Flukes in display tank?

[xyousefb]

Hello,

I'm currently experiencing an illness of some sort in my 150G display tank among the fish, and I'm not sure of what to do. I'm certain that it's not ich or velvet as all the fish I've kept were quarantined for at least 21-24 days and there have been no spots on the fish.

Except today, under blue lights I was able to see 1 dot attached to my anthias. It looked bigger than ich and almost like the description I keep reading of flukes. The anthias only itches its gill area and yawns every 10 minutes or so. It really sounds like its flukes.

I have attempted to catch the fish but it's so difficult as it keeps hiding in the rocks every time I try to get near it. I'm thinking of giving it a freshwater dip tomorrow.

Currently in the tank I have an anthias, chromis, 2 clowns, banggai cardinal, firefish, and a yellow wrasse (which is what spread the flukes in the display tank). I also have some LPS and SPS along with some softies and an anemone.

I've read several anecdotes on using prazipro in the display tank, as expected, there were some who succeeded with using this medicine in their DT, and others not so much. It's fairy a new tank and I don't have any feather dusters, and haven't seen many bristle worms as I started with dry rock. What do you think I should do?

 

[threebuoys]

Can you provide pictures using white lights?

Generally, flukes are not visible to the naked eye so diagnosis depends on observed behaviors and possibly visible scaring. If you are able to perform a fresh water dip on the fish, flukes may release from the fish and fall to the bottom of the container where they will appear similar to sesame seeds.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,

I'm currently experiencing an illness of some sort in my 150G display tank among the fish, and I'm not sure of what to do. I'm certain that it's not ich or velvet as all the fish I've kept were quarantined for at least 21-24 days and there have been no spots on the fish.

Except today, under blue lights I was able to see 1 dot attached to my anthias. It looked bigger than ich and almost like the description I keep reading of flukes. The anthias only itches its gill area and yawns every 10 minutes or so. It really sounds like its flukes.

I have attempted to catch the fish but it's so difficult as it keeps hiding in the rocks every time I try to get near it. I'm thinking of giving it a freshwater dip tomorrow.

Currently in the tank I have an anthias, chromis, 2 clowns, banggai cardinal, firefish, and a yellow wrasse (which is what spread the flukes in the display tank). I also have some LPS and SPS along with some softies and an anemone.

I've read several anecdotes on using prazipro in the display tank, as expected, there were some who succeeded with using this medicine in their DT, and others not so much. It's fairy a new tank and I don't have any feather dusters, and haven't seen many bristle worms as I started with dry rock. What do you think I should do?

These are symptoms of flukes as described. As for flukes, gills will be red or swollen with rapid breathing, fish acting lethargic or swimming near the water surface, hiding in the corner of tank or behind rocks, loss of appetite, shaking its head, flashing/darting, develop clamped fins, , or scratching against objects. They may also exhibit what looks like yawning from gill irritation develop, cloudy eyes and loss of color .
Treatment will be Prazipro in a quarantine setting for an 8 day interval followed by water change and one more 8 day interval. Increase oxygen with air stone during treatment

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello,

I'm currently experiencing an illness of some sort in my 150G display tank among the fish, and I'm not sure of what to do. I'm certain that it's not ich or velvet as all the fish I've kept were quarantined for at least 21-24 days and there have been no spots on the fish.

Except today, under blue lights I was able to see 1 dot attached to my anthias. It looked bigger than ich and almost like the description I keep reading of flukes. The anthias only itches its gill area and yawns every 10 minutes or so. It really sounds like its flukes.

I have attempted to catch the fish but it's so difficult as it keeps hiding in the rocks every time I try to get near it. I'm thinking of giving it a freshwater dip tomorrow.

Currently in the tank I have an anthias, chromis, 2 clowns, banggai cardinal, firefish, and a yellow wrasse (which is what spread the flukes in the display tank). I also have some LPS and SPS along with some softies and an anemone.

I've read several anecdotes on using prazipro in the display tank, as expected, there were some who succeeded with using this medicine in their DT, and others not so much. It's fairy a new tank and I don't have any feather dusters, and haven't seen many bristle worms as I started with dry rock. What do you think I should do?

