Mysterious fish deaths are more common now (Flukes)

[angelfish7]

Do flukes ALWAYS show in freshwater dips?

I have a butterflyfish who occasionally breaths heavily and only uses one gill on occasion. It has poor appetite.
I did freshwater dips but nothing came off.

Its lethargic now. Should I treat with prazi anyways?

Thanks

Flukes dont come completely come off during fresh water dips. Especially ones that are embedded in the gills. I would definitley treat with Prazi but it may be too late since you said its lethargic. I wouldve treated the minute i saw the fish using one gill. I would also treat with cupramine in case its another parasite like ich or oodinium. Hopefully the fish is in a QT , Correct?

 

[Wrench]

Do flukes always present themselves on the eyes?

The reason I ask is because I've got a flame angel that is showing signs of some sort of infection (torn/tattered fins, cloudy areas of the skin) but no cloudy eyes. This is the only fish in the system that is showing signs of distress although I have lost many fish in the past few months which all shared the same symptoms.

 

[billsreef]

The eyes are just the easy place for us humans to spot them. They can be anywhere on the body of the fish. Tattered fins and cloudy areas like you describe are classic symptoms of flukes. It can also be a few other nasties, but a quick FW will tell you for sure.

 

[Wrench]

Thanks, Bill. I'll snatch him out of the tank and ask him to go skinny dipping in some FW and see what comes off.

 

[padova335i]

just added an entire 4 oz bottle to my 650 system, (but prob around 550 actual water... i have 3 fish that seem to have it, so far so good, i have sps, clams, lps, i was going to take out the corals and place in qt, but im ****ed, plus we can see what happens...... i hoped this is all it is!

 

[Akrite]

On my 4th day of Prazi Pro I plan to do a 2nd dosing on the 5th day should I do a water change first then redose or just add it with the existing dose? I'm treating a 40 gallon QT.

 

[Wrench]

When doing Multiple treatments, I have run carbon in between for 48-72 hours.

 

[Yogre]

Agreed. I run carbon in between doses for a minimum of 24 hours. Some of the prazi may degrade from the first dose, some will not, and without removing as much as you can with carbon you really don't know what dosage you're at after the second dose goes in.

 

[WhiteShark1]

just added an entire 4 oz bottle to my 650 system, (but prob around 550 actual water... i have 3 fish that seem to have it, so far so good, i have sps, clams, lps, i was going to take out the corals and place in qt, but im ****ed, plus we can see what happens...... i hoped this is all it is!

Whatever happened with your coral and inverts? I'm curous if they had any ill effects?

 

[WhiteShark1]

Allow me to run a “bizarre” fish “disease” past you guys that I have occupationally experience in my display tank.

When I do lose a fish (unless they decide to go carpet surfing) I notice the fish will immediately go into hiding all day but will come out and eat voraciously when I feed. His/her breathing rate rapidly increases and within 24 hours it’s dead.

I at first thought I may have had flukes because about 2 years ago I had a yellow wrasse in my tank that would twitch and rub himself on the rocks on a regular basis. I thought for sure that he had flukes and would die soon, but he lived for a year and a ½ (until he jumped out of my tank one day while I was at work) and none of the other fish have ever started to display the symptoms he had.

On rare occasions I’ve noticed a torn fin or an occasional white bump on my fish, but those have always gone away and are few and far between (we’re talking months and months apart here) and have not preceded any particular fish dying.

These deaths seem to happen randomly (one time occurring after I stirred my sand bed for a water change, but that only happened once), and only to certain fish (I’ve had a clown in my tank for 3 years and he’s never been affected by any of this). Any thoughts on this?

 

[billsreef]

His/her breathing rate rapidly increases and within 24 hours it's dead.

Most often when I hear that, the most likely culprit is Amyloodinium...aka Velvet. There are a few other opportunistic protozoa that can do similar when conditions allow, but Amyloodinium is the top suspect.

 

[WhiteShark1]

Most often when I hear that, the most likely culprit is Amyloodinium...aka Velvet. There are a few other opportunistic protozoa that can do similar when conditions allow, but Amyloodinium is the top suspect.

hhmm...interesting. I've been so focused on flukes or itch I never thought of that. What's the best way to treat velvet?

