Hyposalinity for skin flukes

[Phlynamjax]

hello,

I encountered Prazi resistant skin fluke in my QT. I loss couple fishes and confirmed with fresh water dip on dead fishes. I also was able to see some fluke spots on my firefish. I have been dosing Prazipro every 3 days. Although prazi helped, it doesn’t seem like it is eliminating flukes as one of my tang is still scratching. I want to try 7 days of hyposalinity to get rid of flukes. The problem is that I always run my QT with cupramine at 0.5. I keep QT at 0.5 and drop new fish directly into it. I haven’t ran into any issue doing this. Will copper cause any problem if I perform 7 days of hypo?

Thanks

 

[fishyfishyfishy]

I would not know if it can cause any issues but I believe it can be removed with active carbon

 

[Phlynamjax]

I can remove copper if I have to. I just preferred not to because my QT is big and I do not want to reset the clock.

 

[lagatbezan]

when I looked into it a while ago I was told that its not a good idea to mix hypo and copper at the same time. Perhaps someone more experienced can confirm.
Another option would be to move the fish out of copper 14 days after its been in full therapeutic levels to a brand new sterile qt and then do hypo.
#reefsquad @Big G @4FordFamily @HotRocks @Humblefish

 

[fishyfishyfishy]

I would not do both simultaneously, also with them being in prazi then the stress of being moved on top of dealing with another stress of copper seems like too much. How long have you been using the prazi

 

[4FordFamily]

No need to do hypo and copper — bad idea I know first hand many years ago but it’s not a good idea as it will likely kill your fish.

How did you confirm flukes?

 

[Phlynamjax]

Freshwater dip. I read from this forum that 5-7 days of hypo is the best way to get rid of skin flukes. I dosed prazi every 5-7 days for total of 4 times and wasn’t effective. Now I am dosing every 3 days and I just finished my 3rd dose. It seems like fishes are doing better, but it didn’t totally eliminated flukes.

 

[Mariette]

Did you end up trying hypo w no copper? Did it work? I’ve got a fish w confirmed flukes in QT and am slowly going hypo. But I don’t know how long for? Article I found says “one week or more” but it also says adults die in 2 days and egg hatching is prevented in 5 so how does that make sense? So confused.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

hello,

I encountered Prazi resistant skin fluke in my QT. I loss couple fishes and confirmed with fresh water dip on dead fishes. I also was able to see some fluke spots on my firefish. I have been dosing Prazipro every 3 days. Although prazi helped, it doesn’t seem like it is eliminating flukes as one of my tang is still scratching. I want to try 7 days of hyposalinity to get rid of flukes. The problem is that I always run my QT with cupramine at 0.5. I keep QT at 0.5 and drop new fish directly into it. I haven’t ran into any issue doing this. Will copper cause any problem if I perform 7 days of hypo?

Thanks

You can also do a 12 hour bath in fenbendazole (use a bucket) then transfer back to QT for observation. Fenbendazole should be dosed at 95mg a gallon. If the flukes persist do. A second treatment 5-7 days later but one should get it done. I bought mine on Amazon (Thomas labs) 3 pack jar 250mg a packet.

 

[Phlynamjax]

I ended up doing hypo at 1.010 with copper. It worked like champ

 

[reefjon]

I ended up doing hypo at 1.010 with copper. It worked like champ

Did you keep copper levels at 0.5?

 

[Phlynamjax]

Did you keep copper levels at 0.5?

Yup cupramine at 0.5.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

hello,

I encountered Prazi resistant skin fluke in my QT. I loss couple fishes and confirmed with fresh water dip on dead fishes. I also was able to see some fluke spots on my firefish. I have been dosing Prazipro every 3 days. Although prazi helped, it doesn’t seem like it is eliminating flukes as one of my tang is still scratching. I want to try 7 days of hyposalinity to get rid of flukes. The problem is that I always run my QT with cupramine at 0.5. I keep QT at 0.5 and drop new fish directly into it. I haven’t ran into any issue doing this. Will copper cause any problem if I perform 7 days of hypo?

Thanks

Edit: I see I got faked out by an old post (grin). In any event, here is how I would have answered it!


I prefer not to run copper and hyposalinity at the same time, but it can be done with Coppersafe, maybe Copper Power as well. It can't be done with copper/citric acid and I'm not sure about Cupramine.

If you are seeing Neobenedenia, the issue isn't it being resistant to Praziquantel, but rather, because of the eggs they have, it is really difficult to break the life cycle and it takes multiple treatments. Then, bacteria grow in your tank that consume prazi as a food source, reducing its effectiveness after each subsequent treatment....eventually it fails to work.

For Neobenedenia, I go with 35 days at half salinity: 16 ppt or 1.012. If you want to control ich at the same time, just go to 12 ppt or 1.009. The eggs are not killed by hypo, so you need to run the hypo past the point where they can hatch out....that seems to be 30 days, but I go 35 to be sure. Remember to raise the salinity SLOWLY at the end, small steps over 4 or 5 days. Fish can handle a drop in salinity well, but raising it much be done more slowly.


Jay

 

[Miami Reef]

If you are seeing Neobenedenia, the issue isn't it being resistant to Praziquantel, but rather, because of the eggs they have, it is really difficult to break the life cycle and it takes multiple treatments.

I agree with this! I thought I have “prazi resistant flukes” but this sounds more reasonable. I’m trying out a prazi dose every 6 days for 3 treatments. I’m also dosing slightly higher to account for biodegradation.

 

[Miami Reef]

Also @Jay Hemdal What do you think about this treatment calendar that Humblefish always recommends? I filled out the information and it told me this:

I keep my salinity at 1.028 and temp is around 80F-81F. Sometimes reaching 82F.

Marine Parasites

Marine Parasites is a resource for the study of parasites in south Australian fishes.

marineparasites.com

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Also @Jay Hemdal What do you think about this treatment calendar that Humblefish always recommends? I filled out the information and it told me this:

I keep my salinity at 1.028 and temp is around 80F-81F. Sometimes reaching 82F.

Marine Parasites

Marine Parasites is a resource for the study of parasites in south Australian fishes.

marineparasites.com

That is Barret Christie's calculator. I have a lot of respect for him, his knowledge about Neobenedenia is the best there is in the aquarium field. That said, I think this calculator sometimes spaces the dosing too close together, but of course, that is just a gut feeling I have, I don't have better numbers than he has. I also worry that the maximum days for hatching is too short, so that's why I run 35 day hypo for Neo. I've never been able to control Neo with just two doses of prazi.....

Jay

 

[Miami Reef]

That is Barret Christie's calculator. I have a lot of respect for him, his knowledge about Neobenedenia is the best there is in the aquarium field. That said, I think this calculator sometimes spaces the dosing too close together, but of course, that is just a gut feeling I have, I don't have better numbers than he has. I also worry that the maximum days for hatching is too short, so that's why I run 35 day hypo for Neo. I've never been able to control Neo with just two doses of prazi.....

Jay

I agree. I also had trouble controlling flukes with just 2 doses. That’s why I’m doing 3 doses 6 days apart now. I will need to update to see if it works.