HELP! I'm almost sure my Flowerhorn has Ribbon Tapeworm....

[sirocs]

Hi,
I think my White Tiger Flowerhorn has Ribbon Tapeworm. When he poops many long white (ribbon like) strings come out as well, hang around for a bit and then retract back inside his intestines. I've searched everywhere online and all I can seem to find are results for humans contracting them. It doesn't seem to be affecting his health or appetite "yet" but I fear for the long term. He was purchased from Thailand almost a year ago and I had spotted these worms nearly 6 months ago but then they went into hiding again until today.

Does anyone know what treatments I can use to "Nip this issue in the butt"? Lol.

[Rob S]

what the heck? never seen anything like that!

[cranialdisturbance]

Reminds me of the movie "Species".  I would get some anti-parasitic fish food right away.  They are obviously in his gut so I don't know how effective dipping him or medicating the entire tank is going to be.  The worms may also be segmented so they will likely just break off if you try to pull them out.  They also may be anchored to the fish's intestine so yanking on them could cause further issues.  I see three in the picture and I'm guessing more are probably inside the fish.  Were you feeding him feeder fish?   

[merritt]

I've never seen this problem before, but its definately intestinal. The good thing is if your fish is eating you can medicate the food. My suggestion is mix some epsom salt with some metrodiazole and soak the food. This will help the fish pass the parasite. There are videos on youtube that demonstrate this method. I hope this helps

[sirocs]

Thanks for the replies! It is freaky isn't it? Lol. He was originally purchased straight from the breeder in Thailand so who knows what he fed him before I received him at 2" but I had noticed this issue almost 6 months ago and my LFS had no clue what it was either. It looked like tape worm so I did a search on them and found one that looked exactly like the Ribbon Tapeworm. But I personally do not feed my fish anything live other then night crawlers chopped up and rinsed. Other then that they all get NLS, chopped shrimp and veggies along with some misc shrimps that can be purchased at fish stores in those blister packs. No live feeders though. I've read some bad things about it...

I also posted on another sight to try and get a larger volume of tips and one member from MonsterFishKeepers.com mentioned using "PRAZIQUANTEL" to rid the fish of this tape worm. I read up on it and it seems like it may do the trick... hopefully. I have used the metrodiazole in the past when I first noticed this issue and still have some left but I fear that it won't clear it up. I suppose I could try it anyway again? You say it's been used for this same issue before with luck?

I did read that this tapeworm latches itself onto the intestinal wall and can be very, very long. I thought about giving them a tug or snipping part of it off until I read that lol.

I'm grateful at least that he's still eating and showing good color. At least that's a sign that we have an upper hand still.

Thanks again for the tips. Ill check out that YouTube and post back with the results...

[sirocs]

I treated with PraziPro today. I'll post with the results.....

[GrizzlysDad]

Wonder if US Fish and Wildlife would be interested in this breeder in Thailand?

[Regalblue]

Prazipro & pellets soaked in an Epsom salt solution. 

[sirocs]

Ok so I used the PraziPro liquid from my LFS and within 3 hours time he released around 30, 3" or so tapeworms with more throughout the night. As of today he's doing awesome. Great stuff everyone thanks for the tips! I plan on re-treating in a couple days to play it safe.

To GrizzlysDad,
Do you think he should be reported? Honestly, I don't know if he knew. From the research I've done before spending $400 before shipping on this White Tiger flowerhorn he seemed like a pretty upstanding high quality breeder with champion winning specimens. His communication skills were horrible otherwise I would've contacted him regarding the tapeworm infestation. When I received him from my transshipper he was in great color and eating out of the bag with no (visible) health issues at all. So that leads me to think that maybe this issue slipped through the cracks. Cause I've had this fish for 6-7 months now and am just now seeing this tapeworm issue and only because I closely observe my fish. A breeder isn't likely to do that ya know? At least not to the extent of the fish owners. Some risks are taken when purchasing over sea's but it's tempting to buy when you can't find anything this stunning in the U.S. yet. What's your thoughts on it? I'm not looking for a debate or to disrespect, I'm just wondering if something like this should be reported and why is all.

Anyways,
Thanks again for the help!!!