# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  white worm coming out from bettas anus

## morning breakfast eat

Hi all i bought a new betta yesterday and put it inside my communal tank (was lazy to quarantine as it looked v healthy)

after feeding time today i noticed my betta darting around the tank and to my horror i saw something white wriggling out of its anus. I quickly took out my betta and transferred it to a hospital tank. The worm dropped intoy communal tank but i managed to fish it out. It was about 2cm long and white. Suspect it is tapeworm

My question is, what should i do to my betta now? shoyld i add salt into its tank and feed it garluc? and do i need to do anything to my communal tank? i dont wanna add medicationd unless necessary cos i have some yamatos and sakyras there

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## stormhawk

Tapeworms would be much longer and flat overall. I think your problem could be intestinal worms. Do not add salt, but treat with Praziquantel/Levamisole/Fenbendazole if you can find them. Praziquantel may not be so effective. This thread will be useful for you to read through:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...Again!!!/page3

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## morning breakfast eat

Doubt its camallanus worms cos mine wasnt red color. It wasnt flat thougj but round... Shhesh i should have taken a pic of it but i eas so grossed out i immediately threw it away....

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## stormhawk

There might be more worms in your Betta's gut though. The treatment as per Camallanus worms will work for these intestinal worms too.

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## morning breakfast eat

Ok will try to look for medication tmr. Anyone knows if internal worm medications are copper based? are they shrimp friendly? Sry for askin noob questions first time im getting parasitic worms abit helpless

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## stormhawk

If you are treating the betta in a separate tank, the presence of copper in the medication, if any, will not be a problem.

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## morning breakfast eat

Yup im definitely treating it in anothrr tank. But do you know if i need to do anything to my community tank? i heard that when the worm comes out thousands of eggs are released into the water as well dunno true anot. 

Why i never quarantine my fishhhh  :Embarassed:

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## stormhawk

You don't have to treat the community tank for the time being, unless other fish are showing the same symptoms, so don't panic yet. Just treat the affected Betta and watch it closely for the duration of the medication as given on the bottle. I have no idea if the worms release thousands of eggs into the water once they exit the fish, but that seems a little far fetched. If anything, the eggs would be on the bottom of the tank, and released slowly by the worm via the anus of the fish. 

I hope you didn't flush the original worm, but killed it before disposing of it in the trash.

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## morning breakfast eat

Hah thanks for the reassurance im like kancheong spider now. And dun worry i killed it and put it in the bin. Wouldnt want to contaminate our waters!  :Smile:

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## morning breakfast eat

worm1.jpgworm2.jpgworm3.jpgworm4.jpg

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## morning breakfast eat

a quick update - see pics below.

i couldn't find the medication recommended in forums so i bought Ocean Free's internal parasite medicine.. i started medication yesterday. when i got home from work today. here's what i found - i'm not sure if these are the "worms", will someone with experience please advise?

Basically half my hornwort is "gone". i don't know how it's possible but it seems like they just melted away.. on the bottom of the tank there are some curled up stuff.. i'm not sure if they are remnants from my disintegrated hornworts.. or are they actually the worms purged from my fish's body? i'm not sure if its the worms cos they're green color...

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## morning breakfast eat

sorry i mean pics above.. also.. even if it's worms how is it possible that there are soooo many?

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## stormhawk

The hornwort is disintegrating because of the water conditions, not the worms. What the worms are doing is crawling on the tank bottom and collecting the remnants of the hornwort around them.

Some worms will be present as eggs on driftwood or plants and will naturally appear over time in most tanks. In your case, it could be a mix of the worms from the betta and other random worms from the driftwood in the tank. Your hospital tank should be bare with only plastic plants as cover and contain at least a sponge filter or an airstone. Even though bettas don't need air pumps to survive, they will appreciate some circulation. Remove the worms and clean the bottom. Take out the driftwood and disinfect it by leaving it in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for about 20 mins, then let it sun dry. Dispose of the hornwort because once it melts, it will never recover.

I cannot identify the worms in question since the pic is very unclear, though if they were parasitic, they must have come in on the tubifex worms or Moina that are commonly fed to farmed fish.

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## morning breakfast eat

Update 2 - found these 2 red "lumps" at the bottom of my bare tank since the clean up of the green bunch of stuff 2 days ago. Not sure if they are the poop or the worms. Other than these I can't find any other "poop". Yea sorry for unclear pics. very bad lighting and very bad phone camera =p

worm5.jpgworm6.jpg

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## morning breakfast eat

Stormhawk I actually disposed of my driftwood together with my hornworts hahahah  :Opps: 
The sight was too gross for me to actually think of re-using it again..  :Knockout:

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## stormhawk

The red lumps you found could be the remnants of the worms from the gut. Is the betta eating normally now?

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## morning breakfast eat

Actually my betta has always been eating well and v active also.. Thats why super surprised got worms... Anw usually deworm one week enough?

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## stormhawk

The instructions on the bottle will tell you the duration of treatment. Once the betta is pooping normally with no signs of worms, it should be alright.

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## yoyouyi

hope it recover very soon!

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## icefire

@storm: will salt works to kill the worms in the tank?

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## stormhawk

That's a hit and miss thing when it comes to worms. Salt tolerance differs from species to species. It's much easier to use medication, or let the fish clear its gut normally.

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