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Re:Discus diet and parasites
- To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
- Subject: Re:Discus diet and parasites
- From: Paul Krombholz <krombhol at teclink_net>
- Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 07:25:05 -0500
- In-reply-to: <200208210748.g7L7m2o23886 at acme_actwin.com>
- References: <200208210748.g7L7m2o23886 at acme_actwin.com>
>Hello everyone,
>
>This is a bit off topic. I was reading about Jack Wattley and his
>discus. He said:
>"For the gradual elimination of internal parasites without using a
>medication. We feed fresh garlic with our frozen foods."
>This is interesting, how does it work? What is the science behind it?
>
>I also have some parasites in my tank. They look like dandruff.
>Extrememly small whitish spots darting around especially on the glass
>and bottom of the tank. There are also very small worms(1mm long)
>wriggling in the water. How do I kill them? My discus is still healthy.
>
>Any help is appreciated.
>TIA
>Wayne Wah from Singapore.
>
The treated fish have such offensive bad breath that no other fish
will get close enough to them to pick up or pass on any parasites.
:-)
The "parasites" that look like dandruff may not be parasites. They
are most likely harmless protozoa living on bacteria. Same goes for
the worms, which are probably non-parasitic nematodes. (Most
nematodes are not parasites.) A parasite is associated with its
host, to which it does harm. In the early days of microbiology, all
kinds of harmless bacteria were isolated from sick animals and called
parasites. Robert Koch worked up a set of postulates for identifying
disease agents:
The agent must be present in every case of the disease;
The agent must be isolated from the host and grown in a lab dish;
The disease must be reproduced when a pure culture of the agent is
inoculated into a healthy susceptible host; and
The same agent must be recovered again from the experimentally infected
host.
Basically, you have to prove that the organism is guilty of causing
the disease. Koch's postulates are generally followed, although,
some organisms that every one agrees are parasites can not be grown
in culture outside of their host.
--
Paul Krombholz in well watered central Mississippi, enjoying typical
August heat and humidity.
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