 

[flameangel88]

hhmm...interesting. I've been so focused on flukes or itch I never thought of that. What's the best way to treat velvet?

Personally I use cupramine but 0.5 never worked for me when its velvet and I've to go higher.

 

[WhiteShark1]

Personally I use cupramine but 0.5 never worked for me when its velvet and I've to go higher.

Is cupramine reef safe, or is it a QT kind of medication?

 

[flameangel88]

Is cupramine reef safe, or is it a QT kind of medication?

No, it's not reef/invert safe. I was treating in a fowlr system.

 

[geaux xman]

hhmm...interesting. I've been so focused on flukes or itch I never thought of that. What's the best way to treat velvet?

i cant get to the reefkeeping site right now, but i recall literature suggesting about 2 weeks at .2ppm cupramine.

Seachem says 2 weeks at 0.1-0.2ppm cupramine. It was about 2 weeks at .4-.5ppm plus 3 one hr formalin dips til my angels quit flashing. All total, I did about 4 weeks at .3-.5ppm for my battle vs velvet/oondinium.

Thats for the 4 angels that survived. 3 others angels died in a 48hr period.
I immediately took the remaining 4 out and started treatment. for a moment there i thought for sure the scribbled and emp juvie was going to die too.

 

[prop-frags]

Thats for the 4 angels that survived. 3 others angels died in a 48hr period.I immediately took the remaining 4 out and started treatment. for a moment there i thought for sure the scribbled and emp juvie was going to die too.

IME, you should always pull sickened fish to the hospital tank as early as possible to begin controlled observation / treatments. This provides a lower stress environment, removes competition for food, and allows you to control the environment. Sometimes we've wondered if that was the right thing to do, and it always has been.

 

[billsreef]

hhmm...interesting. I've been so focused on flukes or itch I never thought of that. What's the best way to treat velvet?

Chloroquine at 10mg per Liter for 2 weeks is the best. Next up are formalin and copper. None of which are reef safe.

IME, you should always pull sickened fish to the hospital tank as early as possible to begin controlled observation / treatments. This provides a lower stress environment, removes competition for food, and allows you to control the environment. Sometimes we've wondered if that was the right thing to do, and it always has been.

Always the best way :thumbsup:

 

[aragonite55]

Have had three fish(Sargassum Trigger, Midas Blenny, and Blueface Angel)in QT for the last week, all bought from the same LFS. On the morning of Nov 28 started to see symptoms which I wasnt certain of, but thought it could be Velvet. Knowing the quick kill time and rate of this disease I decided to take a punt and dose with Chloroquine phosphate there and then. Spent the last couple of days trawling the internet to see if I could get a definite ID for the disease, and stumbled onto this thread. Having spent five hour yesterday reading the entire thread I'm 90% certain my fish are suffering from flukes. Showing frayed fins, patches of what looks like bacterial infected patches on the skin, cloudy eyes, and the Blueface shaking its head from side to side. As I live in the UK the only product I can find with Praziquantel as its active ingredient is a product called Tremazol, made by Sera. This I already have and use as part of my QT procedure, not prophylactically only when I suspect flukes or intenal worms. Downside of Tremazol is that it is advised to use over a couple of weeks as a six hour bath then to either remove the fish or to do a 80% water change after six hours, because it causes a bacterial bloom, with the accompanying oxygen depletion(suspect it must also provide a carbon source in the recipe). I know have a problem if I use this, in that there is almost certainly fluke eggs in the QT which is 300l, so treatment has really to be carried out in the QT, a lot of salt water is going to be needed. As all three fish are feeding heartily and flukes doesnt appear to kill quickly, I decided last night to order Prazipro from the US and await its arrival before proceeding to medicate. Now the complication, awoke this morning to find flukes hanging off the tail and body of the Trigger, body of the Blenny, and the eye(looks like a mini contact lens)of the Angel. I have two questions really, has anyone ever found Chloroquine phos. effective in erradicating flukes, and secondly is it still worth my while in dosing the Prazipro? Apologise for the long post.

 

[billsreef]

the only product I can find with Praziquantel as its active ingredient is a product called Tremazol, made by Sera.

The Prazi in PraziPro is Praziquantel, so they are the same thing

From what your describing, I'd give those fish a FW dip for between 1 and 5 minutes. Then use the prazi to deal with anything remaining.