Gill flukes

[Disky27]

Has any body delt with these it's been a week and my fish are still flashing and heavy respiration I've done two large water changes and every other day a 20% change treated with copper safe and malachite green if scrubbed the whole tank down 4 times

 

[Berylla]

I've used with success Life Bearer Anti Fluke and it can be found in 4fishstuff.com

4fishstuff.com

The active ingredient is called trichlorphon, and it degrades in higher temps, so keep your temps LOW AT 80 DEGREES OR LESS.

Many discus keepers use a 21 day treatment cycle - 2 days dosing with Anti-Fluke, and one day off (no drugs), with 50% water changes every day, redosing what was taken out for the treatment days. This intense treatment should eradicate flukes from your tank and your fish.

From the 4fish website, it says that you only need to treat up to 2 times; but, from my experience, flukes are super hard to kill. They can live through a 4 hour PP bath! Only bleach will kill these nasties.

To prevent contaminating your tank or other tanks, soak all your shared gear with bleach (Python hoses, nets, etc.) in a bleach solution of 1:4 for an hour.

 

[Disky27]

So dose for two days 50% water changes every other day then keep treating for 21 days I have heard there nasty things and hard to get rid of

 

[molliwopp]

So dose for two days 50% water changes every other day then keep treating for 21 days I have heard there nasty things and hard to get rid of

Yep youre right, they are nasty Little things and hard to get rid of, you need a specialised med for them not a generic med.

 

[jlk]

No need for harsh meds if you are positive you are dealing with flukes. Praziquantel works quite well dosed at 5mg/l. Yes, you need to either treat successively for 4-6wks or do cycles of 3on/1off/3on or 4on/1off/4on. Opinions vary on treatment strategies.

 

[Berylla]

So dose for two days 50% water changes every other day then keep treating for 21 days I have heard there nasty things and hard to get rid of

Disky - you need to change 50% of the water every day, redose what you take out.

This is done in the main tank.

Day 1 AM - dose 100%
Day 1 PM - nothing
Day 2 AM - change 50% of water, dose 50%
Day 2 PM - nothing
Day 3 AM - change water 80% (no dose day)
Day 3 PM - nothing
Day 4 AM - change water 50%, dose 100%
Day 4 PM - nothing
Day 5 AM - change 50%, dose 50%
Day 5 PM - nothing
Day 6 AM - change water 80% (no dose day)
Day 6 PM - nothing

etc.

 

[jlk]

I have to disagree here on using toxic DTHP products when prazi is a much safer alternative for flukes. Its not that DTHP products wont work but its equivalent of putting out a match using a fire engine hose and should only be considered when nothing else has worked.

As it has not been mentioned, any chemicals in the tank (copper/malachite green) need to be properly removed before even considering switching meds or you risk lethal interactions.

Can you please post your tank size along with with your stocking? Exact numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph? What your using to test (liquid or strips)? How long the tank has been running? The last time you added new fish? Before even considering any further meds, water concerns need to be addressed first here to rule out possible problems.

 

[Disky27]

I have to disagree here on using toxic DTHP products when prazi is a much safer alternative for flukes. Its not that DTHP products wont work but its equivalent of putting out a match using a fire engine hose and should only be considered when nothing else has worked.

As it has not been mentioned, any chemicals in the tank (copper/malachite green) need to be properly removed before even considering switching meds or you risk lethal interactions.

Can you please post your tank size along with with your stocking? Exact numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph? What your using to test (liquid or strips)? How long the tank has been running? The last time you added new fish? Before even considering any further meds, water concerns need to be addressed first here to rule out possible problems.

Stocking is as follows 3 discus 3 angels 4 plays 1 molly in a 75 gallon my params are amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate about 10 I use API liquid test kit tank has been up for 4 years new fish have not been added in months. I do every other day 20% changes and large changes with tank scrubbed down monthly that why I don't understand what happened I would do a large change to remove copper and malachite green some days they look better then other then they flash like crazy and my angel just hangs at the top of the tank I even bought a new test kit think maybe mine was old and same readings.

 

[Berylla]

Disky, do you have a microscope? You can do a gill scraping and put it under the microscope.

 

[Disky27]

Disky, do you have a microscope? You can do a gill scraping and put it under the microscope.

No I don't I haven't lost any fish and they all still eat

 

[Berylla]

Disky - it just seems strange that you suddenly have fluke symptoms. Fish could have come with the fluke, and stressor has made them weak and succumbed. That's my only guess without a positive ID.