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Jeanne Gold - I think this is an anchor worm. I acquired a lovely blue betta on 2/19/02, and not to long ago, noticed the same symptoms you have described -- with the difference being the filament was on top just at the base of where the top fin meets the body. Because I had been worried about his listlessness, the pet store recommended Betamax. After 2 treatments, he seemed slightly better, but the filament was still there. In the meantime, we had acquired a 2nd Betta. After we got him home and I examined him very carefully, I decided he was quite sick. To make a long story short, after doing some reasearch on the web, I went to several local stores trying to find Aquirasol -- and couldn\'t find it. But the last store suggested I use Paragon. I bought it (expensive), and treated both fish, using a pinch of the powder in a 1/2 gallon jug. After 2 treatments, they only seemed to be marginally better. Then today, I was reading for the nth time, the description on the Marathon box and it stated it was used for, among other things, leeches and anchor worms. This got me to wondering if the first fish had one of the two. A quick search of the internet turned up a site describing the anchor worms, down to the placement of the filament, and it matched perfectly with our Mr. Blue fish. I then started a 2nd set of treatments, but this time, increased the does to 2 pinches in the same 1/2 gallon of water. (I started with a 1/2 dose). The worst part, was removing the filament. Fortunately, my husband has good eyes and I have no problem holding the fish in my hands. So that\'s what we did, I gently lifted the fish out of the water and held him in my cupped hands and my husband removed the 2 -- not 1 -- filaments. One is long, it\'s the egg sac, and the 2nd is quite short, virtually undectable except as a slight white spot in the opening under the scale. That was done last night. Today, blue is moving around a little better, but, unfortunately, it looks like there is another filament, smaller still, and we are planning to remove it as well. I hope this is of some help to you or others -- even if it is so much after you wrote your query for help.
- Apr 29, 2002
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