Flukes are not really visible to the naked eye, you see them indirectly through the damage that they do: yawning, scratching, rapid breathing, eroded fins, cloudy eyes or a general disheveled look - depending on the species of fluke involved.

You cannot rule out ich or velvet with just a 21 to 24 day quarantine, especially if it was just isolation. A full copper treatment is 30 days. This doesn't sound like ich, but you need to be vigilant against it in this instance.

Prazipro is well-tolerated in reef tanks. You just need to add extra aeration, and keep your skimmer running (but don't collect any skimmate). The key to prazipro is the dosing interval - the bottle I thin, says 2 days apart. That is too short to capture new flukes hatching out from eggs. You are better off dosing it and then doing the second dose 8 days later.

Jay

 

[xyousefb]

These are symptoms of flukes as described. As for flukes, gills will be red or swollen with rapid breathing, fish acting lethargic or swimming near the water surface, hiding in the corner of tank or behind rocks, loss of appetite, shaking its head, flashing/darting, develop clamped fins, , or scratching against objects. They may also exhibit what looks like yawning from gill irritation develop, cloudy eyes and loss of color .
Treatment will be Prazipro in a quarantine setting for an 8 day interval followed by water change and one more 8 day interval. Increase oxygen with air stone during treatment

Thank you for the thorough reply. But what about the display tank? What’s the fallow period?

 

[xyousefb]

Flukes are not really visible to the naked eye, you see them indirectly through the damage that they do: yawning, scratching, rapid breathing, eroded fins, cloudy eyes or a general disheveled look - depending on the species of fluke involved.

You cannot rule out ich or velvet with just a 21 to 24 day quarantine, especially if it was just isolation. A full copper treatment is 30 days. This doesn't sound like ich, but you need to be vigilant against it in this instance.

Prazipro is well-tolerated in reef tanks. You just need to add extra aeration, and keep your skimmer running (but don't collect any skimmate). The key to prazipro is the dosing interval - the bottle I thin, says 2 days apart. That is too short to capture new flukes hatching out from eggs. You are better off dosing it and then doing the second dose 8 days later.

Jay

Awesome, thanks! So there’s no need for an extra QT?

 

[Spare time]

Prazipro is perfectly fine in the display tank from my experience

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for the thorough reply. But what about the display tank? What’s the fallow period?

4-6 weeks to assure worms have died off. While deemed reef safe, will reduce oxygen levels and kill any tube worms or feathers dusters as well as bristle worms which can lead to a die-off creating an ammonia spike. Not worth the risk.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Awesome, thanks! So there’s no need for an extra QT?

No QT needed for treating with Prazipro. I think it's worth a try.

jay

 

[xyousefb]

No QT needed for treating with Prazipro. I think it's worth a try.

jay

Thank you again. One last thing, I’ve read that the prazi is consumed by bacteria. In this case, how many times should I dose it and for how long should I keep it in the tank before removing it?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you again. One last thing, I’ve read that the prazi is consumed by bacteria. In this case, how many times should I dose it and for how long should I keep it in the tank before removing it?

It’s complicated. The bacteria that does this grows after subsequent additions of prazi. It typically does not become an issue until a tank has been dosed 5 or more times.
Two treatments, 8 days apart is a good start.
Jay

 

[xyousefb]

It’s complicated. The bacteria that does this grows after subsequent additions of prazi. It typically does not become an issue until a tank has been dosed 5 or more times.
Two treatments, 8 days apart is a good start.
Jay

Got ya. But, no water change in between doses?

 

[xyousefb]

And how long should the Prazi be in the reef tank? How are these instructions not written on the bottle?

 

[threebuoys]

Treat prazi on Day 1
25% water change on Day 8 then retreat prazi
25% water change on Day 16 then retreat prazi (some skip this one, but why not)
25% water change on Day 24 Treatment complete

extra aeration throughout

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Got ya. But, no water change in between doses?

Water changes between praziquantel doses are not needed, however, when using Prazipro, the solvent used (a glycol product) can be an issue - with that, a 30% water change before the second dose is probably a good idea.

Jay

 

[xyousefb]

So I dosed the prazi in my tank with no noticeable effects on my corals, but something strange is going on.

After dosing the prazi, the anthias (one of the 2 fish affected by flukes) stopped showing any signs of having flukes. No more yawning and flashing. The yellow wrasse on the other hand, is yawning and flashing every now and then even after 2 days of prazi. What could this mean?

