Treat for flukes or get fish eating?

[RayL]

I got a bandit angel yesterday and she hasn't started eating yet but I am almost positive she has flukes. Should I treat with prazipro now or wait until she eats?

 

[WayneL333]

How do you know she has flukes? fw dip or is she shaking her head?

Is she in a QT tank by herself? If so, I personally think getting her to eat is more important than immediate fluke treatment because she'll most likely lose her appetite again if treated with prazi. Once she's eating well in a few days to a week and fatten up a little, then begin treatment. This is the approach that I would take. Good luck with her.

 

[RayL]

How do you know she has flukes? fw dip or is she shaking her head?

Is she in a QT tank by herself? If so, I personally think getting her to eat is more important than immediate fluke treatment because she'll most likely lose her appetite again if treated with prazi. Once she's eating well in a few days to a week and fatten up a little, then begin treatment. This is the approach that I would take. Good luck with her.

Every now and again she goes to the surface and breathes quickly and her fins have a little damage to them. I have never experienced fluke symptoms in any other fish before but from what I have read these are symptoms of flukes. I will wait until she eats, hopefully she will start soon. I got spoiled with my other bandit, she ate from the instant I put her in the tank and she was as healthy as can be.

By the way, I am happy to hear that your new bandit is doing good

 

[ace_92101]

Sorry to hear that. Was she eating when you picked her up?

 

[WayneL333]

Every now and again she goes to the surface and breathes quickly and her fins have a little damage to them. I have never experienced fluke symptoms in any other fish before but from what I have read these are symptoms of flukes. I will wait until she eats, hopefully she will start soon. I got spoiled with my other bandit, she ate from the instant I put her in the tank and she was as healthy as can be.

By the way, I am happy to hear that your new bandit is doing good

Thank you. You may want to give her a fw dip to temporarily relieve her. It shouldn't be too stressful for her. It may also give you proof that she has them or not.

 

[RayL]

Sorry to hear that. Was she eating when you picked her up?

She wasn't eating, she had just arrived at the store. This LFS has great fish, and great prices but the fish move very quickly and I didn't want her to be gone next time I went in

 

[ace_92101]

I'm sure she's in good hands. Best of luck.

 

[silent_circle]

Does medications suppress the fish's appetite? Maybe that's why my fish wasn't eating during treatment and died. I tried garlic but it didn't help.

 

[RayL]

Does medications suppress the fish's appetite? Maybe that's why my fish wasn't eating during treatment and died. I tried garlic but it didn't help.

Yes most medications will suppress appetite. As well their have been some studies done saying garlic does more damage then good. Humaguy wrote a great post about it.

 

[Angelfish rule]

I would give it a fw dip then wait tell it eats
sorry to hear it is not eating right away

 

[RayL]

I gave him a freshwater dip for 4 minutes. I have put him back into his tank and now he keeps swimming with a small twitch once in a while. Is this normal?

 

[HumbleFish]

I gave him a freshwater dip for 4 minutes. I have put him back into his tank and now he keeps swimming with a small twitch once in a while. Is this normal?

Did you notice any small white "dots" fall out of the gills during the dip? Head twitching is a symptom of gill flukes, and can even persist for some time after successful treatment (until the gill tissue fully heals). Crypto in the gills can also cause head twitching.

 

[RayL]

I didn't see any white dots fall off him but when I removed him, I saw some at the bottom of the bucket when I used a flashlight.

 

[jjk_reef00]

If you confirmed flukes by visually seeing them after the freshwater dip would dose prazi and see how the fish reacts. Note that I'm very quick to medicate if I think something is wrong. I've had several boughts with flukes, and some fish react well and begin eating a few hours or a after dosing prazi. I usually remove the meds after 3 or 4 days for those fish that don't eat.

 

[WayneL333]

I gave him a freshwater dip for 4 minutes. I have put him back into his tank and now he keeps swimming with a small twitch once in a while. Is this normal?

If she's twitching her head, it sounds like she may be flukes and she's irritated by them. I would try as long as a fw dip as she will tolerate to really get the flukes off of her, for like 8 mins or so. you can see how she reacts in the fw. if she starts laying down on the side, then I'd take her out.

 

[RayL]

If she's twitching her head, it sounds like she may be flukes and she's irritated by them. I would try as long as a fw dip as she will tolerate to really get the flukes off of her, for like 8 mins or so. you can see how she reacts in the fw. if she starts laying down on the side, then I'd take her out.

I will give that a try, do you think I should do it again tonight or wait until tomorrow. She might already be a little stressed

 

[WayneL333]

This is just me, but since she's already a little stressed now, I'd do it tonight. Then she can have all night with the lights off to calm down.

 

[RayL]

That's a good idea, thanks. I will give it a try in a couple hours before I goto bed. Will update here tomorrow, hopefully she will chose to eat by then.

 

[WayneL333]

Sounds good. Good luck!

 

[RayL]

I did the second FW dip and after 7 minutes I took her out. She was scaring me, she came to the surface and was twitching for around 10 second intervals and then 20 seconds normal.

Is this a normal thing in a FW dip?