spirulina, dr bassler, jbl novo pleco, zucchini, biofilm,
Fry were raised in ziss boxes, normal boxes, separate tanks, separate everything yet they still waste away. Adults are healthy.

Tried treating with marine salt, praziquantel, levasol, esha exit and esha 2000, no improvment.

Re: Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 05 Mar 2024, 17:41
by bekateen
Hi Longfincalico,

There's no picture attached.

Cheers,
Eric

Re: Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 09 Mar 2024, 15:31
by Longfincalico
My bad, photos uploaded
Thank you Eric!

Re: Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 09 Mar 2024, 17:07
by bekateen
Wow, they are very thin. Are they fat when young? I wonder if they just aren't getting food

Re: Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 09 Mar 2024, 21:52
by Longfincalico
Perfectly fat and round, they are getting lots of spirulina powder alongside chroella right in their faces, they get thin like this after quite some time, eating less and less and eventually wasting away

Re: Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 11 Mar 2024, 16:29
by TwoTankAmin
There are two possibilities that occur to me. One would be velvet aka Oodinium. This can be hard to spot on many fish. Velvet is similar to Ich but it is a golden color not white. This can make it hard to spot. Odinium can be treated with the same meds/methods as Ich.

The second possibility is wasting disease. The medication I use for this in Flubendazole. I do not know if you can get this where you live. Have a read here: http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/FlubendazoleArticle.pdf

Re: Ancistrus fry microscope parasite identification

Posted: 12 Mar 2024, 13:24
by Longfincalico
Thank you, I have been treating for oodinium using esha exit with no help, I do have flubendazole widely available here