Gerald Bassleer examines a Pangasius catfish infected with Spironucleus parasites. The fish shows severe wasting and emaciation. Microscopy reveals motile parasites in the intestinal lumen and damaged gut lining, risking secondary bacterial infection and systemic collapse. Treatment uses metronidazole with supportive care and quarantine.
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Hello, dear aquarist, you selected this case number 262. About the Pangasius, the blue shark. Usually this fish is supplied from Thailand or Asia where the fish have been pond raised. And in this case we found the parasitic infection spiral nucleus that might interest you when you see the videos of the parasites and are causing, well, damage to the fish. So I show you my findings and I hope you like it. To understand this kind of fish disease that we encounter with many different species in our hobby, in our aquarium industry, the Pangasius with the parasites Spironucleus spironucleus used to be called hexameter. Details about spironucleus hexameter in different fish, not only Pegasus, but also in cichlids, Palawi, Tanganyika, South American cichlids, in Tetras and many different fish. You can find details about that in my books on fish diseases that you can order in different languages. And the link is here below in the commentary or in the subs in the detailed section where I describe my video. Here is the Pangasius. It looks very slim and skinny, was wasting away. That's how it looked like. That's how a fish can look like with a parasitic infection, which infection. Well, that's why we use a microscope. And here we could see, you see these tiny little things moving around at 100 magnification, to 200 magnification. You can see them here. So we go higher to 400 magnification. You see these little bugs moving around in the intestine. Here is some excrements and here is the lining, the good lining, and that is damaged due to these parasites. That's causing damage to the microbiome and causing a risk of secondary bacterial infections. Here we see the same part of the gut with the parasites spiral nucleus at 400 magnification and they're permanently moving around. They're permanently having an impact. You can see here that the lumen here, the wall of the intestine is getting thinner and might be becoming well penetrated by the parasite. Might make little holes in it or damaging it. And that make a risk of, well, a leaking gut, that's another name that can appear. Then the fish can get an overall systemic infection. So the treatment for this pangasius, well is that you realize we have to deal or to treat the parasite Spironucleus and usually metronidazole, if correctly dose it, stay on the correct dosage. I see a lot of people using excessive dosages, overdosing, thinking while I use the double amount, it will work much better and much faster. No, I discussed that in videos on errors that people make in our industry in their hobby. Use the correct doses and the correct timing. For example, metronidazole. It's between 400 and 600mg pro. 100 liters for two days only more is working worse. Is working not at all. Can even damage the fish. Can have an impact that the fish will not be cured, but even be getting worse. Ask in your aquarium shop. They should know. Be aware of secondary bacterial infections that can appear. So we have to check on that. But you can help the fish to survive better during that infection. While you're using medication and preventing maybe bacterial infections would appear. Use a functional fish food like our Dr. Benzler. Buy fish food Lapacho that helps this fish. Learn more about fish diseases in my books, available in different languages and the link where you can buy them is below. Patreon is offering a service for you. You can select how to deal with fish diseases, how to deal with quarantine, how to learn to diagnose fish diseases. Go to my Patreon channel. So I hope this video helped you to understand this specific parasitic infection in pangasius, but maybe also in other fish in your aquarium. Thank you for watch.
