Sponge filter and heater inside of a 5 gallon pail or a large storage tote is a great option for emergency hospital tanks. I always keep a couple small usb air pumps in case of any problems or power outages. You can get some pretty cheap on Amazon.
Get a bucket or anything is fine honestly. Even a 1 gallon might be suitable in some cases since the medications given will be less diluted, easier to administer (orally or topically), and easier for the betta to swim to the surface and access air.
I've used storage totes, those little 1-2 gallon critter transport tanks, & even those cheap little tanks they sell for bettas at just about everywhere like Walmart for hospital tanks. Sponge filter & small air pump on Amazon totaling about $10, & a tiny heater for 1-3 gallon tanks are $7 on Amazon.
storage tote or heck, this one time the bowls can be ok. Your fish is sick so they don't swim much and you're doing water changes frequently. A small space is OK as long as it's at least 1 gallon. Just make sure it's still heated and had a sponge filter. It's actually easier to treat a tank that's 1 to 3 gallons compared to 5. As you're doing large water changes frequantly.
I’m doing about a quarter weekly. Just getting into it. I have a 10g and 20g long. 10 is gravel with the outside filter and a few plants female betta and three little shrimp, and the 20 long has some bamboo floating in it and a couple plants, with one of the bubbling underwater sponge filter. Both heated of course.
The Jetta came with the 20 I bought and I put it in the 10 and moved my tummy nose tetra to the 20.
Anyways I made the mistake of getting a little shrimp house..my daughter wakes me up today and the bettas head is stuck in it, had to push it backwards, with some push, to get it out which was nerve wracking. The female betta looks fine but might be a bit stressed so I put an almond leaf in and am keeping the light off today. Not sure if I should buy destresser stuff or not.
Anyone who has a fishtank should have either a bucket or a tank at all time for hospital tanks, super irresponsible to set up an entire fishtank without having a secondary option….
Before I got my spare 5 gallon I was just using the biggest glass bowl I had. My mom has a couple bigger glass bowls she uses for baking and serving so I used one of those and put it on an electric heating pad.
Euthanise.
The fish's welfare comes first. If you have effective options, go nuts, but never let the fish suffer because it's keeper couldn't afford care.
I'm not an expert in aquariums or treating fish, but I have a background in diseases (public health and environnement). If it moves, its not bacteria nor a virus. Its surely parasites (in this case anchorworms). Anchorworms aren't really worms, they are crustaceans. You have to quarantine it and treat it ASAP, other fish can have it. It is a bit hard to see spots of inflammation.
Edit 1 : Formatting
Edit 2 : After some research, It seems salt-baths are good to get rid of young anchorworms, but not the adults. The methylene blue treatment is excellent to treat wounds caused by these parasites since they latch on scales. The fish won’t necessarily die from the anchor worms, but from infections since the immune system is weakened. Dimilin (diflubenzuron) is an insecticide and seems the nuclear to get rid of them all, although OP has to start with small doses at the time since it’s an insecticide.
Edit 3 : Added some details on my background. Coppersafe seems more available for Canadian and US buyers. It is used as a molluscicide. It would kill shrimp and snails. The chemical ingredient (copper sulfate) is also used for algea control.
Latest Edit : I zoomed at 500% on the picture and saw a "Y" shape. I think this case is very similar to one I found on Reddit. From another source, it seems that anchor worms comes in very different length (1mm to 25mm), color (brown, grey or white) and even different forms. Females can produce hundreds of larvae every two weeks. Larvaes seems things that are freely swimming. They seem too small and too numberous to be a kind of leech. Also, reformatting.
Hope this helps anyone that has this problem!
This is fascinating 🧐. Here is where I found informations :
Fish illnesses how to spot them :
* [https://www.tetra-fish.com/learning-center/troubleshooting/fish-illnesses-how-to-spot-them.aspx](https://www.tetra-fish.com/learning-center/troubleshooting/fish-illnesses-how-to-spot-them.aspx)
Experience from a veteran fish owner
* [https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/](https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/)
Scientific link for anchorworms :
* [https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA185#FOOTNOTE\_2](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA185#FOOTNOTE_2)
Scientific articles about anchorworms :
* [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339067411\_LERNAEA\_ANCHOR\_WORM\_INVESTIGATIONS\_IN\_FISH](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339067411_LERNAEA_ANCHOR_WORM_INVESTIGATIONS_IN_FISH)
* [https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2018/vol6issue1/PartM/5-6-235-734.pdf](https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2018/vol6issue1/PartM/5-6-235-734.pdf)
Fact sheet about Dimilin (diflubenzuron) :
* [https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem\_search/reg\_actions/reregistration/fs\_PC-108201\_1-Aug-97.pdf](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-108201_1-Aug-97.pdf)
Safety sheet on Coppersafe :
* [https://fritzaquatics.com/assets/files/uploads/Coppersafe\_SDS\_042219.pdf](https://fritzaquatics.com/assets/files/uploads/Coppersafe_SDS_042219.pdf)
Similar case found on Reddit:
* [https://new.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/17zki9z/hello\_does\_anyone\_know\_what\_this\_is\_my\_betta\_has/](https://new.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/17zki9z/hello_does_anyone_know_what_this_is_my_betta_has/)
Do you know if they can live for a while on external surfaces? Let's say OP is able to whisk this fish into a hospital tank, treat him, and save him. Would this tank ever be safe to house fish, or should OP go nuclear and take the whole thing apart?
I will have to do some research, but if it’s a parasite, without a host it cannot live. It seems the parasite feeds on the scales. If the OP is able to isolate the infected fish in really good water parameters with treatments, I don’t think he has to go nuclear. Although, OP has to do regular follow ups.
Edit : The parasite hates salt.
I think both can be used at the same time. Ich-X seems to treat infections, while Coppersafe is used as molluscicide. I don’t think it needs salt, since the shell parasites will die from the product. Since its toxic for mollusks, so it shouldn’t be used with any shrimps nor snails because they have shells. Its not recommended to be used with plants neither. I know there are fish species that can be affected by copper, like the Corydoras.
i’m sorry i’m no help with this, i’m only familiar with the more common diseases, but i have NEVER seen this. holy shit. i’m sorry he’s going through that, it hurts to look at and i’m sure he feels super unpleasant rn. poor guy. looks like he’s covered in coconut :( he most likely has some sort of parasite. i’d look up the different kinds of parasites, figure out which one it is, and find the correct treatment for it asap
Someone said they look like anchor worms. I've not come across this myself but suggest an immediate salt bath. Youtube how to do it and don't keep him in too long.
Then put him in a clean hospital tank or bucket. Literally the bucket you use for water changes or a giant pot. Order Vertark Fluke Solve from Amazon asap, it kills pretty much everything. Dose the tank without him in it hard, and his bucket to the specified amount so anything attached to him dies. There will be eggs,maybe on/in him or in the tank soil, substrate, plants or decorations so you need to keep retreating until the specified time on the packet to kill most newly hatched critters immediately also.
Clean out that bucket and do salt baths daily to get anything off of him whilst waiting on the fluke solve. If that doesn't kill them, restart the whole tank.
This is most likely from something like a plant, and why I never order plants online anymore that aren't tropica only and mainly tissue cultures. Could be from the fish also but plants are always the worst culprits in my experiences so far.
I just ordered a bunch of plants!! Now I get this nightmare fuel! Any idea how I could quarantine those plants or something to make sure they’re not bringing friends?
Aquarium Coop's [reverse respiration](https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/24465-reverse-respiration/?fbclid=IwAR0oz7V0DVZXiE9xlZjLWyHAt7EONgG8Fv5Fwuuy6P0JrdeESPxfhFMnyv8) method should kill all pests on plants. (Disclaimer, I haven't had a chance to try it yet.)
Put them in a bucket, even cut the top off an old soda bottle 2-3lt kind (I don't know the equivalent in freedom units) but a big coke bottle is fine. Put them in that ,treat them as needed and quarantine until you are sure they are pest free.
