Flukes

[cmcimino]

I have never experienced flukes before so I wanted to post something on my experience. I always figured flukes were one of the lesser threats in fish compared to ick or brook. I picked up a McCoskers flasher wrasse on Wednesday (2 days ago). Acclimated it to my quarantine put the fish in. He was a little skiddish at first but he’s a wrasse so I expected it. Feels him some mysis a couple of hours later and he chomped it down. The next day he was still in good shape and eating. That evening I noticed a little labored breathing, but I figured he was just stressed. I got home from lunch today and found the fish belly up. I tested ammonia to double check and got 0 on both tests. Even took it to the store I purchased it from and had them test the water too. Came home and decided to FW dip the deceased fish and within minutes flukes started coming off. I am still shocked how quickly they killed the fish from the first sign of labored breathing. All in all it was less than 16 hours from the first sign of labored breathing to death.

My question is how do I prevent this from happening in the future? I don’t plan on getting fish from that LFS anymore because I would assume their whole system has flukes if the fish died that quick. I don’t want to FW dip a fish right when I get it, I feel like it needs to acclimate and have a couple of days of eating before I run any treatments on it. Any ideas??

Picture of flukes below.

 

[CC13]

I have never experienced flukes before so I wanted to post something on my experience. I always figured flukes were one of the lesser threats in fish compared to ick or brook. I picked up a McCoskers flasher wrasse on Wednesday (2 days ago). Acclimated it to my quarantine put the fish in. He was a little skiddish at first but he’s a wrasse so I expected it. Feels him some mysis a couple of hours later and he chomped it down. The next day he was still in good shape and eating. That evening I noticed a little labored breathing, but I figured he was just stressed. I got home from lunch today and found the fish belly up. I tested ammonia to double check and got 0 on both tests. Even took it to the store I purchased it from and had them test the water too. Came home and decided to FW dip the deceased fish and within minutes flukes started coming off. I am still shocked how quickly they killed the fish from the first sign of labored breathing. All in all it was less than 16 hours from the first sign of labored breathing to death.

My question is how do I prevent this from happening in the future? I don’t plan on getting fish from that LFS anymore because I would assume their whole system has flukes if the fish died that quick. I don’t want to FW dip a fish right when I get it, I feel like it needs to acclimate and have a couple of days of eating before I run any treatments on it. Any ideas??

Picture of flukes below.

It is my personal approach to treat all fish when I first get them as if they have ICH, flukes or Brook since nowadays your 99% likely to get a fish that has one of these when you first get it (from my personal experience). I freshwater dip all fish when I get them (as you did), and assess if I can see Flukes. If not, awesome, I still put the fish through QT for 3 months assuming they have ICH.

This is a great read on Flukes:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

 

[Big G]

Sorry for your loss. I usually wait a couple of days before the FW dip. But I know there are many out there that do it immediately too. Tough call.

 

[cmcimino]

Sorry for your loss. I usually wait a couple of days before the FW dip. But I know there are many out there that do it immediately too. Tough call.

Thanks, it is a tough call. I usually like to make sure they are settled in for a day or two before I run any treatments. I just didn't expect flukes to kill that fast.

It is my personal approach to treat all fish when I first get them as if they have ICH, flukes or Brook since nowadays your 99% likely to get a fish that has one of these when you first get it (from my personal experience). I freshwater dip all fish when I get them (as you did), and assess if I can see Flukes. If not, awesome, I still put the fish through QT for 3 months assuming they have ICH.

This is a great read on Flukes:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

Do you suggest a prazipro or some other type of medication treatment from day one?

 

[CC13]

Thanks, it is a tough call. I usually like to make sure they are settled in for a day or two before I run any treatments. I just didn't expect flukes to kill that fast.



Do you suggest a prazipro or some other type of medication treatment from day one?

I fresh water dip and then choose to use hyposalinity with my fish. I find it very difficult to monitor and dose copper (or similar medications), and I can easily keep salinity in and around 1.009 - 1.008 with my auto top off and neptune.

This is just what I find has worked for me so I stick to it. Others have no issues with dosing copper or medications and that works for them.

 

[Big G]

Thanks, it is a tough call. I usually like to make sure they are settled in for a day or two before I run any treatments. I just didn't expect flukes to kill that fast.



Do you suggest a prazipro or some other type of medication treatment from day one?

The supply line right now is a mess: gram negative bacterial infections, brook, velvet, and now flukes appear to be increasing.

 

[CC13]

The supply line right now is a mess: gram negative bacterial infections, brook, velvet, and now flukes appear to be increasing.

To add to this.... the only way to get rid of these diseases in a wholesale system is to drain, bleach (or disinfect) the tanks and then add new water.

Unless this happens, almost all fish in these systems will be infected, and they will infect every tank and system along its path which eventually makes it to us the end buyer. I honestly would not even consider adding a fish into my system without placing it first in QT and its almost to the point where I am considering putting inverts and corals in QT for 3-months as well.

 

[Big G]

and its almost to the point where I am considering putting inverts and corals in QT for 3-months as well.

