Need help please first fish is sick

[Krw]

All input welcome woke up this morning and found my only fish looking like this. Did fresh water dip found white dots in the water afterwards.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The most obvious conclusion would be flukes. Could you make out any detail of the items you saw in the dip water?

Sometimes, if a fish isn't caught cleanly, detritus and other "junk" gets into the dip and then gets misidentified afterwards as being parasites.

Jay

 

[Krw]

Because the fish was swimming backwards and very lethargic I was able to net with no extra sand or bottom stuff. The dark bowl after the diP had little white dots in it. About 1/3 of a rice grain size.

 

[BrandonS]

any pictures of the stuff in the bowl?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That does sound like flukes, roughly how many were there? <10, 10-20 > 20?

Jay

 

[Krw]

There were small I would say <10 that I could see. Fish has bounced back to normal behavior?? What do I do now?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The FW dip will buy you some time, but not cure the issue. Some flukes are livebearers, but others lay eggs in the tank that can then reinfect your fish after every dip. One option would be to dose with Prazipro (be sure to have good aeration if you do that). Prazipro is mostly reef safe, it will kill feather dusters and sometimes there are bad reactions, but it is usually well tolerated. Another option would be to wait a week and try another FW dip. If the symptoms don't return, and nothing new drops off, you might not have to treat (unlikely though).

Jay

 

[Krw]

Thank you Jay. I have a hospital tank ready. I also have a QT tank but it already has a fish I bought about 6 days ago. The QT is at 2.0 with CP in it. Should I move this fish to hospital tank if I can? I also have PraziPro on hand should I treat in main tank or hospital tank.