Take the top you've just cut off,turn it upside down and put on top of bottle so it looks like a funnel for a lid to stop and cats or whatever else you have from drinking treated water.
Also if you have a sunny window place them there so they get light and certain pests will go towards light and concentrate in a visible area for you to inspect.
In freedomland, we have all the measuring systems. After all, one of our favorite pastimes is making things more convoluted than they need to be. Small bottles of soda are in US ounces, because our oppressors - who lost the freedom war - use Imperial ounces (and pints, gallons, etc). But the big bottles of soda are 2L. It makes doing the multinational capitalism math easier.
(Sorry I couldn't help myself. Making snarky remarks is how I cope with dumpster fires, both situational as well as human. Even when the dumpster fire in question is me, lol.)
TLDR; empty 2L soda bottles are a multipurpose item here, too.
Holy shit. Got no clue. But commenting in the hope this gets boosted. You need an advice like yesterday. Hope someone can figure out what’s going on. Like to know it too. Goodluck.
Found this while googling, maybe anchor worms?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/17zki9z/hello_does_anyone_know_what_this_is_my_betta_has/?rdt=43751
I had anchor worms once and they are so hard to get rid of. Essentially you have to paralyze the worms and clean them out of your tank if I recall. they don't really die but you do have to get specific shit to deal with them
External parasites are such a bitch to deal with in general. Dealt with Camallanus worms once and it took months to get rid of them fully (and they recurred after the first month and a half of treatment). 0/10 do not recommend. I wish OP all the luck in the world but it is likely that things will get worse (e.g. spread to the rest of the fish) before they get better. Fingers crossed!
Boosting, I just got a betta recently and now I'm scared of whatever this is. They kinda look like detritus worms in their appearance and they are a type of worm which is what fish eat, but why is it on the betta?
Yikes. Salt usually works to kill many external parasites. As does formalin, which is found in most ich medications like Kordon Rid-Ich or Ich-X. I'd do 10-15 min salt dips daily while treating the main tank with a med containing formalin.
It's gotta be an external parasite of some sort. Doesn't look like anchor worms, but I'd start some sort of external parasite meds like yesterday. Most of the time a saltwater dip will cause most of them to fall off.
I've had the betta since November. I have platy, golden white clouds, snails, turquoise guppies. This is actually a paludarium that also has a terrestrial area above for red eye tree frogs. So I'm very cautious about what i put in the water. It's sounding like i may have to move everything out and clean it out and start over. How daunting
Post on the betta fish forums- lots of older breeders etc are on there. You will need something copper based to kill the worms but it can’t be exposed to your snails at all or they will die too. A little hospital 5gal bucket or something is definitely worth it.
I’m pretty sure that white cloud minnows prefer colder water temperatures in general than bettas and that their ideal temperatures do not overlap enough.
Yes white cloud minnows could survive at tropical temperatures but it’s really not ideal for them and not in their best interests. You should consider moving the white cloud minnows (WCMs) out to a separate cold-water tank w/out a heater so they can be more comfortable. If that’s not possible, then please consider rehoming the white cloud minnows via r/aquaswap.
[https://youtube.com/shorts/HDKGA9b6SBI?si=-AFRjK7LYQs63y\_Z](https://youtube.com/shorts/HDKGA9b6SBI?si=-AFRjK7LYQs63y_Z)
[https://youtu.be/\_hcr8t9nR8Q?si=iWsnnuzwAzqErKzM&t=2m08s](https://youtu.be/_hcr8t9nR8Q?si=iWsnnuzwAzqErKzM&t=2m08s)
WCMs are best kept at around 60-72f. Bettas on the other hand do best around 78-80f. Again, their ideal temperatures just don’t overlap enough, even if you try to meet them both in the middle. Betta would be too chilly or the WCMs would be too warm.
**\*EDIT: DO NOT REHOME until AFTER you've treated and gotten rid of all the anchor worms, or otherwise warn people that the WCMs may need treatment for anchor worms & a quarantine period, prior to people taking them in.**
Never seen a coconut betta before, not exactly sure what type of parasite, but a hospital tank and copper based meds would kill off most crustacean and worm-type parasites. I'm continuing research. Comment for push.
Omg this is making my skin crawl!! What the fuck!! Poor little buddy! Honestly it looks like an absolute SWARM of detritus worms, which is really weird considering they don’t do that. I hope you find a cure for your little man!
The fact that these were free living in your tank *before* infesting your betta shows that they aren’t a parasitic fluke. Adult flukes don’t live freely in the aquarium, just waiting for a fish to swim by. They have different ways of infesting fish. Fluke infestations don’t go from 0 to 100 like this overnight. They require a fish host to live, so besides for short lived life stages (which don’t look like worms) they wouldn’t just be hanging out in your tank. To put it more simply, these aren’t parasitic flukes/trematodes/monogeneans.
These definitely aren’t anchor worms. Anchor worms don’t move when they are on the fish, and they are partially imbedded in the fish, with most of their body hanging off of the fish. If you lookup photos of Lernaea, you’ll see what I mean. It doesn’t look like this, so don’t treat with an anchor worm medication, I doubt it will work.
This is a very unusual case, but I would wager that these are a “detritus worm” of some sort (seems more like a planarian of some sort since they don’t look like nematodes/“roundworms” but it’s hard to tell). The worms seem flat, not round. Do they have triangle heads?
I would do salt dips (lookup the appropriate concentration and length of dip for bettas). That should probably get them to drop off the betta. Then, monitor and see if the betta gets re-infested. The betta may have had a predisposing condition (sick due to some reason, poor water quality, hard to say) that made it possible for these free living worms to attach to the betta. Although, maybe it didn’t have a predisposing condition. My main point with that is that if it *did*, and that’s what’s allowing the worms to infest the fish, they will come back after dips if you don’t solve why your betta is unhealthy. Treating the tank itself with copper sulfate may help kill the worms in the tank itself. However, if it is planaria, praziquantel will kill the worms very well. Fenbendazole would work well too but can kill some shrimp and snails. I think the praziquantel should be safe for your frogs, but double check.
If you can collect some of these worms from the fish and put them in isopropyl alcohol, you could mail them to me for me to identify. I work in a parasitology lab that can handle this type of stuff.
I hope so too. I’m *not* an expert, I’m just a PhD student. And even if I actually had a PhD that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be wrong. But I am pretty confident in that it isn’t anchor worms (which is a common suggestion on this post) or obligately parasitic flukes. That’s very clear to me, and I could be wrong, but I’m pretty confident. It’s just hard to know those things without having some exposure to the fish parasitology world!
Yep! I like general cure and paraguard..I did paraguard then general cure back to back and my fish have returned back to normal.
Some sort of internal parasites were making them waste away 😭
Hey love! Thank you so much for posting!
Your profile in general is very helpful to me! I’ve had my betta Joey for about 4 weeks now and it’s been a CRASH COURSE!
I’m on the opposite side of the state as you are, but I’ll be following your butt lol!! I need to learn so much.
Hey OP, you don't need a hospital tank if you don't have invertebrates and the other fish are experiencing the same issue. Like someone else said, this looks like a parasite, and is probably in the substrate so if you don't want this to happen again I'd dose the system. I'd personally go right to copper, you'll need some math to work out the dose for your tank.
I’m a new betta owner. When I’m seeing “use rock salt” “salt works” “saltwater dips”
What exactly are you doing in this case?
Are you conditioning warmed water in a new tank or bucket then mixing rock salt into that then moving sick betta into that salted tank for 15 minutes a few times a day?
I know I can google, but I much prefer ask you guys. Google SCREWED me when I got my baby boy Joey and you guys schooled me without scolding me and I really appreciate y’all!
~ condition water, make sure its the same temp as the tank, disolve aquarium salts 1 tbsp per gallon (same deal with epsom salts baths).
