Parasites

Koi Fish Parasites
Hello, I am a koi fish hobbyist. I compiled some pictures, movies, and links for parasites for me and other hobbyists. Some of the images are ones I photographed and others are images I found on the internet. This web page is mainly for my reference and I am willing to share with others. For the record, as far as I can tell, all parasites move.
Movies: The movies here are pretty good. http://www.goldfishvet.com/video/fishmovies.htm http://homepage.ntlworld.com/duncan.griffiths//movies.htm Other Web Pages: http://www.blueridgekoi.com/disease_issues.htm http://www.chilternkoi.nildram.co.uk/koi_parasites.htm http://homepage.ntlworld.com/duncan.griffiths/ http://www.fish-helpline.co.uk/health/anchor_worm.html
Trichodina: Saucer shaped parasite. Can cause spiderweb lesions in the skins of koi. Can do serious damage to gills of smallfish. Treat with Proform-C or salt.

Flukes: They appear to be sucking water in and out. Treat with Prazi Pond or Superverm.

Costia: Free-swimming Costia are exremely small; graceless wobbly swimmer that look like commas or almost like half open Conch shells. Treat with Salt 0.3% for 2 weeks.

Anchor Worms: Treat with Express IDI or Dimilin

ICH: Ichthyophthirius multifilis (Ich) - White spot , one of the ciliates, showing the classic horseshoe shape macronucleus (above) is classed as a large protozoa, which can be detected by the naked eye on infected fish by the appearance of hundreds of tiny white spots where the parasite has bored through the skin of the host (A). The adult parasite drops off the host, surrounds itself with a capsule and fixes itself to a plant or rock(B). Inside the capsule the parasite divides and multiplies and eventually 250 - 1000 tiny 'swarmers' (C)are released and these then swim off in search of a new host. The swarmers typically attack the dorsal and caudal fins of koi, although gills and body are also affected. The swarmers burrow through the surface of the skin and so the parasite resides in the body and not on the body of infected fish.Treat with salt and heat 88oF, or Proform-C.
Ich on fish
	I think this is ick. http://www.koivetforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16637&page=2&pp=15
Chilodinella: Heartshaped organism or large round organism full of tiny bubbles. Alive Chilodinella resembles a heart shaped onion with a fuzzy end where you could imagine the onion roots would be. There are actually cilia. Dead, Chilodinella are motionless round balls full of tiny bubbles. They may resemble Ich but they do not have a cresent nucleus nor do they move in their dead rounded state. Treat with salt 0.3% for 2 weels.
		430x
Ulcers: Rub pp powder into ulcer once. Then rub debride ointment in afterwards.

Fish Lice: You can see little black dots moving around on your fish. Pg. 45 Doc J: Fish lice cannot be seen for first 5-6 weeks of life and can suck the life out of your fish before you see the bug.

