milbemycin oxime for gill flukes

[ss88]

Has milbemycin oxime been used to treat gill flukes in saltwater fish? If so at what concentration is it effective?

Reason for inquiry, I have suspected gill flukes in a qt system containing sps for around 9 months now. Livestock was acquired from tank breakdown and nothing new has been added. Does not appear to be detrimental to fish health, but the occasional yawning is noticed.

Looking to move the livestock out into the new 1000 gallon display in the next 60 days and was trying to kill two birds with one stone, eradication of red bugs and possible gill flukes using interceptor plus. Yes interceptor plus has praziquantel, but the concentration of praziquantel is about 0.15ppm with standard dosage of 25mg/10gal. Far short of the required 2ppm.

Could always use praziquantel powder to treat the system, but I have seen stories of people having negative effects on R2R with prazipro. Is this from the Oxybispropanol used to dissolve the praziquantel?

If I did decide to go the standard treatment approach and use praziquantel I assume it would be advisable to first treat for the gill flukes using praziquantel. I could see the small concentration of praziquantel in interceptor plus being a foothold for the prozi eating bacteria‘s. Yet praziquantel is not required for eradication of red bugs.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have only seen oxime used for black bugs over the last couple of decades as praziquantel has been the safest and easiest to administer with glycol being an agent for easy dilution for flukes
Product is prazi pro

 

[Weeb]

milbemycin oxime

It's a prescription drug, I believe.

treat gill flukes in saltwater fish

I believe it was used to kill off coral pests. It will kill off any pods you may have in the tank.

If so at what concentration is it effective?

23mg/50 gallons, followed in a few hours with another 23mg/50 gallons. This is the concentration for coral pests.

I would recommend Praziquantel assuming your display tank doesn't contain feather dusters or other worms.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Has milbemycin oxime been used to treat gill flukes in saltwater fish? If so at what concentration is it effective?

Reason for inquiry, I have suspected gill flukes in a qt system containing sps for around 9 months now. Livestock was acquired from tank breakdown and nothing new has been added. Does not appear to be detrimental to fish health, but the occasional yawning is noticed.

Looking to move the livestock out into the new 1000 gallon display in the next 60 days and was trying to kill two birds with one stone, eradication of red bugs and possible gill flukes using interceptor plus. Yes interceptor plus has praziquantel, but the concentration of praziquantel is about 0.15ppm with standard dosage of 25mg/10gal. Far short of the required 2ppm.

Could always use praziquantel powder to treat the system, but I have seen stories of people having negative effects on R2R with prazipro. Is this from the Oxybispropanol used to dissolve the praziquantel?

If I did decide to go the standard treatment approach and use praziquantel I assume it would be advisable to first treat for the gill flukes using praziquantel. I could see the small concentration of praziquantel in interceptor plus being a foothold for the prozi eating bacteria‘s. Yet praziquantel is not required for eradication of red bugs.

I've not tried milbemycin against gill flukes. As the others said, it is mostly used for red bugs. It is also used against nematodes in pets. Trematodes and Nematodes are different enough that a drug that works on one may not work on the other.

The glycol solvent in Prazipro is a carbon source and bacterial growth scavenges oxygen when it is dosed. This causes the issues some people see with it. You need to use strong aeration after dosing it (skimmers help, but putting an air stone in the tank is better).

For a large aquarium, I would just go with praziquantel bulk powder. I dose it at 2.2 ppm, and wearing gloves, I put some of the powder in a fine mesh, baby brine shrimp net and massage it into the water - pouring a small amount of water into the net and letting it carry the fine suspension out into the tank. It takes some time to do this, and i also add some to the sump. I would dose once, then 8 days later, dose again. Some gill flukes are egg layers and you need to kill any flukes that emerge from the eggs in the tank after the first treatment.

Jay

 

[ss88]

I've not tried milbemycin against gill flukes. As the others said, it is mostly used for red bugs. It is also used against nematodes in pets. Trematodes and Nematodes are different enough that a drug that works on one may not work on the other.

The glycol solvent in Prazipro is a carbon source and bacterial growth scavenges oxygen when it is dosed. This causes the issues some people see with it. You need to use strong aeration after dosing it (skimmers help, but putting an air stone in the tank is better).

For a large aquarium, I would just go with praziquantel bulk powder. I dose it at 2.2 ppm, and wearing gloves, I put some of the powder in a fine mesh, baby brine shrimp net and massage it into the water - pouring a small amount of water into the net and letting it carry the fine suspension out into the tank. It takes some time to do this, and i also add some to the sump. I would dose once, then 8 days later, dose again. Some gill flukes are egg layers and you need to kill any flukes that emerge from the eggs in the tank after the first treatment.

Jay

Thank you for the information. I kinda suspected what you confirmed the dissolving agent is what’s causing issues in prazipro. I have never used it, always used praziquantel and dissolved it in a bucket using a fine mesh and mixing for sometime.

That said, I suspect it’s advisable to dose the praziquantel for the flukes before the interceptor plus, the prozi bacteria will still develop and consume the small amount of praziquantel in the interceptor plus. Its about 0.15ppm.