# Whirling disease?



## Mousefeathers (Feb 28, 2012)

Does anyone have info or eperience with whirling disease? My Kenyi was fine around 2am and when I woke around 5 she was spinning in spirals like a football then was dead before 8am. I called a friend who has bred and studied cichlids for 30 years and after sending him a quick vid along with my water parameters, he said it was whirling disease which is caused by a parasite that infects the brain and spinal cord. he also said that it is incurable but the other fish should be safe as long as they didnt eat her which they didnt. Has anyone dealt with it and can tell me what else to expect? it wasnt acting like swim bladder issues. The body was perfectly intact - no swelling or bloat and fins in perfect shape (no injuries). The problem with the whirling disease diagnosis is that all the vids I have seen of it show the fish swimming as if it is chasing its tail. My kenyi was swimming like a perfectly thrown football.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

I used google and found this: 
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/d ... tozoan.php

Myxobolus cerebralis (Myxosoma cerebralis or Whirling Disease)

1. Myxosporidean parasite with a 10-micron oval spore with 2 piriform polar capsules.

2. Parasite affects primarily young salmonids (rainbow trout most susceptible; Brown trout and Coho salmon resistant).

3. Clinically, fish develop blackened tails and become deformed about the head and spine (scoliosis) with the fish swimming erratically (whirling). Histologically, there is necrosis of the cartilage, particularly of the head and spine, with numerous spores present in the area of inflammation. The necrosis of the cartilage is the cause of the deformation.

4. Transmission is believed to be by ingestion of spores or spore attachment and penetration. The life cycle of this organism is not completely known. A tubificid oligochaetes (tubifex mud worm, Tubifex tubifex) is an important intermediate or transport host. It is believed that the parasite undergoes sporulation in the tubifex worm were the organism takes on the form of a Triactinomyxon sp. It is believed that this parasite is then released from the tubifex worm and infects the trout. Tubifex worms are infected for life. Trout are believed to become infected by the ingestion of Triactinomyxon spores by eating the mud worms, by the ingestion of spores free in the water or by free spores penetrating the epithelial surface of the fish. Released spores may attach and penetrate the epithelial surface of the fish (body, tail, gills, causal fin, or mouth). Spores develop into sporoplasms and invade epidermal cells (goblet or mucosal cells). These parasites then multiply and progressively migrate to the peripheral nerves by day 4-post infection. Later they migrate to the bone and cartilage. In the cartilage, the sporoplasms develop into trophozoites that undergo asexual mitosis forming numerous spores that infect the cartilage. Spore development is substantially influenced by temperature with lower temperatures causing spore development to take longer.

5. Spores are very resistant to environmental conditions and can with stand freezing and thawing, temperatures as high as 66Ã‚Â°C, passing through the gut of birds and fish, and survive in sediment for up to 30 years. Control is done by removal of all dead or infected fish and disinfecting the pond with Calcium Cyananide, lime, or chlorine. Decreasing the Oligocheate in the water can also be accomplished by concrete lining of ponds and raceways. Spores can be reduced in water by ultraviolet treatment of the water. Infected fish can be treated with Fumagillin in feed at 0.5g/kg of feed for two weeks.


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