Mysterious fish deaths are more common now (Flukes)

[LamboBoy]

Prazipro will not take care of ich. People have used Cupramine (for ich) and Prazipro at the same time if your fish as ich

Thanks for the info.

Here is what I have observed today.
1- Chromis scraping on rocks and I actually see scales fall off. Redness underneath skin like it's infected.
2- Fish scrapping against each other and against other surfaces.

Is it still flukes?

 

[LamboBoy]

Prazipro will not take care of ich. People have used Cupramine (for ich) and Prazipro at the same time if your fish as ich

Thanks for the info.

Two things I observed today.
1- When the Chromis scratches, scales are falling off. Also it has redness on his body where the scales were. Looks like an infection.
2- I see fish scratching against each other and on surfaces.

Is it still flukes?

 

[flameangel88]

The only way to tell is FW dip but if you can't then my suggest is go ahead and treat with Prazi as if it's flukes. After 2-3 days you should see improvement if its flukes. I'm afraid if your fishes are getting infection then it'll not be fun treating a 300g tank with Maracyn 2. Hope you've that on hand just in case.

The reason to perform large water change is to avoid skimmer overflowing due to Prazi, if you can't do that much then just go ahead and perform as much as you can and as often as you can before turning your skimmer back on. My skimmer goes nuts for a week before getting back to normal.

 

[LamboBoy]

Ok.... got the Prazipro today and started my treatment.
As per directed in the bottle, 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons so 400 gallons = 20 teaspoon. Put in 10 teaspoon 1st and a couple of hours later I added the other 10. The reason I didn't wait for a day is because the fish didn't show ANY signs for distress at all. Even after the entire 20 teaspoons. Is that normal?

Now, if I have flukes in the tank with the fish, am I supposed to see them fall off the fish? Should I be able to see this event with my naked eye?

 

[LamboBoy]

I forgot to mention that I have a closed looped filtration system that pumps 3100 gallons per hour thru a pleated filter so I may not see crap huh?

 

[RegalAngel]

3100 gph thru a single pleated filter? What are you using? I use four Ocean Clear 325's on my 3000 gph, 300g FO system.

Anyway, the pleated filter unit should not take out prazipro, but if you are using carbon then it will.

 

[LamboBoy]

3100 gph thru a single pleated filter? What are you using? I use four Ocean Clear 325's on my 3000 gph, 300g FO system.

Anyway, the pleated filter unit should not take out prazipro, but if you are using carbon then it will.

Filter called Aquanetics from San Diego. Here is the website:

http://www.aquanetics.com/index.asp

I did take out the carbon.

 

[cthetoy]

the fish didn't show ANY signs for distress at all. Even after the entire 20 teaspoons. Is that normal?

Now, if I have flukes in the tank with the fish, am I supposed to see them fall off the fish? Should I be able to see this event with my naked eye?

Most fish show no signs of distress. Only sensitive fish may show slight distress. You may or may not see the flukes fall off after dosing Prazipro. Sometimes it takes a few hours and sometimes you don't see the flukes at all but that doesn't mean that your fish were fluke free

 

[Neko]

Thank you so much for this thread. I picked up a Six-Line Wrasse who died on me about a month later while I was out of town and my husband (who is also an experienced fish-keeper) was caring for my tank. I had him test my water and everything was in parameters. Makes me wonder if he died of this.

I got a new Wrasse about three or four weeks later and noticed a white spot on one of his pectoral fins and wondered if ich was to blame. I decided to wait and watch and it disappeared only to re-appear later. I did a FW dip for only about a minute (I panicked when he was lying upside-down and breathing quickly) but there were defiantly little 'sesame seeds' in the bottom. I dosed my tank with Prazipro and I'm crossing my fingers.

I seem to see here and there that it will kill Featherdusters, and some say that their featherdusters were ok. I'm wondering if I should move it. Would it possibly carry flukes with it into another tank? My husband has been watching it today and he said it’s been out and looks happy. What are the signs of stress for Feather dusters? They would withdraw right?

 

[billsreef]

(I panicked when he was lying upside-down and breathing quickly)

That's quite normal for a wrasse in a FW dip, and not cause for worry. It's when they start getting overly hyper and making mad dashes against the dip container walls that you need worry and get them out

 

[Neko]

That's quite normal for a wrasse in a FW dip, and not cause for worry. It's when they start getting overly hyper and making mad dashes against the dip container walls that you need worry and get them out

Thank you. I'm a little antsy when it comes to dips, I lost a guppy when I did a saltwater dip but she might have been too far gone anyways

 

[angelfish7]

I treat all new fish with prazi in my qt, especially angels. My lfs sold me a large queen angel and swore it was 100% clean. I did a fw dip w/ prazi before the qt and about 7-10 flukes fell off. hes been in qt for a week now. two years ago i also lost numerous fish and had no idea what it was. Wish i knew then what i know now!! thanks for this thread!

 

[marrone]

Great thread. From some of the posts I've read it seem that the Flukes should die not very long after dosing with Prazipro, but it seems from other posts that's not the case. It can take a number of days, and even a second treatment, to kill the Flukes. I'm guessing it depends on the type of Fluke you have or it maybe that it takes a while for some of the Flukes that are really embed into the fish to die off.

I just started to dose and I'm at the second day of the treatment. My fish looked better after the first day, got back their colors and were eating. Now in the second day some of my fish are still breathing heavy and scratching a lot more than yesterday. I'm wondering if this is normal? I'm guess that it does take some time, as you need to treat for 3-7 days before retreating a second time, to kill the eggs. Right now I'm preparing to do a large water change in 1 or 2 days and then treat again.

 

[flameangel88]

I usually see improvement after the 3rd day. As for second Prazi treatment I always took it as more for treating internal parasites that the first dose didn't kill. Hope other folks would chime in on this.

 

[marrone]

I pretty sure the second treatment is to kill off the Flukes that are hatching from eggs, as the strength of the first treatment is probably weaken at that point, a new treatment would definitely kill them off.

The last time I treated for Flukes the fish didn't start to look completely better until I did the second treatment, which I think was after 5 days, then again the fish were pretty bad at that point.

 

[billsreef]

Lot's of different fluke species with varying treatment susceptibility. Some are live bearing, some are egg laying. The second treatment is to take care of the hatch from the egg laying species.

 

[flameangel88]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[marrone]

Well it has been 3 days now and the fish seems not to be getting better, maybe even worst. I know the treatment is suppose to be 5-7 days and then you retreat but I may do the water change after 4 days and retreat. I'm running the skimmer, but without the cup, so I don't think I'm losing any of the PraziPro. I'm thinking that if I retreat I'll make sure the PraziPro is at the correct level. I'm also seeing the Flukes on the fish, I would have though the PraziPro would have killed them first, I guess not.

The last time one of my fish had flukes it took the 2nd treatment to do the job, I just don't remember after how many days I did the 2nd treatment.

 

[billsreef]

Can you get them out and give them a fresh water dip? That will strip the worst of the flukes off in a hurry.

 

[marrone]

It would be very hard as the tank is large and so are the fish. I'm think the skimmer maybe the problem, but it's just a Remora and there is no cup in it. I do have some foam coming out of it but just a little, the bubbles are going back into the tank. When I first put in the Prazipro it bubble quite a bit. I'm think I need to just treat again and wait it out, as it does seem to take some time to get rid of the Flukes. It's not a short treatment and the Prazipro doesn't kill them in one shot, some seem to live for some time.