Flukes.......

charliet21

charliet21

New member
So I'm on my third treatment with prazipro in a little under a month. Fish are showing no signs of greeting better. As of yesterday my pair of clowns are now showing signs of flukes with spots in eyes and on skin. (Black ocell.)
Every other fish is flashing. Is there something else I should use. And I really don't wanna have to catch all my fish again. And I really don't have a big enough qt to hold all 7 fish......:hmm4:
 
Are you positive you are dealing with flukes?

Is your PraziPro expired? I've read similar stories with bad PP, check the expiration.
 
Is there exp. bottle? And it's still pink. And everything I read pink is still good. And what else could it be. All signs of flukes r there. My stary blenny is clamping and acting weird and flashing also has white spots in his eyes
 
The Prazipro dosage can be increased 1.5-2x for a week or so. I wouldn't do it in the main tank, I'd really look at setting up a qt situation with air stone, seeded media etc. I've found Formalin to be more effective against flukes, but once again, qt.
 
According to Hikari, increasing the dosage doesn't increase the effectiveness of Prazipro, so I personally would just do a normal dose and repeat every 5 days if necessary.
 
Have you done a FW dip? I know of people eradicating flukes with just well timed freshwater dips. It's also another solid way of identifying the parasite.
 
look in cp Chloroquine phosphate, not invert safe, but if you can get the fish into a qt you can buy it on ebay, treats all kinds of stuff.
 
I'm a big fan of CP for quarantine. It's an effective treatment for cryptocaryon and marine velvet, but I haven't seen any literature stating it is effective against flukes.
 
If it were me, I would dip the fish that seems the strongest and is also showing symptoms of flukes. If little translucent parasites start popping off, then you can confirm the flukes.

I think the key to successful Prazi treatment is the timing of application because of the fact that it doesn't affect the eggs of the parasite.

Another option which does take care of both the eggs and the adults is De Los, available from NFP. It's a four week treatment and I have used it before with success.

I'd be sure you know what your dealing with first by doing a FW dip. Just an FYI, I have dipped a moorish idol for as long as 30 minutes with no negative effects. In your case, 5 - 10 minutes should be sufficient.
 
I agree with the FW dip to confirm flukes before randomly busting out other meds without a proper diagnosis.
 
I agree with the freshwater dip. My best tip is to make sure you aerate for at least an hour if not longer. This allows the fish to stay in the dip longer. I've left a fish in for 10 minutes and he could have gone longer. If you see anything in the dip try to get your hands on a microscope and identify the species. It will go a long way in which treatment regimen to use. Believe me when I tell you I speak from experience and research on flukes. I've been dealing with them off and on since March.
As for the prazi research has shown a dosage of 5 mg is more effective and is well tolerated by the fish. Again, be sure to aerate as prazi reduces oxygen.
If most of the fish are flashing as you say then they need to be moved into a QT or several QTs. I know it's not fun but if the main has flukes it has to run fallow.
Of course diet is another route. Research came out in August proving that adding garlic to food throws off the larvae senses and they can not locate a host. This is something that has been said for years about ich. Also Dr. G's has caviar with prazi in it. You could try that as well. Also the cleaner the water the better. Any trace of ammonia (like in a QT) triggers the flukes to reproduce more.
 
Aeration is a good idea. Be sure to also match the pH and temp as best you can.

I don't use a microscope to identify the flukes, though I will say that I have seen them come off in different sizes.

I'd be curious to hear about the different approaches for treatment based on differente species being identified, I've never heard of that.

I'm also a bit skeptical about the ammonia triggering reproduction, though I suppose it's possible. Just not something i've heard before.

I absolutely agree though regarding the quarantine tanks. I've you've got a parasite outbreak, those fish need to go into quarantine systems and the DT should remain fallow.
 
There are flukes that are viviparous and oviparous. Praziquental should work on either one, however, recent research has shown that neobenedenia girallae are becoming somewhat resistant to praziquental.
Being able to identify the species and it's reproductive cycle will facilitate timely dosing of meds, if warranted. I'm not saying it is absolutely necessary. Obviously most people have great outcomes using Prazi. But if the flukes persist (if that's what it is) then a closer look may help. You know what they say, know thy enemy;)
When I have time I will dig up the abstract on ammonia and flukes. It also states that a stressed fish produces cortisol which helps the larvae to find a host.
 
Newsmyrna80 said:
There are flukes that are viviparous and oviparous. Praziquental should work on either one, however, recent research has shown that neobenedenia girallae are becoming somewhat resistant to praziquental.
Being able to identify the species and it's reproductive cycle will facilitate timely dosing of meds, if warranted. I'm not saying it is absolutely necessary. Obviously most people have great outcomes using Prazi. But if the flukes persist (if that's what it is) then a closer look may help. You know what they say, know thy enemy;)
When I have time I will dig up the abstract on ammonia and flukes. It also states that a stressed fish produces cortisol which helps the larvae to find a host.
Click to expand...

Really interesting information, thank you so much for providing that. May I ask what line of work you are in that you have this kind of knowlege. I'm guessing from your name that you are somewhere in Florida and are involved in marine biology.

Do you have a feel for how De Los works? I have used it before with success, but don't know much about it truthfully.

Thanks,

Matt
 
caribfan said:
Really interesting information, thank you so much for providing that. May I ask what line of work you are in that you have this kind of knowlege. I'm guessing from your name that you are somewhere in Florida and are involved in marine biology.

Do you have a feel for how De Los works? I have used it before with success, but don't know much about it truthfully.

Thanks,

Matt
Click to expand...

I haven't used DeLos so I can not offer an opinion.

I've done a ton of researching on marine flukes and parasitology in conjunction with our local marine science center.
 
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I have a question, Is there such a thing as gill flukes in saltwater fish? Sorry if I am going off topic because I think this is a discussion on Body flukes. Is there a difference or are they the same beast.
 
My understanding is that flukes can inhabit all areas of the body, including the gills and eyes. I think prazi and FW dips are effective regardless of the area of infection. I imagine Newsmyrna has more detailed information on that than I do.
 
Thanks caribfan, I will wait to see what newsmyrna writes. If we start getting detailed info then this should become a sticky also. As for De Los I have never used. But I think when I was raising FW corydora catfish, I used a product called fluketabs. I think it had Dylox in it . Unfortunately the med was worse than the flukes. It went nuclear by sloughing the skin off the catfish. Now I see that they are using it for Koi. So it must be better improved or studied more, since Koi owners wouldn't subject their multi thousand $ fish to it. Those koi prices put marine fish prices to shame.
 
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