I thought tape worms were white and segmented? There are some really gross pictures of them online.

After wondering about long strings of clear wormlike substance as long as 6 inches coming from a few of my fish a while back.... Ive come to the conclusion that there isn't much known about worms in fish and how to diagnose them. Just seemed to find a lot of speculation on the internet... and I'm afraid my post here is only doing the same. Sorry!!!

I really cant say for sure what they were. Seemed to wiggle but then I realized the movement of the water in the tank and as I was scooping them out with a net was what caused them to move and seem to wriggle, and me being squeamish about worms of all types it freaked me out - big time!

I happened to read recently about female fish emiting long clear strings that has something to do with eggs being reabsorbed into their body (the two fish of mine I saw pooping out these long strings happened to be female so I tend to believe that theory).

Praziquantel is recommended for tape worms and flukes - so when I treated for flukes (several times) I may have knocked out the worms.... if there were any. Big if! Microbe lift prazi has instructions for dissolving it in grain alcohol and soaking fish food in it to treat worms (be sure alch is totally dried/evaporated). I don't know if it works on other types of worms.

Oh one question - how was your fish behaving before you put him/her in the tank - is he/she alone? What were the symptoms that made you decide to put him in the tank? Solitary fish will act like that - kind of cringing and hiding and not swimming around. Fish are herd animals really dependent on others of his own kind for safety -safety in numbers.

Anyway, I'd be very interested to here what else you find out.

Thank you! I spoke to DNR today and they put me in contact with Michigan State University. The lady I spoke to has a gold fish pond too. She did some research and did find a product that treats internal worms. Nobody as of yet can tell me what kind of worm it is, it was 3" clear with a white intestine (looked much like our intestines, thin an zig zaged). I too thought it was the water making it move but put it in a container and set it on the counter and poked it with a tooth pick. It moved. I would have kept it in a jar and taken a photo if I knew it was going to be this hard to diagnose. It seems to be passing another one now. The ice had finally melted on the pond and I turned the filter pump back on as soon as we got above freezing. The rest of the fish became active within a few days but this one remaned sitting on the bottom. I gave it a week to come around but after some 60F +days it still didnt become active....so it's in a 10 gal tank in the house. Not eating much. Had a chuckle with the lady from MSU as she read that these worms could be removed from the fish and was safe to prepare as usual. LOL I don't want to eat my pretty buddy! I should have the medication on Weds. I will save and photo the worm coming out of the fish now and report back. Again Thanks!

I have some good photos of the worms! Who do I send them too?

Ew! I'd contact the DNR or the fish lady again. Someone might be interested. It could just be a wild fish parasite that normally doesn't hit pond fish but some nematodes have weird host cycles so maybe try checking with MSU's Dept. of...well, see if they have a dept of Fisheries and Wildlife?

I sent this to MSU. DNR gave me the contact # I have done one treatment on the fish. Not eating,nothing has come out. Still sitting on the bottom of the tank. I have grown quite attached to this fish. :(

Maybe roundworm? A Nematode.

I always look to aquarium hobbyists for sick fish info. There are lots of good sites but this one, aquarium answers, seems pretty good. Aquarists take info very seriously where pond people are more into opinions.

I assume the entire pond would have to be treated. It's probably impossible to id the specific creature and therefore its life cycle would be unknown. Therefore the harshest pond wide treatment would probably be needed. Probably a complete pond draining, but I'm just guessing.

None of the other fish look ill. In fact they all look GREAT! Even my 17 year old fishies are zipping around. This poor fish is not eating, pooping and I don't think it can even swim any more. I don't want to give up on it. I also don't want it to have a long miserable death. I don'tknow what to do. I will try the site you provided. Thanks!

The other fish look GREAT. Super. How did the sick fish look 1,2,3 years ago when it first got worms? How about the past year or two while the worms grew and reproduced inside the sick fish? I assume you don't have x-ray vision. I also assume you've done 0 research about worms in fish since within the first few minutes you'd learn about the life cycle of these kinds of creatures and the chances of a single fish having worms is about zero.

