Fish gasping

[Aleph]

Hi guys I'm aking for advice because I'm totally at a loss. I have 3 fish, two ocellaris and one royal gramma. In the last couple days all of them began gasping and the gramma is scratching himself on the rocks and almost never comes out of the rocks. All of them seem a bit confused and don't eat much. Parameters are mostly OK:
KH 8
Ca 420
Mg 1300
No3 15
Po4 0

My first guess was flukes but I did a freshwater dip on one of the ocellaris and nothing came out. Their skin has no ich/velvet signs of any kind. One of the ocellaris had stringy poop for a couple weeks a few months ago but it passed and I assumed it healed, could it be connected?
What could I do?

Thanks for the help!

 

[W1ngz]

Test ammonia levels.
How long have you had them, and what has been added to the tank recently?

 

[IKD]

Do you have enough oxygen being added to the tank? Do you have any break out of algae or cyano? A break out of that could cause low oxygen levels

 

[fishguy242]

not too up with fish diseases but recommend qt research and treatment best of luck

 

[Aleph]

I've had one ocellaris and the royal gramma for months, apart from the stringy poop they never had any problems, then added an unquarantined ocellaris (I know) that died after a couple weeks and then the present ocellaris a couple weeks ago...
About oxygen, I have an oversized skimmer that runs 24/7, no noticeable algae and few cyano spots, I am carbon dosing though, 3 ml vodka daily for about 30g tank.

 

[IKD]

Sounds like fish introduced something that spread. I don’t see a correlation to the coral issue unless ammonia or nitrite spiked on the fish death.

 

[Aleph]

The fish death was weeks ago, and it didn't cause a nutrient spike that I could measure. I didn't get the coral issue reference, all corals are fine btw...

 

[W1ngz]

Test ammonia and nitrite to rule them out.
Are they gasping at the bottom or the top of the water?
The gasping and scratching sounds like a parasite of some kind. Velvet can be unseen until it's too late. I'd freshwater dip all of them and get them into a copper medicated tank.

#reefsquad

 

[Big G]

Hi guys I'm aking for advice because I'm totally at a loss. I have 3 fish, two ocellaris and one royal gramma. In the last couple days all of them began gasping and the gramma is scratching himself on the rocks and almost never comes out of the rocks. All of them seem a bit confused and don't eat much. Parameters are mostly OK:
KH 8
Ca 420
Mg 1300
No3 15
Po4 0

My first guess was flukes but I did a freshwater dip on one of the ocellaris and nothing came out. Their skin has no ich/velvet signs of any kind. One of the ocellaris had stringy poop for a couple weeks a few months ago but it passed and I assumed it healed, could it be connected?
What could I do?

Thanks for the help!

You are probably right about it being flukes. A freshwater dip only works well on "skin" flukes. Those flukes within the gills are protected from FW dips and brief meds by the mucous coating within the gills themselves. Best to treat with General Cure or Prazipro in a QT. Add lots of O2 by running a powerhead aimed up at the surface where it is actively rippling the water surface. Dose, wait 5-7 days. Do a 25% water change and then dose again. Wait 5-7 days. Do a 25% water change and then observe. Sometimes another round is necessary and there also are prazi resistant flukes around these days. If so then we treat with Fenbendazole.

 

[Aleph]

Nitrites are zero, have to get an ammonia test, the ocellaris are swimming mostly on the bottom of the tank, they occasionally rise to the upper part of the tank. So I have to take my chances with either a copper treatment or a Prazi treatment... should I take the Prazi route (I know with copper you can't) could I treat them in the tank? I will need to tear the tank apart to grab the royal gramma!

 

[IKD]

The fish death was weeks ago, and it didn't cause a nutrient spike that I could measure. I didn't get the coral issue reference, all corals are fine btw...

Sorry, mixed the coral issue up with another thread

 

[Aleph]

No problem, thanks for the advice, to all you guys

 

[Aleph]

Guys sorry to resurrect the thread, I've been out and busy so I couldn't give the tank the necessary attention. The Gramma is still scratching a lot and its skin is starting to look damaged, and one of the ocellaris has also started scratching so since taking out the gramma for treatment is impossible I would like to try treating the whole tank with prazi, could you give me some advice on how to do that?
Also I have lots of fireworms, will they all die from the treatment?

 

[Big G]

The prazi can kill the worms, feather dusters, etc. So you could end up with a die off spiking your ammonia.

The majority of the praziquantel is done within 24 hours or so. But you need to do a 25% water change and then redose 5-7 days after the first dose. Then you wait another 5-7 days, then do another 25% water change.

 

[Aleph]

Ok thanks I don't have access here in Italy to commercial aquarium products containing prazi like prazipro so I will have to use pure prazi if I manage to find it, where could I find the right dosage?
What about skimmer and carbon dosing? Should I keep them running?

 

[Big G]

This link as dosage for pure prazi. Turn off skimmer and carbon dosing it will interfere with the prazi.

Praziquantel

Edit: this is older information, a new post is here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/ Praziquantel (de-wormer) What It Treats – Flukes (Monogeneans), Black Ich (Turbellarians), and intestinal worms. How To Treat – There are a few aquarium products which...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Aleph]

Perfect, thank you! After how much time can I resume skimming and carbon?

 

[Big G]

The dose of prazi does the vast majority of its work in 24 hours killing the worms. The second dose 5-7 days later takes in to account any eggs laid that may be hatching.
So after 24 hours you could turn on the skimmer and carbon without negating the prazi's work.

 

[Aleph]

Ok perfect, thank you!