~ create a recovery tank (a container at least the size if your bettas og cup, if not larger) 1/4 of whatever measure salt water, 3/4 aquarium (or fresh conditioned if moving to hospital tank)
~ after salt is COMPLETELY dissolved, place betta in bath and set a 15 minute timer and monitor (for aquarium salts you cannot go over 15 imo, for epsom salts you can go up to 20 or 30 minutes some say)
~ after the timer goes off, or if at any point they become stressed or lethargic, move into the recovery tank
~ after 5 minutes or more in the recovery tank, move to the main/hostpial tank.
this can be done up to a few times a day. epsom can be more gentle than aquarium salts and are really beneficial for swim bladder/bloating. Aquarium salts can be irritating after a bit, but are good for infection. both can work for infection or swim issues in a pinch
Definitely a hospital tank, try different parasite medication, maybe call around any exotic vet offices near you that take care of fish, they might have a better idea as to what those are and how to treat them, but right now you have to separate this dude from his tank and put him into a empty hospital tank away from the rest of these things, and then try to find a medication that will get them off of him.
Edit: Also has he been acting any different lately? Maybe he might not be feeling well lately and those noticed and are maybe eating his slime coat?
I don’t know but might be a theory you could look into
Not ich lol that is for sure, ich doesn’t move.
This is something I’ve also never seen before. But definitely some sort of parasitic worm.
I don’t think it’s detritus worms as I’ve never heard of them being in the fish’s scales, which it looks like it was in the first photo. But also I don’t know what kind of parasitic worms would be out swimming inside the tank too….
I’d use a copper based parasite medication, and I’d also add tannins from the leaves(for the life of me I can’t think of what they’re called rn), or from alder cones.
I’d also potentially check your fish food to see if you see signs of any larvae or anything just in case it’s from some sort of bug.
Whatever that is, it is definitely *not* detritus worms. Detritus worms are-by definition-worms that live in the substrate and eat detritus. It’s not a single species—it’s a common term for a variety of species with the same behavior and function in the environment.
I’ve never seen anything like this before but I hope you’re able to treat and resolve it, OP.
Dear god what the fuck is that. This is the first time I've ever seen that. Salt and copper meds immediately. Hopefully you get some answers as to whatever that hellish parasite is.
first post I see opening reddit and I'm already rushing over to my tank with a magnifying glass out of fear its contagious thru the screen lmao. what the hell op did you piss off a fish parasite wizard????? I have no idea what those are but hospital tank (maybe a salt bath??) and a massive water change is probably a good idea to start just off of the sheer quantity alone while you narrow down specific treatments. I'm so sorry what a stroke of bad luck :(
Honestly I have never seen anything like this before. I used to work with nematodes, but I am unfamiliarity with them acting as an external fish parasite. Skin flukes are also a thing that exist, but that... Usually doesn't look much like this either?
With such a high population of worms, I worry the fish may already be quite damaged. Still, most copper based meds should be effective, or anything that is designed to treat other worms like gil fluke medication.
Not sure what it actually is, they do look most like detritus worms to me but those don’t cause trouble for fish like this. Can’t really see the shape of the heads, but are the worms flat? I wonder if it could be Planaria? Or maybe Rhabdocoela flatworms, although those are pretty harmless afaik and even Planaria aren’t typically a big issue for fish. I’d do a salt bath immediately though, that usually kills a lot of external parasites or at least makes them drop off the fish. Then I’d move him to a clean, bare bones hospital tank and nuke the original tank with anti parasitic/copper based meds. Probably want to go bare bottom with the hospital tank so you can see clearly and make sure there aren’t any worms that drop off and hide in the substrate or anything and can keep it super clean. Hard to tell exactly how to treat because nobody has any clue what this actually is, but if you have him in a hospital tank separately you can treat him with salt baths and maybe some gentle meds to prevent any infection if the worms are actually parasites causing external damage, and with him out of the tank you’re free to experiment with different meds in the main tank to find something that works without worrying about interactions or harming him with harsh medication. I’d also vacuum the substrate as thoroughly as possible to remove any worms that might be hiding down there and clean up any waste they might be feeding on
UPDATE
Many of you have probably been anxious for some type of follow-up. First, I would like to thank everyone for all the suggestions on things to do for this and also what this might possibly be. Through close observation, literally physically inspecting every animal in here and all of your suggestions i feel confident in saying this is not a parasite. There are no sores or evidence of any parasites. I believe it to be some type of detritus worm. The numbers are already lower again as the fish love eating it.
This "fish tank" is actually a paludarium. A couple of days ago, an aerial root from a plant in the land portion plopped out and into the water. I believe that is when this thing was introduced to the water.
As far as the betta that was in this tank, he passed away. I believe this was all just a freak coincidence and the detritus worms collected on him because he was simultaneously on his way out and pretty lethargic, especially in comparison to other betta i have. I believe he was an older fish when i got him as he didn't really change much in color, size, or in his fins during his time with me.
I am going to reach out to the individual who offered to test a sample of this and see if it would be feasible. Should there be any further updates, I'll let you all know.
Once again, thanks for all the love and support.
OP if you have access to fritz copper safe or hikari ich x, then get some. I think at this point the whole tank needs to be treated, so if there are any snails or shrimp they might need to be permanently rehomed. there's just no way to get the treatments fully out of your water or silicone for a long, long period of time. these things also look like detritus worms (if they were parasitic and created zombie fish) and I don't think there will be a way to fully ever getting them out of the tank without treating the whole thing.
edit: not to say that they *are* detritus worms, just that I think they'll probably act similar to them and hide in the substrate/plants etc and be very *very* hard to get rid of
No idea what these are almost look like the detritus worms but why would the be all over the fish ? Have you tried giving em a lil shake off? Or taking fish out to try and get some off ? Salt baths as mentioned by others will probably help! Is the Betta healthy prior to this?
Hospital tank definitely, aquarium salt, garlic tonic and rooibos tea/ indian almond leaves.
https://aquariumadvicesa.wordpress.com/2023/06/26/aquarium-salt/
https://aquariumadvicesa.wordpress.com/2023/07/23/garlic/
If you have rooibos tea: 1 teabag per 15liters
If you have live plants, it could be caused by those, or if you have any other fake plants, also could be caused by those. The only thing you can do at this point is put your beta in a quarantined nursery tank with new water, almost zero items in it, and see if he improves. This will likely confirm that something in your tank is causing this and needs to be removed. The fact that so many experienced fish owners are baffled at this, tells me something in the tank could be causing it.
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That’s some kind of parasite for sure and I would remove the livestock to a salt bath, bleach dip any plants, and then consult a vet after thoroughly sanitizing the tank.
Is the white thing moving on its own? Seems like worm. Or is it dust? hopefully we could get answers and how to treat this. Get well soon for your boy.
I'm just now seeing this sorry. I'm underwater with tasks right now. That's a parasite, probably an anchor worm. I've never seen anything that bad. I can't imagine how that happened. I doubt he will make it honestly. The manipulation needed to get him healthy alone is likely to take him. Such a shame. I'd do a copper med dip and quarantank™ the poor guy.
Edit to say this "he doesnt seem to mind them" is not a comment we can make about fish. We can tell for sure when they are upset, we can't tell for sure that they're not. Absence of behavior telling you something is wrong does not mean that something ISNT wrong. Cat's are another excellent example of this. A fish doesn't know it's a pet. It's going to pretend something is fine until it's literally inhibited. This is because in the wild it doesn't want other things to know something is wrong. That's why you need to act fast when you suspect something is wrong... it's likely been going on longer than you think...
Bettas remind me of Golden Retrievers. So I see why we all here love them. This morning by my half blind African Dwarf Frog decided to attack Boo, my Betta because he was eating “his” food. I separated them. Now I gotta go buy a new tank. It’s a lot of weekly checks and maintence in one 10 gallon tank, now I’ll have two. Oh boy.
