How to get rid of flukes and there eggs

[NJ_Reefkeeper]

I have a 220 with mostly fish and some softies. I recently got a new fish and he seems to have been infected with flukes. I pulled all the fish and dipped ea one of them for a good period of time.

After dipping them I placed all of them in my quarantine tank and moved all the softies to a holding tank. I have one or two fish in the 220 which will remain. I've dosed the tank with Formaldehyde and the two fish in the tank are doing just fine.

I know there flukes because I can see them on the eyes of most of the fish. Before dipping all of the infected fish were constantly scratching on rocks and darting all over place. There all eating and doing just fine in the quarantine tanks.

My question is how often should I dose the tank with Formaldehyde so I can insure the fluke egg cycle is wiped out? I'm thinking is every 6-7 days for two weeks. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated?

 

[LargeAngels]

I've never treated flukes with Formaldehyde. Fluke treatment for me consists of two 7 day treatments of Prazipro.

 

[JHemdal]

I've never been able to break the life cycle of Neobendenia using formalin dips, and have never used it in an aquarium itself at hight doses. The dips will kill the adults (166ppm for 45 minutes under good aeration) but returning the fish to the tank just reinfects them. Moving them to an uninfected tank *might* work after a formalin dip.

As largeangels says, praziquantel at 0.20ppm for two doses, seven to ten days apart works most times.

Jay

 

[hottuna]

Large angels: do you dose as per the dosage on the bottle?

 

[LargeAngels]

hottuna: Yes, I dose exactly per the bottle and I also calculate the ACTUAL water volume of any tank I add it to.

 

[reef_enthusiast]

LargeAngels,

When you dose the 2nd treatment do you do a water change before adding prazipro the 2nd time?

Thanks.

 

[NJ_Reefkeeper]

I dosed the 220 with prazipro and the first dose seemed to have stablized the flukes. I'm re-dosing after 5 days to insure I get the eggs. I also have no host or fish in the tank in the event the eggs hatch. This should work.

 

[LargeAngels]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15407935#post15407935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef_enthusiast
LargeAngels,

When you dose the 2nd treatment do you do a water change before adding prazipro the 2nd time?

Thanks.

Yes, I do a 50% water change before the second treatment.

 

[reef_enthusiast]

Thanks.

The 1st dose definitely help a ton and all fish looked better. I just did the 2nd dose to be sure after a water change to be sure.

Definitely a relief to FINALLY discover what has been killing off my fish. At first treated with copper since Tangs broke out with ICH. Then, I treated with Maracyn Plus 'cause of bacterial infections and my Achilles suffering from fin rot.

Decided to do Prazipro when I told my LFS about eyes on blue throat trigger being cloudy. He said that from the sound of what I was going through he suspected flukes.

 

[takayan]

Does Prazipro work on Butterfly fish as well? My butterfly may have fluke in gill.

 

[LargeAngels]

I've never had issues with butterflies and Prazipro. There were a couple of people that said their tinker's didn't handle it well. You can always start at half dose and work up to a full dose to see how they do.

 

[MG21]

Have any of you tried Prazipro in a reef? I've heard mixed results.

 

[tylorarm]

Yes, twice. Both times followed directions exactly, both times no notable issues. I have SPS, goniopora, h. mag amenone, lots of zoas. All fared well.

 

[JHemdal]

tylorarm,

Just curious - did you happen to test for ammonia following the treatment? I've never used Prazi in a reef, but I think that it would kill off other metazoans (flatworms, possibly featherdusters) and then their subsequent decomposition might result in an ammonia spike.....

Jay

p.s. - Largeangels, I agree, I've routinely hit butterflyfish with prazi in quarantine systems and never had any issues. I haven't used it on Tinkers, but I have used it on Prognathodes aya many times, and more recently on a Chaetodon modestus with nothing but great results (meaning nothing ever died from it, and they all had their flukes eradicated).

 

[LargeAngels]

Jay, I've also treated declevis and burgees with no issues.

 

[takayan]

I was surprised that this medication can be used on Reef tank. Thank you for the good information!