I don’t think it’s ich or velvet because it’s been more than 32 days that this fish has been in my tanks and has never developed any dots on its skin. Plus, it was the only addition to the tank when the anthias began to flash and yawn which illustrates that what it has is likely flukes. Could it be that the flukes didn’t die even after dosing prazi?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I dosed the prazi in my tank with no noticeable effects on my corals, but something strange is going on.

After dosing the prazi, the anthias (one of the 2 fish affected by flukes) stopped showing any signs of having flukes. No more yawning and flashing. The yellow wrasse on the other hand, is yawning and flashing every now and then even after 2 days of prazi. What could this mean?

I don’t think it’s ich or velvet because it’s been more than 32 days that this fish has been in my tanks and has never developed any dots on its skin. Plus, it was the only addition to the tank when the anthias began to flash and yawn which illustrates that what it has is likely flukes. Could it be that the flukes didn’t die even after dosing prazi?

Which product did you use?
Do you have an accurate dose on the tank?

Praziquantel doesn't kill flukes, it just knocks them out for a bit and they drop off the fish. Once off the fish, adult flukes cannot get back on the fish. Some flukes lay eggs. Therefore, multiple treatments are needed to kill the new flukes before they in turn have a chance to lay eggs. I find that spreading doses out about 8 or 9 days apart works best.

Different fish react to prazi differently. Wrasse are reported to be more sensitive to it, but I've not noticed that myself. Also, when flukes leave a fish, they leave tiny open wounds. These can cause continued scratching .

Jay

 

[xyousefb]

Which product did you use?
Do you have an accurate dose on the tank?

Praziquantel doesn't kill flukes, it just knocks them out for a bit and they drop off the fish. Once off the fish, adult flukes cannot get back on the fish. Some flukes lay eggs. Therefore, multiple treatments are needed to kill the new flukes before they in turn have a chance to lay eggs. I find that spreading doses out about 8 or 9 days apart works best.

Different fish react to prazi differently. Wrasse are reported to be more sensitive to it, but I've not noticed that myself. Also, when flukes leave a fish, they leave tiny open wounds. These can cause continued scratching .

Jay

I used PraziPro. And I think my dose was pretty accurate yes. I took the rocks, sand, sump, and overflow into account when calculating the net water volume in the tank. Which turned out to be 510L. Hence, I dosed 34mL of PraziPro.

While I haven’t caught the anthias yawning again, it started to do behave in this way again:

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I used PraziPro. And I think my dose was pretty accurate yes. I took the rocks, sand, sump, and overflow into account when calculating the net water volume in the tank. Which turned out to be 510L. Hence, I dosed 34mL of PraziPro.

While I haven’t caught the anthias yawning again, it started to do behave in this way again:

What am I doing wrong?

That is called "piping" - when a fish goes to the surface like that. Often, it is a sign of major distress, but in this case, it looks like the anthias is trying to feed on something floating at the surface. Never feed anthias at the surface, they are not adapted to feeding there (they live deeper down). They can sometimes ingest air doing that. If you haven't put floating food in the tank, could the anthias be hungry and is biting at little bits of floating detritus or something?

Jay

 

[xyousefb]

Ok so something really strange is going on right now.

I have decided to do several water changes and redose PraziPro in the main tank. But this time, I increased the dose a little bit in case it wasn’t enough last time. It wasn’t much, but the estimated tank value this time cannot be wrong.

The anthias and all the other fish stopped showing symptoms of an illness but the wrasse is still itching, yawning and occasionally moving it’s head erratically.

When I first dosed the prazi, it was scratching itself on the rocks like crazy and the next day it was still scratching but a little less. Today is the third day, and it is still showing signs of scratching, yawning and unusual head movements. I don’t think that these are just signs of the fish healing after the flukes have jumped off. It really looks like it’s still getting bothered by flukes in its gills and on its body.

What could be the reason behind why the yellow wrasse is the only fish that seems to not be healing?

As a side note, it’s not ich or velvet as I’ve had this fish for more than a month and a half and it hasn’t showed any signs of those two diseases. It’s quite obvious that what it has is flukes from how it reacted after the prazi dose.

What do you guys think?