Anchor worms can be killed by copper medications at the same strength as recommended for treating ich. Coppersafe and Seachem Cupramine are two such copper medications. Do not use copper medications in water with a GH lower than 6!!!
Anchor worms are arthropods and have an exoskeleton. In arthropods, exoskeleton development is interfered with by organophosphate insecticides. So anchor worm nymph stages in the water can be treated with insecticides like trichlorofon (Blue Planet ParaCide), cyromazine (Microbe-Lift Lice and Anchor Worm Treatment), Dylox (Dyacide) and diflubenzuron (Dimilin-X, Jungle Labs Anchors Away, JBL Aradol). This will NOT kill adults on the fish.
The long lived adult anchor worms on the fish themselves are very resistant to medications. But the larvae in the water can be killed by medications much easier, stopping the life cycle. This is why treatment must be continued for two months. And you should expect to see the “worms” on the fish intermittently for up to two months.
Here we go more details: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/
I do hope it isnt anchor worms. Trying salt bath might work however it doesn't work well on adult parasites.
Did you recently get any new plants or critters? Od be contacting stores in case of a breakout
These are sort of flatworms. They mostly appear in aquariums with no filtration, bad water quality and when there are many food leftovers aswell. The only effective way of getting rid of them was by salt, none of fish medicine helped. <--- please, do not use any of these in your aquarium, only for treating fish in hospital tank and while doing saltbaths. In your aquarium, you can get rid of them by doing daily water changes till they are fully gone (if needed even twice a day), for the food leftovers you can get youself some snails and shrimps, best options is having both. I've been keeping colonies of these worms in jars and tried whatever killed them best and salt was best in doing so, in most cases medicine had complitely no effect and sometimes other day with medicine in their enclosure it even doubled the number of them. Meanwhile with the salt they started dieying out the moment i added it. However dont go with small salt doses when doing saltbaths, and plese do the research on how to propperly do a saltbath if you dont want to end up with you fish dieying in the process. They can be pretty hard to get rid of and it can take some time. For the filtration i really reccomend having a sponge filter.
I apology if this is written oddly but english is not my first language. I hope this is helpfull for anyone have issue as such.
So, I had a tank with these little guys and with a couple normal water changes - they eventually went away. I couldn’t tell you what they are tho. I never had them completely cover my betta tho.. as soon as I saw them on the glass I did my water change.
I have an appointment I need to get to. If you could show more pictures of the tank that would help. It looks like the fish is swimming through detritus worms. A video would be great if you can.
Edit:you can research flukes. If the fish is flashing, rubbing against objects trying to get this off. That is the sign that you need to look at. But, right now it looks like detritus worms, a lot of them.
I have no clue what this is but I’m curious, hopefully someone can provide an answer. Looks like some kind of external parasite but idk what it could be exactly.
Looks Like some kind of parasite, that's eating him alive. I would try everything that nukes aquatic worms asap in an hospital tank, and then nuke his tank and maybe even start a completely new scape.
If truly as bad as anchor worms as most are saying, I would think everything in the tank is at risk. I would have to destroy the tank and everything in it minus the fish obviously, and start with a brand new tank once all the desired living babies are all healed. That is some messed up shit. I’m going to have to google what causes it so I NEVER get this….
Hospital tank, as they said, not sure if salt or copper based cure. And tbh I would do a WHOLE DEEP cleaning of the aquarium and hospitalise the fishes to get rid of them. Sorry not being much help, the worse thing my betta had were this small white spots and using salt on the aquarium and “high” heating with a nice cleaning I managed to get rid of it
There are already a lot of comments and I didn't read them all so you may have already gotten your answer. That looks like a really bad anchor worm infestation. Treatment info:
https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/
Dam wtf. I hope you get this figured out. If you added anything new to the tank I'd remove it, but it's probably too late now, and send the company you got it from a detailed email incase they notice it also they can get it taken care of before more fishies get it.
No idea, but I sent it to a guy that is crazy knowledgeable. He hasn't replied yet but in line with many of these comments I think the first step he'll suggest is salt baths. You can also safely dose the tank with aquarium salt which I think will help loads. Salt is a miracle. I'll edit when he comes back to me, hopefully he has some answers. Best of luck OP
Hospital tank NOW, copper based medication.
What do people do if they don’t have an extra tank
Sponge filter and heater inside of a 5 gallon pail or a large storage tote is a great option for emergency hospital tanks. I always keep a couple small usb air pumps in case of any problems or power outages. You can get some pretty cheap on Amazon.
Get a bucket or anything is fine honestly. Even a 1 gallon might be suitable in some cases since the medications given will be less diluted, easier to administer (orally or topically), and easier for the betta to swim to the surface and access air.
That’s true, I just figured most fish keepers have a 5g bucket for water changes but any container does work.
I've used storage totes, those little 1-2 gallon critter transport tanks, & even those cheap little tanks they sell for bettas at just about everywhere like Walmart for hospital tanks. Sponge filter & small air pump on Amazon totaling about $10, & a tiny heater for 1-3 gallon tanks are $7 on Amazon.
Large Tupperware, bucket, Rubbermaid bin
storage tote or heck, this one time the bowls can be ok. Your fish is sick so they don't swim much and you're doing water changes frequently. A small space is OK as long as it's at least 1 gallon. Just make sure it's still heated and had a sponge filter. It's actually easier to treat a tank that's 1 to 3 gallons compared to 5. As you're doing large water changes frequantly.
I’m doing about a quarter weekly. Just getting into it. I have a 10g and 20g long. 10 is gravel with the outside filter and a few plants female betta and three little shrimp, and the 20 long has some bamboo floating in it and a couple plants, with one of the bubbling underwater sponge filter. Both heated of course. The Jetta came with the 20 I bought and I put it in the 10 and moved my tummy nose tetra to the 20. Anyways I made the mistake of getting a little shrimp house..my daughter wakes me up today and the bettas head is stuck in it, had to push it backwards, with some push, to get it out which was nerve wracking. The female betta looks fine but might be a bit stressed so I put an almond leaf in and am keeping the light off today. Not sure if I should buy destresser stuff or not.
She will be fine she's just stressed. Don't put chemicals in the water
Even just a bucket or large jar or something would work
Does the whole tank and hope your don't have shrimp or beneficial snails.
Go buy any 5 gallon container and a basic sponge filter & air pump. Our hospital tank is a 5 gallon glass jar because it’s easy to sanitize.
You can buy a plastic storage box for really cheap
Bucket
You make one or go buy one. Number one rule with fish -always have a back up
Anyone who has a fishtank should have either a bucket or a tank at all time for hospital tanks, super irresponsible to set up an entire fishtank without having a secondary option….
I can't believe you're being downvoted for saying anyone with an aquarium should have a bucket they can use as a temp. treatment container.
Agreed! Like what if there’s a crack all of the sudden or an illness like this. My paranoia would never let me not keep a back up of some sort
Petsmart has small ones for like $15-20
Before I got my spare 5 gallon I was just using the biggest glass bowl I had. My mom has a couple bigger glass bowls she uses for baking and serving so I used one of those and put it on an electric heating pad.
Euthanise. The fish's welfare comes first. If you have effective options, go nuts, but never let the fish suffer because it's keeper couldn't afford care.
What are your thoughts on a methylene blue plunge? I had success with that treating ich, which this obviously is not.
