Flukes or other?

[Alex240]

Hey guys, so I may have either flukes, ich, both, or other in my tank.


I have around 20 fish in a 600 gallon fowlr. Around 5-10 have been seen scraping a lot lately, almost exclusively on their gills. I have also seen a little twitching. These fish do not exhibit anything visible on their skin or eyes. I was heavily suspecting flukes. Fish are all still eating.

I have a copperband butterfly that just passed and I decided I could dip this fish in freshwater to confirm flukes. If no flukes appear to come off of the fish, could I rule out flukes entirely?

The butterfly is in the freshwater now, around 15 minutes should be enough right?

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Flukes will vacate the host within minutes of death. You could do a FW dip to confirm flukes on a living fish. Since crypto doesn't always present with white spots the symptoms of flukes and crypto can look similar.
When was the last fish you added? Did you quarantine? When was the last time you added corals, inverts, etc?

 

[Alex240]

Flukes will vacate the host within minutes of death. You could do a FW dip to confirm flukes on a living fish. Since crypto doesn't always present with white spots the symptoms of flukes and crypto can look similar.
When was the last fish you added? Did you quarantine? When was the last time you added corals, inverts, etc?

It is not so much if i have ich or flukes, I know I have one or the other. I am really just trying to see if I can rule out flukes since I dipped my copperband butterfly and nothing fell off. The copper band was still alive (on its deathbed) if that makes any difference.

My powder blue has been darting around tank, clamped fins, and pale. Doe this give you a gut reaction of crypt or flukes more? No spots, yet.

 

[jbvdhp]

Just a thought, have you checked for ammonia spikes? My tangs and blenny were in qt and my blenny flashed everyday and then I had a bacterial bloom. When the blenny died, the tang started acting weird, and he would gill, clamp his fins, and ALMOST flashed. I checked my water and there was a spike. Once in ammonia free water, he was ALL GOOD. Funny thing is purple tang never seemed affected by the ammonia or bacterial bloom.

 

[mujtaba]

I was in a similar situation as my fish were twitching and occasionally rubbing against the substrate. I suspected internal parasites, as i saw some of my fish with long stringy poop. Currently my DT is on 2nd dose of prazi pro.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

It is not so much if i have ich or flukes, I know I have one or the other. I am really just trying to see if I can rule out flukes since I dipped my copperband butterfly and nothing fell off. The copper band was still alive (on its deathbed) if that makes any difference.

My powder blue has been darting around tank, clamped fins, and pale. Doe this give you a gut reaction of crypt or flukes more? No spots, yet.

I would lean towards flukes between the two. Either way the fish will need to be caught and put into a QT for treatment. I would say you could dose Prazi in your main but with 600 gallons......:uhoh3:
If the copperband is still alive a two minute dip is all that is needed to see if flukes come off him. This short dip will relieve him of some of the flukes and it shouldn't stress him out too much. Fifteen minutes is way too long even on a healthy fish and is not necessary to see flukes.

 

[Dmorty217]

Dosing 600G with PP won't be cheap especially with 2 treatments

 

[Alex240]

I would lean towards flukes between the two. Either way the fish will need to be caught and put into a QT for treatment. I would say you could dose Prazi in your main but with 600 gallons......:uhoh3:
If the copperband is still alive a two minute dip is all that is needed to see if flukes come off him. This short dip will relieve him of some of the flukes and it shouldn't stress him out too much. Fifteen minutes is way too long even on a healthy fish and is not necessary to see flukes.

I have 32 ounces of prazi pro on hand. 600 gallons takes 5 ounces per treatment. I dosed the display and will keep everyone updated.