I.D. this possible parasite!!!!

[keepinfish]

Found this in my sick p14 tank. He is eating black worms now.. could this be a parasite? Could it be from the black worms? Picture taken under a magnify glass. It was around .3" long



HELP!!

[nanda]

Hmm it looks like an Acanthocephala.
They can be found on any kind of live food.

When the parasite finds a fish he penatrates into the skin all the way into the intestines where they reproduce.

You can treat the ray whit praziquantel but it's very hard to exterminate. Where did you find this one? Was it on the body?

Do you also have the picture in high resolution?

[keepinfish]

Interesting, i am feeding live to this guy, after he quit eating. I have treated with prazi when i was first having issues with this guy, because i suspected gill flukes. It was on the body, but did not look attached just floating around. I do not have any other picture. I left it out of the tank for about a hour and it dried up to almost nothing.