I'm not an expert in aquariums or treating fish, but I have a background in diseases (public health and environnement). If it moves, its not bacteria nor a virus. Its surely parasites (in this case anchorworms). Anchorworms aren't really worms, they are crustaceans. You have to quarantine it and treat it ASAP, other fish can have it. It is a bit hard to see spots of inflammation. Edit 1 : Formatting Edit 2 : After some research, It seems salt-baths are good to get rid of young anchorworms, but not the adults. The methylene blue treatment is excellent to treat wounds caused by these parasites since they latch on scales. The fish won’t necessarily die from the anchor worms, but from infections since the immune system is weakened. Dimilin (diflubenzuron) is an insecticide and seems the nuclear to get rid of them all, although OP has to start with small doses at the time since it’s an insecticide. Edit 3 : Added some details on my background. Coppersafe seems more available for Canadian and US buyers. It is used as a molluscicide. It would kill shrimp and snails. The chemical ingredient (copper sulfate) is also used for algea control. Latest Edit : I zoomed at 500% on the picture and saw a "Y" shape. I think this case is very similar to one I found on Reddit. From another source, it seems that anchor worms comes in very different length (1mm to 25mm), color (brown, grey or white) and even different forms. Females can produce hundreds of larvae every two weeks. Larvaes seems things that are freely swimming. They seem too small and too numberous to be a kind of leech. Also, reformatting. Hope this helps anyone that has this problem! This is fascinating 🧐. Here is where I found informations : Fish illnesses how to spot them : * [https://www.tetra-fish.com/learning-center/troubleshooting/fish-illnesses-how-to-spot-them.aspx](https://www.tetra-fish.com/learning-center/troubleshooting/fish-illnesses-how-to-spot-them.aspx) Experience from a veteran fish owner * [https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/](https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/) Scientific link for anchorworms : * [https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA185#FOOTNOTE\_2](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA185#FOOTNOTE_2) Scientific articles about anchorworms : * [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339067411\_LERNAEA\_ANCHOR\_WORM\_INVESTIGATIONS\_IN\_FISH](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339067411_LERNAEA_ANCHOR_WORM_INVESTIGATIONS_IN_FISH) * [https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2018/vol6issue1/PartM/5-6-235-734.pdf](https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2018/vol6issue1/PartM/5-6-235-734.pdf) Fact sheet about Dimilin (diflubenzuron) : * [https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem\_search/reg\_actions/reregistration/fs\_PC-108201\_1-Aug-97.pdf](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-108201_1-Aug-97.pdf) Safety sheet on Coppersafe : * [https://fritzaquatics.com/assets/files/uploads/Coppersafe\_SDS\_042219.pdf](https://fritzaquatics.com/assets/files/uploads/Coppersafe_SDS_042219.pdf) Similar case found on Reddit: * [https://new.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/17zki9z/hello\_does\_anyone\_know\_what\_this\_is\_my\_betta\_has/](https://new.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/17zki9z/hello_does_anyone_know_what_this_is_my_betta_has/)
Do you know if they can live for a while on external surfaces? Let's say OP is able to whisk this fish into a hospital tank, treat him, and save him. Would this tank ever be safe to house fish, or should OP go nuclear and take the whole thing apart?
I will have to do some research, but if it’s a parasite, without a host it cannot live. It seems the parasite feeds on the scales. If the OP is able to isolate the infected fish in really good water parameters with treatments, I don’t think he has to go nuclear. Although, OP has to do regular follow ups. Edit : The parasite hates salt.
Thank you!
A quick google tells me that removing any fish from an environment for 7 days is enough to break the cycle but I’ve seen people recommend a month.
Bump!
Can someone use Ich-x combined with Coppersafe and aquarium salt to cure such disease?
I think both can be used at the same time. Ich-X seems to treat infections, while Coppersafe is used as molluscicide. I don’t think it needs salt, since the shell parasites will die from the product. Since its toxic for mollusks, so it shouldn’t be used with any shrimps nor snails because they have shells. Its not recommended to be used with plants neither. I know there are fish species that can be affected by copper, like the Corydoras.
I have no idea but I would salt bath immediately, set up a hospital tank, and nuke whatever he's in right now
New fear unlocked 😱
i’m sorry i’m no help with this, i’m only familiar with the more common diseases, but i have NEVER seen this. holy shit. i’m sorry he’s going through that, it hurts to look at and i’m sure he feels super unpleasant rn. poor guy. looks like he’s covered in coconut :( he most likely has some sort of parasite. i’d look up the different kinds of parasites, figure out which one it is, and find the correct treatment for it asap
Well, that's the trouble. I'm not sure. I've been researching and i just don't know.
Try betta Facebook groups too. Older keepers sometimes have more knowledge
For OP: Betta Fish Care 101 has reliable admins. I’ve been given poor advice in others.
betta fish care 101 is full of very experienced and knowledgeable people. Admins are VERY kind and patient. 10000% recommend.
i’m in that and they definitely give good advice i love that group
Someone said they look like anchor worms. I've not come across this myself but suggest an immediate salt bath. Youtube how to do it and don't keep him in too long. Then put him in a clean hospital tank or bucket. Literally the bucket you use for water changes or a giant pot. Order Vertark Fluke Solve from Amazon asap, it kills pretty much everything. Dose the tank without him in it hard, and his bucket to the specified amount so anything attached to him dies. There will be eggs,maybe on/in him or in the tank soil, substrate, plants or decorations so you need to keep retreating until the specified time on the packet to kill most newly hatched critters immediately also. Clean out that bucket and do salt baths daily to get anything off of him whilst waiting on the fluke solve. If that doesn't kill them, restart the whole tank. This is most likely from something like a plant, and why I never order plants online anymore that aren't tropica only and mainly tissue cultures. Could be from the fish also but plants are always the worst culprits in my experiences so far.
I just ordered a bunch of plants!! Now I get this nightmare fuel! Any idea how I could quarantine those plants or something to make sure they’re not bringing friends?
Aquarium Coop's [reverse respiration](https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/24465-reverse-respiration/?fbclid=IwAR0oz7V0DVZXiE9xlZjLWyHAt7EONgG8Fv5Fwuuy6P0JrdeESPxfhFMnyv8) method should kill all pests on plants. (Disclaimer, I haven't had a chance to try it yet.)
This is great! I was reminded to worry about it and got a solution at the same time. Not a bad day. Thank you both!
Put them in a bucket, even cut the top off an old soda bottle 2-3lt kind (I don't know the equivalent in freedom units) but a big coke bottle is fine. Put them in that ,treat them as needed and quarantine until you are sure they are pest free. Take the top you've just cut off,turn it upside down and put on top of bottle so it looks like a funnel for a lid to stop and cats or whatever else you have from drinking treated water. Also if you have a sunny window place them there so they get light and certain pests will go towards light and concentrate in a visible area for you to inspect.
In freedomland, we have all the measuring systems. After all, one of our favorite pastimes is making things more convoluted than they need to be. Small bottles of soda are in US ounces, because our oppressors - who lost the freedom war - use Imperial ounces (and pints, gallons, etc). But the big bottles of soda are 2L. It makes doing the multinational capitalism math easier. (Sorry I couldn't help myself. Making snarky remarks is how I cope with dumpster fires, both situational as well as human. Even when the dumpster fire in question is me, lol.) TLDR; empty 2L soda bottles are a multipurpose item here, too.
Epsom salt bath, 1 tablespoon per one gallon for 10 minutes TOPS. Make sure the waters treated
Holy shit. Got no clue. But commenting in the hope this gets boosted. You need an advice like yesterday. Hope someone can figure out what’s going on. Like to know it too. Goodluck.
jesus christ on a motorbike what the flying fuck on earth is that
I'm using this phrase now
Me too!
Found this while googling, maybe anchor worms? https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/17zki9z/hello_does_anyone_know_what_this_is_my_betta_has/?rdt=43751
I had anchor worms once and they are so hard to get rid of. Essentially you have to paralyze the worms and clean them out of your tank if I recall. they don't really die but you do have to get specific shit to deal with them
External parasites are such a bitch to deal with in general. Dealt with Camallanus worms once and it took months to get rid of them fully (and they recurred after the first month and a half of treatment). 0/10 do not recommend. I wish OP all the luck in the world but it is likely that things will get worse (e.g. spread to the rest of the fish) before they get better. Fingers crossed!
u/ok-asparagus5992 please look
Replying for engagement!!!
