PraziPro treatment for flukes

[StrangeDejavu]

I recently added a Firefish to my tank that had flukes. 48 hours after acclimation, he died. I dipped the body in RODI and as I suspected, flukes began to fall off of him within minutes. I had PraziPro on hand so I went ahead and treated my DT. I only have one fish in there, a Banggai Cardinal. He's shown no symptoms throughout the entire first treatment (7 days) that the Firefish had, which was headshaking, faded colors, cloudy eye and clamped fins. I just did a 25% WC and added round 2. Would 2 treatments be good enough or should I run 3?

And yes I learned my lesson. The day the fish died, I set up a QT for all future purchases.

 

[Code4]

I believe that two treatments should be sufficient. I am also now using a quarantine tank for all new fish for a minimum of 8 weeks. Someone with more experience may answer your question lots better than I.

Sorry for your loss, they are beautiful fish.

Shelley

 

[StrangeDejavu]

It was a Purple too, real shame, I never see those. The owner at my LFS is a great guy though and gave me store credit, which I used to buy what I needed to set up my QT.

 

[Polkman]

It was a Purple too, real shame, I never see those. The owner at my LFS is a great guy though and gave me store credit, which I used to buy what I needed to set up my QT.

Sorry for your loss, my purple is a bully, he's been beating up on my baby blue tang whenever he goes near the firefish cave.

Sometimes prazi might need to be used more than 2 sessions for those very stubborn flukes. I've had to use formalin dips and prazi as well as freshwater dips just to get rid of them.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

My Banggai has really declined since the second dose... After the first treatment of PraziPro (7 days), I did a 25% WC and dosed treatment #2. Since that dose, he has stopped eating, spitting out food the first day but not even sampling it today. He looks wobbly, like he's having a hard time staying balanced in the current. No visible symptoms of flukes. No head shaking, no cloudy eye, no clamped fins, no flashing, no dull colors. He retained his strong appetite during the first treatment but now all of a sudden he looks very lethargic and "drunk", showing little to no interest in frozen mysis. I'm 3 days into this treatment but I don't want to lose my little guy. Should I run carbon and remove the PraziPro? I tested my water and nitrite/ammonia are both 0. Nitrates are also 0.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Go ahead and run the carbon in the event that it is the prazi. I know it can have a similar effect on wrasses but I've not heard of it on cardinals. Unfortunately you may not necessarily dealing with flukes. Other diseases also present with the same symptoms. The fact that flukes came off the firefish does not mean that is the only thing he had. Flukes do not kill that quickly. The firefish would have been listless, swimming in a current, flashing, etc when you bought him for him to die within 48 hours. You may be dealing with velvet or Brook.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

The Firefish showed all symptoms of flukes but no symptoms of Velvet or Brook. Once I noticed it had a single cloudy eye, it passed about 12 hours later. May have been the stress of acclimation while also dealing with a compromised immune system, not sure. My Banggai is still here this morning. Each time I walk up to my tank, I expect to find him gone but he's here each time after work, after I wake up, etc. Colors are excellent, he's not listless and he has no outward symptoms of disease other than lethargy and appetite suppression. He has no excess slime coat, no scratching or flashing, no cloudy eye, no ragged fins, no labored or fast breathing. Tonight will be the 72 hour point, the point Hikari says Prazi is no longer in the system so I think i'll run some carbon and begin skimming again, see if he improves any. I'll try and get a video once the light comes on.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Here he was a little bit ago. Totally unlike him since prior to dosing, he would beg like mad at the front of the glass. He would dart around, especially when the pumps went off (feeding time). Now he hides behind the rock and tries to move out of sight if you look at him and just kind of bobs around like that. He looks better than he did last night, where parts of his fins were dragging in the sand and he looked like he was about to tumble over. I hope I didn't shoot myself in the foot by cutting the treatment short, but I need to get him eating.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/390vPx2ie-s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And here's the Firefish for reference. You can see the Neobenedinia fluke just below his right pectoral fin.

