symptoms
external symptoms
- Red-brown threads protrude from the anus.
- Wide open anus
- feces is white.
- Fish lose weight.
Behave
internal symptoms
photos
Photo: Michael Jansen
Purple perch with milling head worms.
Photos: Kai Schmidt
Photos: Frank Mersch
Scalar with milling head worms.
Photos: Bernd Dilssner
Catfish with milling head worms. The worms dropped dead shortly after treatment with Concurat. Nevertheless, one of the infested catfish died.
Photos: Maria Szameitat
Female Guppy with Milling Head Worms.
Photos: Juliane Brauer
Catfish with milling head worms. The catfish died because of the worms.
Photo: T. Grünig
Scalar with milling head worms.
Photo: Felix Hollenstein
Cichlid with milling head worms.
Photos: Tanja Pirenz
Butterfly cichlid with worms before and one day after treatment with Nematol.
causes
Milling headworms infect the intestinal tract of many species of fish, but in aquaristics they are mostly found in cichlids and livebearers. This also applies to guppies and swordtails.
The female nematodes incubate their eggs in their own bodies until the larvae hatch inside the female’s body. The hatched larvae are washed into the aquarium water with the fish’s excrement.
In most types of milling head worms, the larvae are ingested by other host animals and develop there into further larval stages. Host animals can be insect larvae and crustaceans. If these host animals are eaten by a suitable fish, these larval stages migrate into the fish and develop there into new worms that can reproduce again. In this way, larvae of the milling head worms can be introduced via live food.
Some other species do not require an intermediate host, at least for several generations. In these species, too, the females release the larvae into the open water. The larvae of these species sink to the bottom or droppings found there. From there they are picked up by the fish when they eat.
The larvae of all species bite into the intestinal tract of the infected fish with their milling head-like mouth. Since the affected piece of intestine is no longer supplied with sufficient blood due to the bite, it dies after some time. The milling head worm then looks for a new place to cling. Over time, the intestinal wall becomes more and more perforated and pathogens can penetrate.
Milling head worms can be easily recognized by their red color. The red color is caused by the sucked up blood of the infected fish. Since, in contrast to other nematodes, they live near the anus, red threads often appear from the anus, which are usually the first to identify an infestation with milling headworms. If the fish moves, the worms often immediately retreat into the anus. Females are up to 10 mm long, males up to 3 mm long.
treatment suggestions
Depending on the severity, different treatments and treatment agents are possible.
An alternative may be feeding them food that has been soaked in garlic oil.
Even after successful treatment, fish can be so severely damaged by the worms that they grow poorly and die relatively early.