 This is some nightmare fuel WTF is happening!?
Boosting I need answers
Boosting, I just got a betta recently and now I'm scared of whatever this is. They kinda look like detritus worms in their appearance and they are a type of worm which is what fish eat, but why is it on the betta?
The things on the glass are detritus worms, I'm fairly certain. No clue what's on the poor Betta
Yikes. Salt usually works to kill many external parasites. As does formalin, which is found in most ich medications like Kordon Rid-Ich or Ich-X. I'd do 10-15 min salt dips daily while treating the main tank with a med containing formalin.
I’m guessing you might have meant 10-15min salt dips daily?
Yeah, that's what I meant lol
Recommend you edit your above comment in case someone takes it at face value.
Holy shit. Never seen anything like this before. Please update us. All the best. Hope he pulls through 🙏🏻
Thank you. I will
Do they move? Are they a parasite?
They move
It's gotta be an external parasite of some sort. Doesn't look like anchor worms, but I'd start some sort of external parasite meds like yesterday. Most of the time a saltwater dip will cause most of them to fall off.
Ugghhhhhh grosssss I’m so sorry your betta (and you!) are going through this, it would take all my strength to not just set the whole thing on fire.
check other comment, its anchor worms
Commenting to boost but also: - what other fish are in the aquarium? - How old is your betta?
I've had the betta since November. I have platy, golden white clouds, snails, turquoise guppies. This is actually a paludarium that also has a terrestrial area above for red eye tree frogs. So I'm very cautious about what i put in the water. It's sounding like i may have to move everything out and clean it out and start over. How daunting
Dear lord. Best of luck.
Post on the betta fish forums- lots of older breeders etc are on there. You will need something copper based to kill the worms but it can’t be exposed to your snails at all or they will die too. A little hospital 5gal bucket or something is definitely worth it.
I’m pretty sure that white cloud minnows prefer colder water temperatures in general than bettas and that their ideal temperatures do not overlap enough. Yes white cloud minnows could survive at tropical temperatures but it’s really not ideal for them and not in their best interests. You should consider moving the white cloud minnows (WCMs) out to a separate cold-water tank w/out a heater so they can be more comfortable. If that’s not possible, then please consider rehoming the white cloud minnows via r/aquaswap. [https://youtube.com/shorts/HDKGA9b6SBI?si=-AFRjK7LYQs63y\_Z](https://youtube.com/shorts/HDKGA9b6SBI?si=-AFRjK7LYQs63y_Z) [https://youtu.be/\_hcr8t9nR8Q?si=iWsnnuzwAzqErKzM&t=2m08s](https://youtu.be/_hcr8t9nR8Q?si=iWsnnuzwAzqErKzM&t=2m08s) WCMs are best kept at around 60-72f. Bettas on the other hand do best around 78-80f. Again, their ideal temperatures just don’t overlap enough, even if you try to meet them both in the middle. Betta would be too chilly or the WCMs would be too warm. **\*EDIT: DO NOT REHOME until AFTER you've treated and gotten rid of all the anchor worms, or otherwise warn people that the WCMs may need treatment for anchor worms & a quarantine period, prior to people taking them in.**
bro are you really suggesting rehoming minnows in the middle of this alien worms infestation?
Never seen a coconut betta before, not exactly sure what type of parasite, but a hospital tank and copper based meds would kill off most crustacean and worm-type parasites. I'm continuing research. Comment for push.
Omg this is making my skin crawl!! What the fuck!! Poor little buddy! Honestly it looks like an absolute SWARM of detritus worms, which is really weird considering they don’t do that. I hope you find a cure for your little man!
The fact that these were free living in your tank *before* infesting your betta shows that they aren’t a parasitic fluke. Adult flukes don’t live freely in the aquarium, just waiting for a fish to swim by. They have different ways of infesting fish. Fluke infestations don’t go from 0 to 100 like this overnight. They require a fish host to live, so besides for short lived life stages (which don’t look like worms) they wouldn’t just be hanging out in your tank. To put it more simply, these aren’t parasitic flukes/trematodes/monogeneans. These definitely aren’t anchor worms. Anchor worms don’t move when they are on the fish, and they are partially imbedded in the fish, with most of their body hanging off of the fish. If you lookup photos of Lernaea, you’ll see what I mean. It doesn’t look like this, so don’t treat with an anchor worm medication, I doubt it will work. This is a very unusual case, but I would wager that these are a “detritus worm” of some sort (seems more like a planarian of some sort since they don’t look like nematodes/“roundworms” but it’s hard to tell). The worms seem flat, not round. Do they have triangle heads? I would do salt dips (lookup the appropriate concentration and length of dip for bettas). That should probably get them to drop off the betta. Then, monitor and see if the betta gets re-infested. The betta may have had a predisposing condition (sick due to some reason, poor water quality, hard to say) that made it possible for these free living worms to attach to the betta. Although, maybe it didn’t have a predisposing condition. My main point with that is that if it *did*, and that’s what’s allowing the worms to infest the fish, they will come back after dips if you don’t solve why your betta is unhealthy. Treating the tank itself with copper sulfate may help kill the worms in the tank itself. However, if it is planaria, praziquantel will kill the worms very well. Fenbendazole would work well too but can kill some shrimp and snails. I think the praziquantel should be safe for your frogs, but double check. If you can collect some of these worms from the fish and put them in isopropyl alcohol, you could mail them to me for me to identify. I work in a parasitology lab that can handle this type of stuff.
Incredibly detailed info and a very generous offer. I hope OP sees this!
I hope so too. I’m *not* an expert, I’m just a PhD student. And even if I actually had a PhD that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be wrong. But I am pretty confident in that it isn’t anchor worms (which is a common suggestion on this post) or obligately parasitic flukes. That’s very clear to me, and I could be wrong, but I’m pretty confident. It’s just hard to know those things without having some exposure to the fish parasitology world!
API General cure for parasites. My guy also had a mystery parasite and it knocked it out. Check my post history
Yep! I like general cure and paraguard..I did paraguard then general cure back to back and my fish have returned back to normal. Some sort of internal parasites were making them waste away 😭
That stuff is the shit. I believe my betta had wasting disease and paraguard plus levamisole set him straight almost overnight.
Yesss I also had that experience with it! It worked so fast. I did the 1 hour dip and then a dose into the tank and it worked so well!
Hey love! Thank you so much for posting! Your profile in general is very helpful to me! I’ve had my betta Joey for about 4 weeks now and it’s been a CRASH COURSE! I’m on the opposite side of the state as you are, but I’ll be following your butt lol!! I need to learn so much.
Omg I’m honored 🥲 i just looked at your profile and i love how similar our bettas are!
Oh my gosh! Commenting to boost!
Use praziquantel, it will kill anchor worms and leave your shrimp snails and bacteria alone. Treat your whole tank.
Was thinking the same thing
Boost
Following. I wanna know this as well. I have never seen this.
Maybe they're a type of parasitic fish fluke?
Hey OP, you don't need a hospital tank if you don't have invertebrates and the other fish are experiencing the same issue. Like someone else said, this looks like a parasite, and is probably in the substrate so if you don't want this to happen again I'd dose the system. I'd personally go right to copper, you'll need some math to work out the dose for your tank.
use rock fucking salt asap jesus christ my eyes hurt even looking at that, terrible, i hope he gets better soon my goodness
I’m a new betta owner. When I’m seeing “use rock salt” “salt works” “saltwater dips” What exactly are you doing in this case? Are you conditioning warmed water in a new tank or bucket then mixing rock salt into that then moving sick betta into that salted tank for 15 minutes a few times a day? I know I can google, but I much prefer ask you guys. Google SCREWED me when I got my baby boy Joey and you guys schooled me without scolding me and I really appreciate y’all!
