argulus

dgale123 · #1 08-09-2008, 02:41 PM

i does anyone no how to get rid of these( argulus) they are on my fish

i would be grateful as i dont no alot about koi thanks in advance i have been advised to either get some dimilin or some mastoton does anyone no where to get these from cheers

naiad · #2 08-14-2008, 09:19 PM

Hi, sorry I didn't answer earlier, I thought someone else would know more about koi treatments. I don't know about the most effective treatment for argulus, but a shop with a lot of good quality koi products should have a range of treatments. You can also pick them off the fish very carefully, but that may be difficult as it involves taking the fish out of the pond. If you do that, there are treatments to apply to the area they have been removed from to reduce the risk of infection. A koi expert would know how to sedate the fish for removing the argulus. It would be better to use a treatment than to pick them off, but I don't know what is the name of the best treatment.

dgale123 · #3 08-17-2008, 05:59 AM

cheers mate much appreceited

Merlin · #4 08-31-2008, 10:48 AM

Hi there

The most effective treatments against Argulus were organophosphates but they are now banned in the UK for use in fish treatments. A salt bath can be effective for individual fish but there is no simple solution to ridding a seriously infested pond of these parasites, as killing the adults is the easy part, the young free swimming ones are the buggers.

Visible Lice should first be killed by dabbing them with Potassium Permanganate or an anti-parasitic medication. Then, they should be carefully removed from the fish using tweezers. It is paramount that you kill the parasite before attempting to remove it from the fish. It will make it easier to remove and less stressful to the fish. It is a good idea to then dab the area with an atiseptic ,then cover with a sealant to prevent secondary infections. It is recommended that you feed your fish medicated food to prevent a bacterial infection from occurring. The whole pond will need to be treated to kill any unseen, free-swimming juvenile parasites.

Sedating a fish is not as hard as it sounds, if you need any advice on this matter then please ask, and I will give you a step by step run down .

Most Koi outlets stock meds to overcome this problem.

D.R. · #5 09-01-2008, 09:45 PM

some good pointers from Merlin, its not a common parasite in domestic ponds, did you introduce wild fish or plants at any stage?

The organophosphates were nasty, harmful to the environment and traces of the pesticide were left in the fish, this was a problem for trout farmers.

There is a treatment using hydrogen peroxide at 3% it leaves no trace.

Argulus females lay eggs attached to plants in the upper layer of the water. If you lower the water level by 12-18" it will dry out the eggs.

Merlin · #6 09-05-2008, 08:19 PM

[quote=D.R.;14054]some good pointers from Merlin, its not a common parasite in domestic ponds, did you introduce wild fish or plants at any stage?

The organophosphates were nasty, harmful to the environment and traces of the pesticide were left in the fish, this was a problem for trout farmers.

There is a treatment using hydrogen peroxide at 3% it leaves no trace.

Argulus females lay eggs attached to plants in the upper layer of the water. If you lower the water level by 12-18" it will dry out the eggs.[/QUOTE]

Now that is something I was unaware of, thanks D.R.

D.R. · #7 09-06-2008, 12:51 PM

some of the eggs might be slightly deeper in the water and not all eggs will dry out. It may have to be repeated several times