Already there . . . :mad:;Blackeye

 

[CC13]

Already there . . . :mad:;Blackeye

Ya I might actually go this route. I'm at the point in my system where the investment (in both time and money) in my current tanks fish and corals where the risk of disease and loss is simply too high. I am trying to figure out now how to maintain another stand-alone system that can be used to QT inverts and corals for the 3-month duration.

 

[Big G]

Ya I might actually go this route. I'm at the point in my system where the investment (in both time and money) in my current tanks fish and corals where the risk of disease and loss is simply too high. I am trying to figure out now how to maintain another stand-alone system that can be used to QT inverts and corals for the 3-month duration.

Be careful with the inverts, in particular snails in a coral QT. Had a bunch of them (cerith snails) die off in my coral QT. By the time I figured it out the water in the QT was already way out of balance and lost a whole bunch of corals. :mad:

 

[rkpetersen]

I have never experienced flukes before so I wanted to post something on my experience. I always figured flukes were one of the lesser threats in fish compared to ick or brook. I picked up a McCoskers flasher wrasse on Wednesday (2 days ago). Acclimated it to my quarantine put the fish in. He was a little skiddish at first but he’s a wrasse so I expected it. Feels him some mysis a couple of hours later and he chomped it down. The next day he was still in good shape and eating. That evening I noticed a little labored breathing, but I figured he was just stressed. I got home from lunch today and found the fish belly up. I tested ammonia to double check and got 0 on both tests. Even took it to the store I purchased it from and had them test the water too. Came home and decided to FW dip the deceased fish and within minutes flukes started coming off. I am still shocked how quickly they killed the fish from the first sign of labored breathing. All in all it was less than 16 hours from the first sign of labored breathing to death.

My question is how do I prevent this from happening in the future? I don’t plan on getting fish from that LFS anymore because I would assume their whole system has flukes if the fish died that quick. I don’t want to FW dip a fish right when I get it, I feel like it needs to acclimate and have a couple of days of eating before I run any treatments on it. Any ideas??

It's interesting that you would post this now. I got a pintail wrasse into qt a few days ago. Had some mild discoloration on one side which I noted without extreme concern. Started swimming around and eating right away. Decided to go with fluke treatment first. Didn't do a FW dip (perhaps should have), dosed the water with GC. Several hours later, he's not interested in food any more and that mild discoloration has worsened with some new epidermal swelling. I'm thinking dying flukes. Increased the tank aeration for now; we'll see how it's doing in the morning.

Be careful with the inverts, in particular snails in a coral QT. Had a bunch of them (cerith snails) die off in my coral QT. By the time I figured it out the water in the QT was already way out of balance and lost a whole bunch of corals. :mad:

I'm 95% certain that the last CUC batch I ordered brought crypto into my tank with them. I've never QTed inverts, but I acclimated and rinsed them as I always do. Crypto only appeared (mildly) on a Purple Tang. Spots are gone (for now), with quality feeding, ozone, and UV. Still, wish I wasn't now in the 'ich management' zone. Also wish I wasn't now in the 'quarantining future inverts' zone.

 

[CC13]

Be careful with the inverts, in particular snails in a coral QT. Had a bunch of them (cerith snails) die off in my coral QT. By the time I figured it out the water in the QT was already way out of balance and lost a whole bunch of corals. :mad:

Ya this is why the QT system for inverts and corals is in the planning stage. If I do this, I plan to have a stand alone system (skimmer, LR, etc) as you can’t doze medication for inverts anyways or they will die.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Wrasses are fluke magnets, so are tangs (well tangs are everything magnets)

I think this is where buying from an LFS has advantages over mail order. I’ll sit and watch the fish for a good while so I have an idea how urgent treatment will need to be. If a fish is scratching against rocks or pvc in the LFS, you bet it’s getting a quick fw dip before going into QT. If I see flukes, start prazi right away, if not- start copper.

With mail order, I feel like they need time to get over the stress of shipping before I do anything else.

 

[Big G]

Ya this is why the QT system for inverts and corals is in the planning stage. If I do this, I plan to have a stand alone system (skimmer, LR, etc) as you can’t doze medication for inverts anyways or they will die.

Exactly. I run 2 QTs. One for fish only and one for corals & inverts. The mistake was putting a new batch of 100 cerith snails in with a new batch of corals. The snails are acclimated and rinsed and put into the QT; the corals are dipped in Bayer, rinse, rinse, rinse and then into the QT. But unknown to me was that many of the snails didn't make the trip very well and some more of them kept dying at a rapid rate. Just too much dead stuff in the water, polluting the established parameters. :mad:

 

[Big G]

With mail order, I feel like they need time to get over the stress of shipping before I do anything else.

Exactly. And for awhile, waiting a couple of days, then FW dip and treat with General Cure and then copper was my standard approach for prophylactic treatment, but then the Velvet plaque hit. So it was copper first and then GC. But now we have had a really nasty bacterial infections rampant. Yikes! So treating with antibiotics and copper predosed to 1.0 ppm at the beginning seems to be working. But now we seem to be hearing about lots of flukes killing fish quickly. Yike x2!