# My fish have lice



## AquaAddict (Dec 4, 2010)

Hi Everybody,

My fish have lice and the pet stores have recommended Clout or Cupramine. Both have a harsh reputation so what is the safe medication to use and how do I use it safely. I have heard that tetras are very sensitive to Clout.

AquaAddict


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I had fish lice on my fancy goldies in my fountain once. They suck! Can't help much here as I do not remember the miracle stuff I found. It came in a little bottle and was red I believe. I do remember I had to pull the lice, I could see, off the fish with tweezers. Which was a PITA! Lice are extremely fast swimmers and they will zip right to another fish and cling on. Got the fish at Walmart, go figure! I was pretty pissed. Just my experience. Hope you can get some helpful info here & get rid of them. What kind of fish are they on? Tetras? And are you positive it is indeed fish lice?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Upon doing a bunch of research on this, Clout seems to be the best way to treat for them. There were alot of recommendations for picking them off with tweezers but that only works with the ones you can see. Reading about clout I find it only warns " Not for use with scaleless fish, aquariums with ornamental invertebrates, or marine systems with live rock. " meaning clown loaches and such.

this was some info (amongst the many I read) about Argulus(Fish Lice); Argulus(Fish Lice) Description, Symptoms, Life Cycle and Treatment (FISH DISEASES ARTICLES)

info on clout: Aquarium Fish Medications: Clout


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I had it on a thread before the crash. Clout prevented the Argulus from breeding and multiplying, but didn't kill the full grown ones. Daniel and I had to catch the fish and manually pluck them off. But then it could have been that I didn't use a full dose as I had a lot of expensive plecos in the tank at the time.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. i have no experience with the fish lice but i have used clout before. i used it on my 40g long i have guppies gup babies, 2 albino pleco and 4 cory cats. it worked good and didn't harm anyone. Cheers


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I had to treat fancy goldfish for lice a few months ago. I cant remeber what I used but I didnt loose any goldfish. It did take awhile for the medicine to kill all the lice. I had to keep dosing it. The upside to it all is the lice isnt killing the fish they are more of a nuisance in the early stages. Kind of like a mosquito to us. So dont panic. They do bite the fish so thats where the problems will come from. Probably be a good idea to add some stress coat and or salt afterwards to help heal the wounds. Good luck and let us know how you make out.


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## AquaAddict (Dec 4, 2010)

*Thanks everybody for your advice*



jbyoung00008 said:


> I had to treat fancy goldfish for lice a few months ago. I cant remeber what I used but I didnt loose any goldfish. It did take awhile for the medicine to kill all the lice. I had to keep dosing it. The upside to it all is the lice isnt killing the fish they are more of a nuisance in the early stages. Kind of like a mosquito to us. So dont panic. They do bite the fish so thats where the problems will come from. Probably be a good idea to add some stress coat and or salt afterwards to help heal the wounds. Good luck and let us know how you make out.


Thanks Everybody for your help,

I think I will try Cupramine. It's not supposed to harm the filterbed and clout will kill tetras expcept at a half dose which I don't think will kill the lice.

AquaAddict


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