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Hi,

A friend's oranda has this weird spine like things coming out of his body, has anyone here has an idea what they are??? and how to make them go away?? Is it contagious??

[span class="edited"][Edited by Falstaf 2004-07-28 21:19][/span]
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here is another
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[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/405074.jpg"]

Anchor worms! Yes, contagious.

They're parasites and the forked thing on the ends of each of them are twin egg sacs. It's more of a problem in pond fish, and definitely during the summer. If you don't treat it, it can lead to lots of other health problems.

Jungle has a product called Anchors Away that is supposed to be pretty good at treating it. I can't vouch for it though, since I've never used it. A lot of treatments out there require you to first pluck the worms off with tweezers (although some people say you shouldn't do that because the head remains buried in the fish.)

Your friend might want to contact his/her pond shop for advice.

[span class="edited"][Edited by lmuha 2004-07-29 05:36][/span]

I would put the fish to sleep with some clove oil and remove the parasites. I have had a case of that only once and after removing the parasites, never saw another again...

Goodluck.

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