Update:
Parameters
Nitrates - 1
Phosphates - 0.10
Ammonia - 0
PH - 8
4 weeks have passed and I have done a treatment each week. The fish are still sick. Is a freshwater dip the only way to confirm what's wrong with the fish? Doing one seems very stressful and is the last thing I want to do but it seems like this is what it has come down to. What's the whole process of the freshwater dip? If anything falls off the fish how do I identify it? What happens if nothing falls off the fish?
Thanks, Seth
@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081
Did you ever see any improvement after dosing prazi? I'm still wondering what this actually is, since the flukes haven't been diagnosed directly. If you dose with prazi and the fish get better for a week or so and then get worse, that helps indicate that it is flukes. Another idea would be to give one fish (the grouper?) a FW dip and see if that helps with the symptoms, at least temporarily. Again, that would help diagnose gill parasites. You may not see anything fall off the fish unless you use a microscope. There are a lot of tricks to doing a FW dip safely, I'll post them at the end of this message.
Praziquantel has an issue where it becomes less effective each time you use it. A species of bacteria grows in the tank that eats prazi as a food source. Each time you dose, the bacteria grows more and gets better at eating it. After three treatments, it is consuming the prazi almost as fast as you are adding it. There is no good work-around for this, but some people dose it at 4 ppm at that point.
Going back to the original symptoms - is it just rapid breathing and flashing? A video would help me see how fast the breathing actually is.
Fenbendazole has a nasty toxicity issue when used in the water, but only against some fish species...trouble is, there is not a comprehensive list of what fish.
FW dips:
“Freshwater dips” are commonly used to dislodge parasites from the skin of marine fishes. To perform these dips, the fish is captured and placed in a dimly lit container of clean freshwater the same temperature as the aquarium system it came from. Do not use reverse osmosis or deionized water, as there is no buffer capacity and the pH can drop too low. Dechlorinated tap water is suitable unless it is very acidic. The dip container should be covered with a clear material so that the fish is kept from jumping out, yet can still be observed for overt signs of stress. Hold the fish in the freshwater for five minutes to seven minutes. If acute stress is seen, the dip may need to be terminated early. The idea is to dislodge the parasites, without unduly harming the fish. Many aquarists opt to use reverse osmosis water, and adjust the pH to match the aquarium, but this is simply not necessary if the pH of the freshwater is between 7.5 and 8.5. Some advocate to not aerate the water during the dip, but this is incorrect. The water motion from air bubbles can help keep the fish active so that they can be better assessed for stress. Additionally, the air bubbles help dislodge some parasites during the dip process.
Some caveats:
1) Some fish will give extreme reactions to being dipped (hepatus tangs for example), as long as they were swimming well before the dip, it is best to ignore that behavior and continue for a full five minutes.
2) Moribund fish can be dipped, but understand that the acute stress from the dip may prove fatal. The dip water should still be checked for parasites in order to possibly help any remaining fish. Moribund would include any fish that was easy to capture or a fish with a respiration rate of 200+ BPM.
3) Choose the type of net wisely, some fish have spines that will become caught in the netting. Have a pair of scissors handy to cut the net if this happens.
4) Dropping a fish while moving it to and from the dip is common, take care. Some fish have venomous spines, so know that before trying to handle any fish.
5) Fish shaking their heads violently after capture is one cause of mechanical exophthalmos (popeye), so try to gently restrain them in the net while moving them.
Jay