You don't want your fish to have a long miserable death. Does any one want that? Yet you don't think the fish can swim any more so it's already had a long miserable probably soon to be death. If you want to do the things you say you want to do there is only one solution...a few hundred hours of research and another few hundred hours of experience. That will give you the understanding and experience needed to do the hard things like putting down fish when needed to avert long miserable deaths.

However, in my 20+ years of posting in pond forums I have never once seen anyone ever take that advice. Instead feed the fish peas, add salt, add every known cure anyone who can type a post says. Keep looking at your fish and if they look OK to you then they must be OK.

I know it's hard to watch fish suffer and die. It's ever harder to be effective in improving a situation. Understand it is also hard to read about suffering fish, to be asked for help, and have to watch the poster continue on the same path that got them there in the first place. It's the number one reason I rarely post any more. Just gets old.

Of course I am no expert on worms in fish. I have never seen this happen to one of my fish before. I have never had a fish sit on the bottom of the pond in the Spring when all the others were up and around. I have been trying to research and read every thing I can. My goodness, I went to the DNR and MSU looking for answers. I have called several pet shops just to find out nobody knows much about goldfish and worms. All I know is I have not lost a fish in several years and have only lost a few in the 12 years I have been here. The pond and the fish came with the house. In all honesty the fish is looking more active and was swimming a bit today. I have put down a fish before when I was sure there was no hope for it. I still have hope for this fish. Sorry if I have offended you, you sound angry. I was just looking to help this fish.

Many nematodes have different hosts throughout their life cycle and it's perfectly possible that that this guy got it and the other fish didn't or that they were predisposed to not be adversely affected. Or they did and they passed the adult worms already and the life cycle has been broken in your particular pond. Or that these worms are not mature and need another host for reproduction that you simply don't have in your pond (don't swim in there). Or that the entire pond is doooooooomed!

Without knowing the identity of the worm, it's impossible to know the reality of the situation. It's a bit unhinged to tell you to drain the pond to save the village...

You're doing all you can--I don't know why you should be internet yelled at! Good luck!

Thank you. I know it can be frustrating when someone asks for help but then ignors your advise ( was on the Blue Bird Forum for years) however I have no idea how I could drain the pond or what I would do with the fish. It is my understanding that you do as little as possable when fish are coming around after a long winter. They are delicate at this time of year and easily stressed. We are in the woods and a short walk from a lake and streams. Frogs come and go and birds bathe daily. There are many critters that visit the pond so who knows how this worm got there or how long it's been there. The fish looked fine when I tucked the pond in for the winter. We still have pretty cold nights. It's a 500 gal preform so the temp fluxuates quite a bit in the Spring. The fish are not stable enough for me to do anything drastic. I will keep a very close eye on them.

What is the medication they recommended to treat the fish? How is it acting today?

I bought Tetra "Parasite Guard" Comes in a fizz tablet. Active ingrediants: Praziquantel, Difluben-Zuron, Metronidazole, Acriflavine. I have given it one dose. I have not seen amy more worms come out of the fish. It is still spending most of it's time sitting on the bottom of the tank. It does not appear to be in distress however swimming is still a struggle. I an not seeing it eat or poop though it does not look overly thin. The best way to describe it is it looks healthy, no heavy gilling no redness no bloat no torn or clamped fins. I am very frustrated because I can't find anybody that knows much about gold fish disease and how to treat it. Drs' Foster & Smith...nope you only get to talk to sales people, DNR nope they dont know, MSU simply helped me pick out a product to "try". I am pretty much getting the "it's just a goldfish" attitude. You know, this is a beautiful fish born in my pond and I would like to save it. I know, I am kinda on a rant here, it's the frustration. I do have one other thought. Is it possable that this fish has something else wrong with it that caused it to sit on the bottom of the pond and the worms were secondary from sitting in leaf matter on the bottom? Thank you so much for asking about my fish. If you have any ideas or can point me to someone than can help I would be greatful. THANK YOU!

I personally think that flubendazole may be a better treatment - internal and external worms are treated. I have info on someone you should talk to. I don't know how to email on this sucker. lol

Wonderful! I am happy to try anything. I think I do remember you from way back on the GW ponding forum years ago. My e mail is lvlice@aol.com. Now where to find flubendazole....

I messaged you! Will send you an email :)