Flukes?

Itchy Trigger

Itchy Trigger

Active member
I just received a new batch of fish from Blue Zoo a few days ago: three dispar anthias, bicolor goatfish, midas blenny, tail spot blenny, chalk bass. And a flasher wrasse, which was DOA. First few days, everything fine. The midas blenny looked a little dark and was breathing hard the second day, but he perked up and all fish were eating mysis shrimp by day two. Just yesterday I began the tank transfer part of my QT protocol, moving all the fish to a second 10g. This morning the midas blenny and the goatfish both breathing hard and not eating. Blenny was lying on his side, dark and not looking good. All other fish seem ok, maybe a little rapid breathing. My QT set up for TT is two 10g tanks, each with a MaxiJet 900 powerhead and 50 watt heater. Temp is around 80. SG is 1.020. Good surface agitation, so I wouldn't think oxygen levels would be low.

Anyhow, I did a 50% water change. No noticeable improvement. Attempted a light feeding and neither the goatfish nor the blenny showed interest in food...

This evening, they still look highly stressed. I decided to be proactive and gave each of them a 3 minute freshwater dip (matching pH and temp). After which the blenny looked a little better, but still a little dark, breathing hard and fast, and lying on the bottom. He's quite skinny looking too. The goatfish didn't handle the fw dip too well and looks extremely stressed now. I looked to see if there were any flukes in the bucket after each dip, but wasn't sure I saw any.

Any recommendations on what to do next? They are due to go back to the original 10g on Tuesday.
 
If you started TTM just yesterday and you think it may be flukes I would give them a dose of Prazi Pro now and then repeat on transfer number 3. You will be observing them for a while after TTM and another dose may be needed if in fact it is flukes. It should knock most of them out in about 10 hours.
IMO/E it is a lot easier and safer to do TTM one fish or possibly 2 at a time.
 
Last edited:
I hear you on doing TT on one or two fish at a time. And I'd definitely do that, but when I put in orders from Blue Zoo or Live Aquaria, I always need to get groups of fish to make the shipping worthwhile... So unfortunately this is how it has to be done. I'll drop a dose of Prazipro in there and continue it through the TT process. Hoping for the best.

Has anyone else had bad experiences with Blue Zoo? The blenny was on sale and I wonder if perhaps he was the sickliest last fish from a group they were trying to get rid of. He really is ribbon thin. Perhaps internal parasites are at work too. In any case, I'm thinking I'll discontinue ordering from them. I've had at least one DOA or DAA (death after arrival within a few days) on every order I've placed from them. They're great about issuing credit, but come on...
 
Cujo13 said:
I still give them a full QT, you just never know. T'aint worth possibly losing everything.
Click to expand...

Oh definitely! I do an 8-10 week QT routine with prazipro, metro and TT. But it seems the Blue Zoo fish have come in weak on a number of occasions. Have had better results from LA. Haven't ordered fish from DD yet; only corals.
 
I did do freshwater dips on the blenny and goatfish, but not sure I can confirm flukes or not. Just checked and both fish are still breathing hard and look very stressed.
 
How did you acclimate? Have you tried a water change? Until there are any disease symptoms the only thing you can do is reduce stress in the tank. Dim lighting, put paper on the sides of the tank, PVC for hiding, pristine water, etc.
 
Yes, as I mentioned, the first thing I did was a water change (I've done another since). My normal acclimation procedure is to match qt salinity w bag salinity, do a temp acclimation float and then fish go right in. However, this time, since I've had issues with blue zoo fish in the past, I followed THEIR acclimation procedure to the T, which is a slow drip acclimation. In any case, I think this will be my last blue zoo order.
 
Just checked on them... Goatfish looks ok actually - breathing pretty fast, but doesn't look too bad. Blenny still lying on side, gasping like crazy. Can't see more than just his head, as he's lying inside one of the pvc fittings in there. Curious to see if the goatfish eats later today. Pretty sure the blenny won't. I'll try and see if I can see any marks on him. Thus far the only symptoms I can verify are heavy gasping, darkening of color and lying on his side on the bottom. I MAY have seen what COULD be a fluke on one of his pectoral fins this morning, but not sure. Prazipro is in the tank though, so if flukes are the culprit, hopefully that will take care of it.
 
Yeah. Grrr... And I know he's going to hold on until one day after the 7 day DAA (dead after arrival) period is up, and then die. Going to email Blue Zoo now and see if we can work something out.
 
Interesting... Dropped some mysis in the tank just a little while ago and to my surprise, the blenny came out and ate. Was swimming around more or less like normal... Then went back to hiding in his piece of pvc, breathing hard... So perhaps I'm a bit encouraged. Tomorrow morning is the second tank transfer, so we'll see how he handles that.
 
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