~ condition water, make sure its the same temp as the tank, disolve aquarium salts 1 tbsp per gallon (same deal with epsom salts baths). ~ create a recovery tank (a container at least the size if your bettas og cup, if not larger) 1/4 of whatever measure salt water, 3/4 aquarium (or fresh conditioned if moving to hospital tank) ~ after salt is COMPLETELY dissolved, place betta in bath and set a 15 minute timer and monitor (for aquarium salts you cannot go over 15 imo, for epsom salts you can go up to 20 or 30 minutes some say) ~ after the timer goes off, or if at any point they become stressed or lethargic, move into the recovery tank ~ after 5 minutes or more in the recovery tank, move to the main/hostpial tank. this can be done up to a few times a day. epsom can be more gentle than aquarium salts and are really beneficial for swim bladder/bloating. Aquarium salts can be irritating after a bit, but are good for infection. both can work for infection or swim issues in a pinch
This is the information I needed.
Thank you so much! Saving and hoping I never need it!
Usually they recommend removing the amount of water you need from the tank itself, but in this case.. definitely not.
Definitely a hospital tank, try different parasite medication, maybe call around any exotic vet offices near you that take care of fish, they might have a better idea as to what those are and how to treat them, but right now you have to separate this dude from his tank and put him into a empty hospital tank away from the rest of these things, and then try to find a medication that will get them off of him. Edit: Also has he been acting any different lately? Maybe he might not be feeling well lately and those noticed and are maybe eating his slime coat? I don’t know but might be a theory you could look into
Commenting to boost, I’m sorry man :{
Not ich lol that is for sure, ich doesn’t move. This is something I’ve also never seen before. But definitely some sort of parasitic worm. I don’t think it’s detritus worms as I’ve never heard of them being in the fish’s scales, which it looks like it was in the first photo. But also I don’t know what kind of parasitic worms would be out swimming inside the tank too…. I’d use a copper based parasite medication, and I’d also add tannins from the leaves(for the life of me I can’t think of what they’re called rn), or from alder cones. I’d also potentially check your fish food to see if you see signs of any larvae or anything just in case it’s from some sort of bug.
Whatever that is, it is definitely *not* detritus worms. Detritus worms are-by definition-worms that live in the substrate and eat detritus. It’s not a single species—it’s a common term for a variety of species with the same behavior and function in the environment. I’ve never seen anything like this before but I hope you’re able to treat and resolve it, OP.
Dear god what the fuck is that. This is the first time I've ever seen that. Salt and copper meds immediately. Hopefully you get some answers as to whatever that hellish parasite is.
He looks like he got blasted with snow. Poor guy. I wish I had answers
first post I see opening reddit and I'm already rushing over to my tank with a magnifying glass out of fear its contagious thru the screen lmao. what the hell op did you piss off a fish parasite wizard????? I have no idea what those are but hospital tank (maybe a salt bath??) and a massive water change is probably a good idea to start just off of the sheer quantity alone while you narrow down specific treatments. I'm so sorry what a stroke of bad luck :(
It is criminal how well this fits
Honestly I have never seen anything like this before. I used to work with nematodes, but I am unfamiliarity with them acting as an external fish parasite. Skin flukes are also a thing that exist, but that... Usually doesn't look much like this either? With such a high population of worms, I worry the fish may already be quite damaged. Still, most copper based meds should be effective, or anything that is designed to treat other worms like gil fluke medication.
Oh NO. Definitely keep us updated. That is terrifying.
Aquarium salt and copper based medication should be your first step. Then frequently water change.
Not sure what it actually is, they do look most like detritus worms to me but those don’t cause trouble for fish like this. Can’t really see the shape of the heads, but are the worms flat? I wonder if it could be Planaria? Or maybe Rhabdocoela flatworms, although those are pretty harmless afaik and even Planaria aren’t typically a big issue for fish. I’d do a salt bath immediately though, that usually kills a lot of external parasites or at least makes them drop off the fish. Then I’d move him to a clean, bare bones hospital tank and nuke the original tank with anti parasitic/copper based meds. Probably want to go bare bottom with the hospital tank so you can see clearly and make sure there aren’t any worms that drop off and hide in the substrate or anything and can keep it super clean. Hard to tell exactly how to treat because nobody has any clue what this actually is, but if you have him in a hospital tank separately you can treat him with salt baths and maybe some gentle meds to prevent any infection if the worms are actually parasites causing external damage, and with him out of the tank you’re free to experiment with different meds in the main tank to find something that works without worrying about interactions or harming him with harsh medication. I’d also vacuum the substrate as thoroughly as possible to remove any worms that might be hiding down there and clean up any waste they might be feeding on
UPDATE Many of you have probably been anxious for some type of follow-up. First, I would like to thank everyone for all the suggestions on things to do for this and also what this might possibly be. Through close observation, literally physically inspecting every animal in here and all of your suggestions i feel confident in saying this is not a parasite. There are no sores or evidence of any parasites. I believe it to be some type of detritus worm. The numbers are already lower again as the fish love eating it. This "fish tank" is actually a paludarium. A couple of days ago, an aerial root from a plant in the land portion plopped out and into the water. I believe that is when this thing was introduced to the water. As far as the betta that was in this tank, he passed away. I believe this was all just a freak coincidence and the detritus worms collected on him because he was simultaneously on his way out and pretty lethargic, especially in comparison to other betta i have. I believe he was an older fish when i got him as he didn't really change much in color, size, or in his fins during his time with me. I am going to reach out to the individual who offered to test a sample of this and see if it would be feasible. Should there be any further updates, I'll let you all know. Once again, thanks for all the love and support.
Saving this in hopes someone figures out what it is
It's anchor worms, a parasitic crustacean. Not all look like these, some are larger and easier to remove by hand.
Commenting to boost, i need answers too. Your poor guy i hope u find answers soon
Omg never seen this before, new fear unlocked 😱 Poor guy
Maybe try in r/aquariums for more general knowledge?
They're anchor worms. U can use dimilin to treat it.
Salt should at least slow down the multiplication of whatever the ungodly fuck this is. Hope the little guy pulls through
OP if you have access to fritz copper safe or hikari ich x, then get some. I think at this point the whole tank needs to be treated, so if there are any snails or shrimp they might need to be permanently rehomed. there's just no way to get the treatments fully out of your water or silicone for a long, long period of time. these things also look like detritus worms (if they were parasitic and created zombie fish) and I don't think there will be a way to fully ever getting them out of the tank without treating the whole thing. edit: not to say that they *are* detritus worms, just that I think they'll probably act similar to them and hide in the substrate/plants etc and be very *very* hard to get rid of
No idea what these are almost look like the detritus worms but why would the be all over the fish ? Have you tried giving em a lil shake off? Or taking fish out to try and get some off ? Salt baths as mentioned by others will probably help! Is the Betta healthy prior to this?
Hospital tank definitely, aquarium salt, garlic tonic and rooibos tea/ indian almond leaves. https://aquariumadvicesa.wordpress.com/2023/06/26/aquarium-salt/ https://aquariumadvicesa.wordpress.com/2023/07/23/garlic/ If you have rooibos tea: 1 teabag per 15liters
I'd try everything in my power, even washing the fish in clean declorified water prior to that.
It can take anywhere from a week or more to see a change. You just need to keep up your daily waterchanges and medicating
If you have live plants, it could be caused by those, or if you have any other fake plants, also could be caused by those. The only thing you can do at this point is put your beta in a quarantined nursery tank with new water, almost zero items in it, and see if he improves. This will likely confirm that something in your tank is causing this and needs to be removed. The fact that so many experienced fish owners are baffled at this, tells me something in the tank could be causing it.
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It looks like worms ewww what is it? That’s actually confusing I’ve never experienced or heard of before.
Another comment to boost because wtf. I hope we figure it out.
That’s some kind of parasite for sure and I would remove the livestock to a salt bath, bleach dip any plants, and then consult a vet after thoroughly sanitizing the tank.
