Just wondering if anyone out there routinely deworms wild-caught FW fish while they're in QT. I have friends who do so with their marine fish and feel the fish do lots better in the long run. Reason I ask is I have 4 dwarf puffers in my quarantine tank, was careful to select the chubby interactive ones but of course they are wild-caught. Most concerned about potential IP and would try fendbendazole if I decide to go forward w/deworming.

Thanks!

Charles is brilliant - a great guy to deal with. A friend had Camallanus sp worms in his new fish and I contacted Charles for him. The treatments couldn't have been shipped faster.

I deworm as needed - you can usually tell. I just (Friday) got some Mexican mollies that popped big white tapeworms which I've already started treating for. However, they were from a feeder tank in mexico - not the best conditions.

I find the parasite load on wild freshwater fish to be less than you'd expect - the last three times (over five years) I've seen gutworms, they came from other hobbyists' tanks twice. I spend a lot of time at an importer's - one who deals exclusively in large numbers of wild-caughts - he doesn't touch farm fish. Parasites aren't a big problem - rarely seen. You get flukes sometimes, and the rare fish lice, but wild fish are very robust compared to most farmed ones.

You would need prazi as a general dewormer, but for a nematode, fendbendazole is what's out there. You can also use paste food with panacur, but that's harder to do.

Thanks!!! I contacted Charles (who as it turns out shares my 'serious' long-time hobby of dog showing!) who agrees--not as likely to find internal parasite probs in wild-caught nearly as often as in farmed or domestically raised. I'll continue to monitor my new DPs, meanwhile their planted tank awaits their release!

Puffers tend to be a bit sensitive to meds so take that into account.