And here he was a few hours before he passed (10 days ago). Notice the clamped fins, cloudy eye, head shaking and fast, heavy breathing.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aad_DF1iXFc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Was that the only thing that came off the firefish? Did you positively identify it under a microscope?
As far as the cardinal I would do a water change to try and jump start his eating and overall attitude. Yes prazi stays active in the water for 72 hrs but there are still inert ingredients that may be having an effect on him.
Best of luck

 

[mr9iron]

Losing fish totally sucks. This is the exact reason QT is so important. I've lost quite a few fish before I wised up and began to QT. I also QT my corals, and inspect them for several weeks as well.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Was that the only thing that came off the firefish? Did you positively identify it under a microscope?

Yes, there were 2 or 3 large ones. I'm new to saltwater and even in freshwater, have never encountered flukes- nor do I have a microscope. I posted a thread last week asking for help with flukes on this forum, provided video, pics, symptoms, etc. It wracked up 330 views but people just read it and moved on I guess. I got a "sorry for your loss, hopefully experts will chime in soon" post but they never did, lol. I read the sticky on flukes, Googled the major types and found Neobenedinia to match both appearance, symptoms and location on the fish (head area). I dosed the first treatment the night the Firefish died, did a 25% WC seven days later and dosed again after the WC. It was at this time that my Banggai suddenly started acting different and refused food. What alarmed me was when I saw him catch an Amphipod, chew on it, then spit it out. The second treatment started Wednesday evening, so another 68 - 72 hours in the system for round 2 before I started carbon.

And I agree on QT. I know better, but after waiting months to get the tank up and another month for the cycle, I let impatience get the better of me. After the Firefish passed, I set up a QT with PVC, an HOB and a sponge filter.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XrPjUF2ItLY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's how the Banggai reacted to food during the first treatment. Seeing him go from that to lethargy and zero interest in frozen mysis overnight was concerning. The 25% WC I performed was used with a brand new batch of Reef Crystals, but I doubt there's a connection there.

 

[mr9iron]

Yes, there were 2 or 3 large ones. I'm new to saltwater and even in freshwater, have never encountered flukes- nor do I have a microscope. I posted a thread last week asking for help with flukes on this forum, provided video, pics, symptoms, etc. It wracked up 330 views but people just read it and moved on I guess. I got a "sorry for your loss, hopefully experts will chime in soon" post but they never did, lol. I read the sticky on flukes, Googled the major types and found Neobenedinia to match both appearance, symptoms and location on the fish (head area). I dosed the first treatment the night the Firefish died, did a 25% WC seven days later and dosed again after the WC. It was at this time that my Banggai suddenly started acting different and refused food. What alarmed me was when I saw him catch an Amphipod, chew on it, then spit it out. The second treatment started Wednesday evening, so another 68 - 72 hours in the system for round 2 before I started carbon.



And I agree on QT. I know better, but after waiting months to get the tank up and another month for the cycle, I let impatience get the better of me. After the Firefish passed, I set up a QT with PVC, an HOB and a sponge filter.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, and have certainly done your research. I would just watch the Banggai and offer smaller, but more frequent meal times to encourage him to eat. IMHO, if he has survived this initial disease process, and is mending, he will probably do well. Just keep a close eye, and hope for the best.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

I just offered mysis and he got excited again, sampling it this time instead of ignoring it, but still spat it out. I'll try again tonight once the carbon has had a decent time frame to remove what's in the water column. That's progress though, so i'm hopeful.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

10% WC and 24 hours of carbon and the Banggai has his energy back. His response to correcting himself in the current and his reaction times are back to normal again, but he's still not eating like he used to. He's also not hiding in the rockwork like he was, he's swimming out in the front now. I'm surprised the PraziPro affected him that much, to the point where I kept a net on top of the tank because I was sure when I woke up each morning, i'd have a dead fish. Very happy to see progress, now i'm crossing fingers and toes that the flukes and the second generation of flukes were killed with the treatment.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Final update: Very happy to report that he's almost back to normal. I couldn't get him to eat frozen mysis this morning so I tried thawing it out soaked in garlic. He took it only once but spat out after that. Just fed him 3 times in a row and he was feeding like a shark again. I'm still in shock at how badly he reacted to that PraziPro treatment. He went from spitting out ampipods and tumbling around in the sand to normal, feisty fish within 36 hours of carbon and a water change. Lesson learned: QT, QT, QT...