flasher wrasse with eye flukes?

spiraling · Sep 22, 2020

Hi all,
My McCoskers flasher wrasse has been acting a bit strange for a few weeks. It used to cruise the tank as "the boss" but now tends to be in one corner. Color and appetite are good, but tonight I noticed something on the left eye. It looks like two clear 1mm long things poking out. I will try to get a picture, but its gonna be really hard.

I won't be able to catch him for a fresh water dip. How do I treat him or what else can it be?

spiraling · Sep 22, 2020

I should mention - I've had him for over a year and the last fish addition was about a year ago, athough I've added corals. No other fish seem to have any symptoms.

dwest · Sep 22, 2020

You can try prazipro.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 22, 2020

I had success getting rid of eye flukes with Ruby Rally reef

spiraling · Sep 22, 2020

dwest said:
You can try prazipro.

I have that. Is it better in the food or in the water column?

Jay Hemdal · Sep 22, 2020

Praziquantel can be mixed into food, but prazipro has a solvent that shouldn’t be eaten by the fish. You can dose the water , but if it is Neobenedenia, it will take multiple treatments, 3 spaced 7 days apart. Be sure to increase the aeration. Consider the risk to sensitive inverts though...
Neobenedenia eggs are sticky, so corals and other inverts can carry it into a tank.
Jay

spiraling · Sep 22, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Praziquantel can be mixed into food, but prazipro has a solvent that shouldn’t be eaten by the fish. You can dose the water , but if it is Neobenedenia, it will take multiple treatments, 3 spaced 7 days apart. Be sure to increase the aeration. Consider the risk to sensitive inverts though...
Neobenedenia eggs are sticky, so corals and other inverts can carry it into a tank.
Jay

Thanks for the info
I turned off my skimmer and carbon and dosed per the instructions. 1 tsp / 20 gal so I used 5 tsp.
I only have a peppermint for inverts, and a few snails, so that should be OK.

How do I know if I should repeat in 7 days? Will I still see the flukes?

dwest · Sep 23, 2020

Keep you skimmer running but remove the cup. You’ll want the aeration. I would just go ahead and do at least 2 treatments and maybe 3.

Flukes – General Guidelines

Many thanks to "Newsmyrna80" for writing this. Reposted with her permission. Some facts: Flukes are not true flukes. They are actually parasitic flatworms belonging to the class of Monogeans. There are 13 families of flukes. However, only three families infect saltwater fish. 1...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay Hemdal · Sep 23, 2020

You likely won't see the flukes, live or dead. If it is Neo and if it comes back, you'll just see the symptoms start up again. The things you see on the eye are *probably* mucus plugs. This may not be Neo, and might not even be a fluke, but the Prazi is the best place to start. If the fish stops eating, then you will need to reassess the treatment.

Jay

spiraling · Sep 23, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
You likely won't see the flukes, live or dead. If it is Neo and if it comes back, you'll just see the symptoms start up again. The things you see on the eye are *probably* mucus plugs. This may not be Neo, and might not even be a fluke, but the Prazi is the best place to start. If the fish stops eating, then you will need to reassess the treatment.

Jay

What are mucus plugs?

spiraling · Sep 23, 2020

dwest said:
Keep you skimmer running but remove the cup. You’ll want the aeration. I would just go ahead and do at least 2 treatments and maybe 3.

Flukes – General Guidelines

Many thanks to "Newsmyrna80" for writing this. Reposted with her permission. Some facts: Flukes are not true flukes. They are actually parasitic flatworms belonging to the class of Monogeans. There are 13 families of flukes. However, only three families infect saltwater fish. 1...

www.reef2reef.com

should I do a water change between treatments?

dwest · Sep 23, 2020

I have only done one prazi treatment (two doses 1 week apart) in my display tank. So, I’m saying I‘m not an expert with this. I did not change water between doses, but turned my auto water changer back on about a week after the second treatment. I personally would only change water between doses if there was a problem.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 23, 2020

spiraling said:
What are mucus plugs?

I don’t know! Some fish, for unknown reasons, produce excess mucus from pores in their skin. These exude out and stand up off the body of the fish, and they can persist for some time. I recently treated a giant gouramy with tetracycline for this, and the mucus went away....trouble is, it often does so without treatment.
Jay

spiraling · Sep 23, 2020

Good news. All fish are looking good and eating well. I have 5 wrasses so using prazi is always a bit tense.
The two clear things on the wrasses eye are gone today.

I did turn on the skimmer with the collection cup open, but left the carbon off.

Thanks for the help. I'll update in a few days, hopefully he starts to act normal.

spiraling · Sep 30, 2020

update - a week later and all is good. Max is acting himself again.
I don't know if it was flukes / parasite and prazi helped, or if the things on his eye were flukes, but they fell off right after the dose and I think that's what was bugging him.

Thanks again for all the help.