Fluke

[lucky_snapper]

I have a large blue tang with rapid breathing darting and head shaking. No signs of ich. He is still eating but shows signs of stress. What could it be? I was thinking maybe fluke? If so how should I treat? Hypo?

 

[Yogre]

If your tang has flukes you'll need to treat it with praziquantel, Prazipro by Hikari is a common brand. I've found it works very well against flukes.

 

[b0bab0ey]

If your tang has flukes you'll need to treat it with praziquantel, Prazipro by Hikari is a common brand. I've found it works very well against flukes.

+1 But you'll need to confirm it's Flukes and not Ich. Sometimes Ich is in the gills where you can't see it and will cause the same symptoms. To confirm Flukes perform a f/w dip for 3-4 mins in a clear glass container. You should see little worms fall out and settle on the bottom if it is indeed Flukes. Be sure the pH & temp of the f/w dip matches your tank perfectly to minimize the stress.

Only other option is to just treat with Prazi & see if the symptoms go away. If it's Ich, then the Prazi shouldn't have any affect on the symptoms.

 

[Yogre]

Agreed.

Another possible symptom which I have seen is a cloudy eye, caused by a fluke attached to the lens of the fishes eye.

I no longer attempt to diagnose flukes, I just treat all new arrivals prophylactically in QT with Prazi.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I no longer attempt to diagnose flukes, I just treat all new arrivals prophylactically in QT with Prazi.

I do the same. It is easy to do and the fish seem to tolerate in just fine.

 

[smalltime]

How long has a tank to be fishless to kill all flukes??

 

[Yogre]

How long has a tank to be fishless to kill all flukes??

I don't know the answer to that. I ended up treating my display tank with Prazipro with the fish still in the display. If anything was adversely affected, I couldn't tell. It should be pointed out though that at the time I didn't have much in the way of sensitive corals in the tank.

 

[lucky_snapper]

Is parzipro a copper based medication ?

 

[sandwi54]

prazipro is praziquantel, not copper.

 

[aleonn]

Prazi-Pro is not a copper-based medication.

I agree with b0bab0ey's suggestion to perform a fresh water dip. It's both diagnostic and palliative for the tang, and may help you save some time on proper diagnosis and treatment.

I've treated my reef tank with Prazi-Pro before with minimal problems. My BTA didn't expand as much during the treatment period, but made it out alive. All corals (I have mainly zoas, softies, and LPS), inverts, and clams did fine. My tubeworms and feather dusters also did well.

 

[Fryman]

Fresh water dip for diagnostics is a good idea. Any other fish in the tank?

If it's flukes and he's eating, you can feed them something like jungle anti-parasite food. The medicated food doesn't seem to be very appetizing, so you might have better luck with him eating it if you soak in garlic.

You need to feed ONLY the medicated food for awhile & make sure all fish in the tank eat it.