Medicating a Four-lined wrasse - API General Cure or Copper first?

[Starblenny]

So I have a Four-lined wrasse in my 5gal QT for about a week and he's a picky eater (only eats live foods, does not like Nutramar Ova or LRS nano-frenzy. I'm planning on trying PE Mysis later). My main goal is to treat for ick and flukes (I read that flukes are just as common as ick).

In the QT, I've noticed that the wrasse tends to scratches his gills against the PVC pipes I have in the tank, which is making me consider one of the two (or 3) following options:

1A) Do a fresh water dip (matched temp + ph with air pump) for gill flukes and then put him back in the QT tank and dose General Cure afterwards? The praziquantel treatment seems much shorter and it looks like I can get him to feed after the GC dosage.

1B) Skip the fresh water dip and go straight for the GC instead.

or

2) Add Copper Power into the QT tank (starting at 0.5ppm and raising the Cu levels each day by 0.25ppm up to 1.5ppm, double checking with a Hanna copper test kit).

My original plan is to do a therapeutic copper treatment first in the QT but I was worried that since the wrasse only prefers live food (Trigger Pods), the copper treatment will kill off the pods that I add into the QT tank and thus, starving the wrasse.

Should I try to get him to eat frozen foods first before adding Copper Power for ick or should I do a fluke treatment instead?

 

[TheEngineer]

I'm sure the experts will be along soon to answer definitively.

If it were me, I'd treat the more "obvious" issue first. If the fish hasn't shown signs of ick or velvet at this point I'd treat for the suspected flukes first. You can do a freshwater dip to confirm whether or not flukes are present and if you don't see any you could opt to either treat for them anyway or skip it and start towards copper. You've got the right idea for slowly raising the copper level. I raised mine over the course of 10 days for my yellow corris wrasse and it didn't seem to be affected at all.

If you do go with a prazi treatment, make sure you use the dosing calculator: http://marineparasites.com/paratreatmentcal.html so you time it properly.

 

[Brew12]

If it were me, I'd treat the more "obvious" issue first. If the fish hasn't shown signs of ick or velvet at this point I'd treat for the suspected flukes first. You can do a freshwater dip to confirm whether or not flukes are present and if you don't see any you could opt to either treat for them anyway or skip it and start towards copper.

+1 on this. I would confirm flukes via freshwater dip. If it is flukes, I would use GC instead of Prazi since GC causes fewer issues with appetite and this is a picky eater.

If it doesn't have flukes, I would start treating with copper ASAP because it likely has either ich or velvet causing the gill irritation.

 

[TheEngineer]

GC for flukes? Huh. Learned something new today

 

[HotRocks]

GC for flukes? Huh. Learned something new today

GC contains Praziquantel + Metronidazole.
The Praziquantel concentration is slightly lower than prazipro. It usually still does the trick. I also prefer to use it on wrasse and fish known to be sensitive. I will say though I have never had any issue with Prazipro, the key is upping oxygenation when med is in use.

 

[TheEngineer]

GC contains Praziquantel + Metronidazole.
The Praziquantel concentration is slightly lower than prazipro. It usually still does the trick. I also prefer to use it on wrasse and fish known to be sensitive. I will say though I have never had any issue with Prazipro, the key is upping oxygenation when med is in use.

Is there comparative data on the efficacy of one versus the other? The fact that prazi has to be dosed according to a specific schedule for maximum effectiveness was surprising to me when I first learned it. Is that timing somehow no longer an issue with GC? Is it dosed more regularly?

 

[HotRocks]

Is there comparative data on the efficacy of one versus the other? The fact that prazi has to be dosed according to a specific schedule for maximum effectiveness was surprising to me when I first learned it. Is that timing somehow no longer an issue with GC? Is it dosed more regularly?

I am not sure about comparative data. We still use GC following the 2 doses 5-7 days apart opposed to the instructions on the package by API.

 

[Brew12]

Is there comparative data on the efficacy of one versus the other? The fact that prazi has to be dosed according to a specific schedule for maximum effectiveness was surprising to me when I first learned it. Is that timing somehow no longer an issue with GC? Is it dosed more regularly?

To treat for flukes you still need to do 2 treatments that are around 1 week apart.

 

[Big G]

Is there comparative data on the efficacy of one versus the other? The fact that prazi has to be dosed according to a specific schedule for maximum effectiveness was surprising to me when I first learned it. Is that timing somehow no longer an issue with GC? Is it dosed more regularly?

The problem with Prazipro is the oxybispropanol used to keep the praziquantel in solution. The oxybis reacts with the water absorbing/using some of the available O2. Thus the need to boost O2 with both an airstone & powerhead aimed up to the surface. So when using GC, it's in a powdered form without the oxybis to potentially cause problems. However, the GC is a bit more difficult to use as the praziquantel is difficult to express completely into the water as it resists dissolving. Some premix with some tank water and then dispense; some like to use a brine shrimp net, dipped into the tank where it is massaged to express the praziquantel. GC is dosed only twice 5-7 days apart with a 25% water change before the second dose.

 

[Starblenny]

Update: I did a freshwater dip and I did not see flukes on the wrasse. I will do a copper treatment instead of GC first.

Since I did not see any flukes in the freshwater dip, should I do a GC treatment regardless? The wrasse's poop is orange/brown so no internal parasites (so far).