Non Harmful water creatures that will not hurt koi: For more on water mites: These red mites are perhaps the best known water mites since they are easily visible. They reach sizes up to 6 mm.There are several similar genusses. Mites from the genus Hydrachna are very common. When examined under the microscope the skin appears armored with a very fine spikes. All water mites are predators. They feed on all kinds of Crustaceans and larvae of water insects. The prey is grabbed by the pair of palps and the fluid content of the victim is being sucked out via piercing mouthparts. http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec99/mite.html Other non harmful water creatures http://www.microscopy-uk.net/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.net/pond/index.html REC at www.koivet.com: While I was researching the high pH problem mystery (another thread), I came across your water mite in one of books. This guy is indeed harmless to healthy fish and he serves a real purpose of cleaning up the detris and crud in your pond, including dead and dying tissue. The population of water mites will only be as great as the amount of food available (clean pond, etc.).
Water Mite: harmless but scarry looking, predator.	430x	Dragon Fly baby, can live in pond for 3 years. Predator.
Water Mite: Looks like a fishlice by eye, but is not. Use the microscope.
Another nonharmful water creature JackieRamo: Normally one finds scuds in the poop, these are actually eating the poop and are a good thing. Lots of different kinds of scuds, look a bit shrimp like but microsocpic.
Saprolengnia: Nasty Fungus, secondary invader of Ulcers. Cotton wool substance on fish. http://www.bonniesplants.com/sick_injured_fish/fungus/saprolegina.htm http://koivet.com/html/articles/articles_details.php?article_id=256 http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/PDB/Images/Eumycota/Saprolegnia/ note: pg 90 Doc J. Book, two applications of PP needed for columnaris and saprolegnia.
	100x	640x
Myxozoan parasites: Myxozoan parasites... Sabine, If indeed these are myxozoan parasites, then you have a little work to do to eradicate them. First, some words about the myxo parasites.. there are a lot of varieties of these parasites and are very common in aquariums and ponds but we usually do not see them nor do the fish react. For the most part, the myxo infestions are harmless.. but when the infestations get really heavy, you can have some problems. But before we get wild about this, we need to some detective work. Where did you get the "content" for the pictures of the parasites that you posted?? Out of the water or from tissue of the fish? I ask because the presence of myxo in the water does not mean that they are affecting your fish. If these pics were taken of tissue samples or fluid drawn from a fistule, then we have something to work from as this is evidence that the parasite is now grossly affecting your fish. In a post recently, someone asked about white "pimples" on his fish.. I mentioned that this is most likely a parasite (and probably of the myxo family). This is how it usually appears on the skin.. as white pimples that can be opened and drained with a syringe and the contents analyzed unser a scope. Interesting stuff if you like doin' this.. But the more sinister myxo problems come with damage to the gills. Evidence of myxo infections to gills are the same white pimple (usually larger) between the filaments of the gill. They are almost unmistakable in appearance. This type of infestation leads to gill deterioration and bacterial infections. The most common sign of problems is labored breathing. Have you examined the gills for evidence of problems??? I think this is where we need to look first. Now, I am not sure that metronidazole is the right course of treatment. Typically we use this for intestinal worms, such as hexamita... For myxo infestations, the tank or pond has to be disinfected with the best chem being malachite green. Since the myxo goes through a number of stages, the treatment plan must be repeated once a week for three-four weeks, especially if you have dead fish in the tank as once an infested fish dies, the myxo returns to the water to look for a new host. Look for malachite green at the fish store and go with the bottle doses. Make sure that your water is under 72 deg F and you have good aeration and no carbon filtering nor direct sunlight to the water. Good luck and let us know what happens.. and what you find with the gill exam., REC REC Thank you for this interesting information. I'm a little more hopeful now. The myxos were drawn with a soft plastic pipette from the gill (I went in). When I sucked the pipette must have sucked on to the gill and drew a droplet of blood . I have never found this bug in water samples before, then again, I just got the microscope shortly before that to find out what was wrong with my gasping floating fish. The white pimples: I treated the tank with Maracide in February because I saw tiny white spots, just 1 or 2 per fish. I thought they don't look like ick, but couldn't think of anything else. I had only bought some new plants shortly before that, put them into permanganate to disinfect. No new fish. They were round, globular. One spot turned into a long stringy thing on the bubble, another into a red thread on the wen of a lionhead. Here is a photo of the long stringy thing on Bubble's bubble: http://www.goldfishparadise.com/alb...d0001.sized.jpg The spots were mostly on wens, they were not the usual fuzzies. I also noticed that the lionhead has a greyish layer on his wen and back area, and a tiny white pimple on the wen. I'll try to suck it up and take a look. The bubble eye has such huge bubbles, it is impossible to look into the gills. I don't even dare to lift him out of water, the bubbles are so heavy I'm afraid they would tear. I guess I'm also too afraid to pry open the gills and look. These are not huge fish. That's why I invented the method with the pipette :-( I'll try to take a look on a pimple tonight. Sabine, To the best of my knowledge, MG is the right way to go... you will need to do this in short baths so the fish can tolerate it better. You still need to check the gills... we have to know this.REC

Fungus vs. Epistylis vs. Bacterial Columnaris vs. Saprolengia http://www.koivet.com/html/glossary/glossary_details.php?glossary_id=19&category=Symptoms White fuzzy areas, or tufts can be tough to actually diagnose correctly. Fungus can look like this, Epistylis looks like this, and Cotton-Wool disease (bacterial Columnaris) looks like this. Fungus is readily identifiable under the microscope because it looks like strands of human hair. That would be the Saprolegnia. Epistylis is very easy to identify because the organisms are usually abundant, and feature a long slender stalk and a body which looks like a wine glass or goblet. Columnaris bacteria are harder to identify without special stains or a very high powered scope. I guess it boils down to this: If you scrape off some of the tufty stuff and it looks like hair, it's Fungus. If it's looking like goblets, it's Epistylis. If you don't see much of anything, assume it's Columnaris bacteria. Here's a perfect shotgun remedy that won't hurt fish: (1) Salt to 0.3 or 0.6% (2) Warm the fish no faster than one degree per hour, up to the mid seventies, or if you want to combat Koi Herpes Virus, use the same "one degree per hour" heating from their ambient temperature up to 86oF (3) MediKoi food is, in my estimation, by far the best made, best formulated medicated food. It will help control bacterial infections. (4) Dimilin handily controls comparatively rare but large parasites like Anchor Worms and Fish Lice. (5) Prazi or Prazi containing medications controlf Flukes on Koi and Goldfish best. Using all of the above at the same time can be highly successful against most parasitisms and infections. The space in which this is done should be the largest possible (100+ gallons), with plenty of hiding-cover, algae or live plants, and plenty of wter turnover for aeration. This protocol could be hampered when applied to salt-resistant Costia. A Formalin treatment on the way into the quarantine where the above will be applied will break the lifecycle of Costia and prevent it emerging in the quarantine tank.