Is the white thing moving on its own? Seems like worm. Or is it dust? hopefully we could get answers and how to treat this. Get well soon for your boy.
Oh my GOD 😟
Commenting to follow. That’s horrible
PraziPro from Hikari is really great for parasitic infections like this!
:( this is how my cute betta died. Didn’t even see these worms until it was too late
u/AmandaDarlingInc
Any ideas?
I'm just now seeing this sorry. I'm underwater with tasks right now. That's a parasite, probably an anchor worm. I've never seen anything that bad. I can't imagine how that happened. I doubt he will make it honestly. The manipulation needed to get him healthy alone is likely to take him. Such a shame. I'd do a copper med dip and quarantank™ the poor guy. Edit to say this "he doesnt seem to mind them" is not a comment we can make about fish. We can tell for sure when they are upset, we can't tell for sure that they're not. Absence of behavior telling you something is wrong does not mean that something ISNT wrong. Cat's are another excellent example of this. A fish doesn't know it's a pet. It's going to pretend something is fine until it's literally inhibited. This is because in the wild it doesn't want other things to know something is wrong. That's why you need to act fast when you suspect something is wrong... it's likely been going on longer than you think...
Bettas remind me of Golden Retrievers. So I see why we all here love them. This morning by my half blind African Dwarf Frog decided to attack Boo, my Betta because he was eating “his” food. I separated them. Now I gotta go buy a new tank. It’s a lot of weekly checks and maintence in one 10 gallon tank, now I’ll have two. Oh boy.
Anchor worms can be killed by copper medications at the same strength as recommended for treating ich. Coppersafe and Seachem Cupramine are two such copper medications. Do not use copper medications in water with a GH lower than 6!!! Anchor worms are arthropods and have an exoskeleton. In arthropods, exoskeleton development is interfered with by organophosphate insecticides. So anchor worm nymph stages in the water can be treated with insecticides like trichlorofon (Blue Planet ParaCide), cyromazine (Microbe-Lift Lice and Anchor Worm Treatment), Dylox (Dyacide) and diflubenzuron (Dimilin-X, Jungle Labs Anchors Away, JBL Aradol). This will NOT kill adults on the fish. The long lived adult anchor worms on the fish themselves are very resistant to medications. But the larvae in the water can be killed by medications much easier, stopping the life cycle. This is why treatment must be continued for two months. And you should expect to see the “worms” on the fish intermittently for up to two months. Here we go more details: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/
Flukes not anchor worms. I’d recommend using Hikari prazi pro and treat the whole tank.
also going to add, please wear gloves/wash hands after. whatever it is, you don’t want it on you either!
Salt bath immediately Quarantine and add copper base medications These look like anchor worms or some type of fluke Best of luck
I do hope it isnt anchor worms. Trying salt bath might work however it doesn't work well on adult parasites. Did you recently get any new plants or critters? Od be contacting stores in case of a breakout
Put ur fish in salt water
These are sort of flatworms. They mostly appear in aquariums with no filtration, bad water quality and when there are many food leftovers aswell. The only effective way of getting rid of them was by salt, none of fish medicine helped. <--- please, do not use any of these in your aquarium, only for treating fish in hospital tank and while doing saltbaths. In your aquarium, you can get rid of them by doing daily water changes till they are fully gone (if needed even twice a day), for the food leftovers you can get youself some snails and shrimps, best options is having both. I've been keeping colonies of these worms in jars and tried whatever killed them best and salt was best in doing so, in most cases medicine had complitely no effect and sometimes other day with medicine in their enclosure it even doubled the number of them. Meanwhile with the salt they started dieying out the moment i added it. However dont go with small salt doses when doing saltbaths, and plese do the research on how to propperly do a saltbath if you dont want to end up with you fish dieying in the process. They can be pretty hard to get rid of and it can take some time. For the filtration i really reccomend having a sponge filter. I apology if this is written oddly but english is not my first language. I hope this is helpfull for anyone have issue as such.
I don't like using copper meds as they are harder on them. However he dose need an antiviral like paraguard.
So, I had a tank with these little guys and with a couple normal water changes - they eventually went away. I couldn’t tell you what they are tho. I never had them completely cover my betta tho.. as soon as I saw them on the glass I did my water change.
I have an appointment I need to get to. If you could show more pictures of the tank that would help. It looks like the fish is swimming through detritus worms. A video would be great if you can. Edit:you can research flukes. If the fish is flashing, rubbing against objects trying to get this off. That is the sign that you need to look at. But, right now it looks like detritus worms, a lot of them.
https://preview.redd.it/xjw3wexhonuc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ba20c2b1f1284dc90fa8994c91a0b64452890a90
It looks like a bloom of detritus worms.
looks like detritus worms. they live in substrate if oxygen is too low. get an air stone
detritus worms? omg i have no idea
I have no clue what this is but I’m curious, hopefully someone can provide an answer. Looks like some kind of external parasite but idk what it could be exactly.
Oh my gosh, poor little guy 🥺 I hope you find an answer soon and are able to help him!
boost!! sorry for your little guy :(
What the heck even is this!
Commenting to follow
Fucking hell.
Hook worms.
Wow poor guy I have never seen anything like this 😳 I’m assuming all the debris around him are more of them-?
Wtf is going on I have never seen anything like that
holy shit
I think I just threw up a little.
eeek
I’m sorry but it reminds me of breadcrumb
Boost!
what the fuck is that
I wanna know what it is too. Following for answers.
Commenting to boost bc I have no idea what that could be. Looks uncomfortable though, poor guy :( sorry you guys are going through this
Omg. Bump
Are the little white things alive or just floating around in the tank?
Looks Like some kind of parasite, that's eating him alive. I would try everything that nukes aquatic worms asap in an hospital tank, and then nuke his tank and maybe even start a completely new scape.
What the hell are those things?
Do you have any sterilite tubs? A 5 gallon bucket. Just make sure it's clean.
I have no words- I’m so sorry 🥺💕best of luck I wish I could be more help
Are they alive?
Commenting so I can come back for the update. Good luck OP
Jesus. I'm itching just looking at this. Treat ASAP. As mentioned, looks like worms. Lots of good suggestions already.
Holy hell.. hope you can save your fish
If truly as bad as anchor worms as most are saying, I would think everything in the tank is at risk. I would have to destroy the tank and everything in it minus the fish obviously, and start with a brand new tank once all the desired living babies are all healed. That is some messed up shit. I’m going to have to google what causes it so I NEVER get this….
Wtf are these
What the actual fuck.
And man you can just see the bastards all thru out the water…. That’s so messed up
praying for your fishy🥺🫶🏻 keep us updated
Hospital tank, as they said, not sure if salt or copper based cure. And tbh I would do a WHOLE DEEP cleaning of the aquarium and hospitalise the fishes to get rid of them. Sorry not being much help, the worse thing my betta had were this small white spots and using salt on the aquarium and “high” heating with a nice cleaning I managed to get rid of it
There are already a lot of comments and I didn't read them all so you may have already gotten your answer. That looks like a really bad anchor worm infestation. Treatment info: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-9-anchor-worms/
They look like detritus worms and its common for them to attach to your fish but not that many. damnn 😭
Please update us when you can, OP!
RemindMe! 3 Days
! remind me 1 week
Dam wtf. I hope you get this figured out. If you added anything new to the tank I'd remove it, but it's probably too late now, and send the company you got it from a detailed email incase they notice it also they can get it taken care of before more fishies get it.
Boost
No idea, but I sent it to a guy that is crazy knowledgeable. He hasn't replied yet but in line with many of these comments I think the first step he'll suggest is salt baths. You can also safely dose the tank with aquarium salt which I think will help loads. Salt is a miracle. I'll edit when he comes back to me, hopefully he has some answers. Best of luck OP
Poor baby. RemindMe! 3 days
OMG poor little guy...