gill fluke problem

thefez510 · May 23, 2024

Hey guys I need help please, I've been dealing with gill flukes for over 3 months. I treated my two clownfish with a fenbendazole bath which worked great, and did a fallow period of 35 days. Yet after I put both of my clown backs in the tank a week later my female started showing symptoms of flukes again. I was wondering did I put them back too early. Should I do the fallow period longer as in 2-3 months long? Thanks in advance guys.

TX_REEF · May 23, 2024

I have heard of fallow period as long as 80 days - more time may be advisable. I have also had success with fluke removal via freshwater dip, but again this is just for the fish and your tank may still need a fallow period.

MnFish1 · May 23, 2024

thefez510 said:
Hey guys I need help please, I've been dealing with gill flukes for over 3 months. I treated my two clownfish with a fenbendazole bath which worked great, and did a fallow period of 35 days. Yet after I put both of my clown backs in the tank a week later my female started showing symptoms of flukes again. I was wondering did I put them back too early. Should I do the fallow period longer as in 2-3 months long? Thanks in advance guys.

Can you discuss exactly how you did the dip? what dose? what was the source of fembendazole? Though a dip may help initial symptoms, I'm not sure one can guarantee that eggs, etc - that may be in the tank were affected. The fact that you've dealt with it for 3 months (assuming you're correct - you didn't say how you made the diagnosis) suggests that your dips were not 'curative', but helped. I would treat the fish in a hospital tank with prazipro x 2 doses, 8 days apart - assuming there is no question that its gill flukes. The fallow period I agree with you may have been too short.

thefez510 · May 23, 2024

TX_REEF said:
I have heard of fallow period as long as 80 days - more time may be advisable. I have also had success with fluke removal via freshwater dip, but again this is just for the fish and your tank may still need a fallow period.

wow 80 days, yeah I got rid of flukes by doing Fenbendazole bath for 12 hours twice which worked great it's just my biggest problem is my main tank if I didn't have corals I would nuke all those flukes with fenbendazole and be free from them but I heard fenbendazole stays in the tank for months or years which I do not want to do lol

TX_REEF · May 23, 2024

thefez510 said:
wow 80 days, yeah I got rid of flukes by doing Fenbendazole bath for 12 hours twice which worked great it's just my biggest problem is my main tank if I didn't have corals I would nuke all those flukes with fenbendazole and be free from them but I heard fenbendazole stays in the tank for months or years which I do not want to do lol

prazipro is generally reef safe - you could try that as well.

thefez510 · May 23, 2024

MnFish1 said:
Can you discuss exactly how you did the dip? what dose? what was the source of fembendazole? Though a dip may help initial symptoms, I'm not sure one can guarantee that eggs, etc - that may be in the tank were affected. The fact that you've dealt with it for 3 months (assuming you're correct - you didn't say how you made the diagnosis) suggests that your dips were not 'curative', but helped. I would treat the fish in a hospital tank with prazipro x 2 doses, 8 days apart - assuming there is no question that its gill flukes. The fallow period I agree with you may have been too short.

I did a 12 hour fenben bath 95mg/gallon. I did twice one week apart which helped they were free from flukes. i did not treat the tank due to corals so i did a fallow period of 35 days. once i put the clownfish the symptoms came back 2 weeks later. and i did prazipro, it did not affect the flukes at all.

thefez510 · May 23, 2024

TX_REEF said:
prazipro is generally reef safe - you could try that as well.

yeah i tried prazipro before I did the fenbendazole bath it didnt really do anything to them. my fish were still showing symptoms after doing two doze

Jay Hemdal · May 23, 2024

thefez510 said:
Hey guys I need help please, I've been dealing with gill flukes for over 3 months. I treated my two clownfish with a fenbendazole bath which worked great, and did a fallow period of 35 days. Yet after I put both of my clown backs in the tank a week later my female started showing symptoms of flukes again. I was wondering did I put them back too early. Should I do the fallow period longer as in 2-3 months long? Thanks in advance guys.

For egg laying flukes, 35 days is long enough. Were all fish pulled during this time? If so, it is more probable that you knocked back the flukes to minimal numbers, and then the population just built back up over time.

The typical treatment with Fenbendazole is not as a dip, but as a static bath. Commonly, it is dosed at 2 ppm weekly for three weeks.

thefez510 · May 23, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
For egg laying flukes, 35 days is long enough. Were all fish pulled during this time? If so, it is more probable that you knocked back the flukes to minimal numbers, and then the population just built back up over time.

The typical treatment with Fenbendazole is not as a dip, but as a static bath. Commonly, it is dosed at 2 ppm weekly for three weeks.

Hi Jay, yes I had no fish in my tank only things that were in there were corals, snails, and hermit crabs for 35 days. and I gave my clown a 12-hour bath 95mg/gallon I did it twice a week gap. and they were not showing any symptoms in my QT tank but once I put them back, 2 weeks later my female had black spots again scratching on the glass and flashing which were the same symptoms before (fluke symptom) I put her in QT, and fenbendazole bath.

Jay Hemdal · May 23, 2024

thefez510 said:
Hi Jay, yes I had no fish in my tank only things that were in there were corals, snails, and hermit crabs for 35 days. and I gave my clown a 12-hour bath 95mg/gallon I did it twice a week gap. and they were not showing any symptoms in my QT tank but once I put them back, 2 weeks later my female had black spots again scratching on the glass and flashing which were the same symptoms before (fluke symptom) I put her in QT, and fenbendazole bath.

Yes - Noga lists that 12 hour, 95 mg/gallon dip in his book, but he doesn't reference where he got that. I've had serious toxicity issues with Fenbendazole in water, so I've never tried that high dose, 12 hour bath myself.

thefez510 · May 23, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
Yes - Noga lists that 12 hour, 95 mg/gallon dip in his book, but he doesn't reference where he got that. I've had serious toxicity issues with Fenbendazole in water, so I've never tried that high dose, 12 hour bath myself.

should i lower it the dosage and should i do it 3 weeks instead of 2 and should i also do a fallow period of 80 days instead of 35? the only fish i have are my 2 clownfish.