Please help me help my Royal Gramma

[dave88]

Hi all,

I’m new here, just made the account. My LFS doesn’t open until 2:00 and I can’t wait that long. My Royal Gramma has strange spots on him and slaps his head on the sand as though trying to get something off of him. I added the picture and also my water test results below (not sure if it helps). Could anyone help me ID this and possibly suggest a remedy? I have PraziPro and ParaGuard. He’s in his QT tank (just bought him 5 days ago) so I don’t mind using copper based meds if necessary. I will not hesitate to buy what I need or do what I need to do, so please, any help would by appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Dave



pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 (somewhere in between)
SG: 1.023

 

[kswan]

I'm not an expert but a fresh water dip is probably a good start. Should provide some relief if it's a parasite. Check for flukes during the dip.

 

[BeejReef]

#reefsquad

 

[dave88]

Thanks kswan! For the freshwater dip, I just add an air stone, right? Should I add any PraziPro to the freshwater dip or only in the QT? Would adding stress coat to the dip help him with the procedure? I know it’s very uncomfortable for them and I’d like to help that if I can. Is there a specific amount of time he should be in there for? I don’t want to overdo it.

Thanks again,
Dave

 

[Crabs McJones]

I'm not an expert but a fresh water dip is probably a good start. Should provide some relief if it's a parasite. Check for flukes during the dip.

Agree, check for flukes and move to a quarantine tank.

 

[bluprntguy]

It's a little hard to see what's going on with the fish. It doesn't look like the bumps are raised from the photo, so probably not ich. If it's possible to get some better photos, that might help.

If you have paraguard on hand, a one hour bath in that per the instruction on the bottle outside the QT tank would be a good start. My experience is that kills flukes as well, which these appear to be.

 

[dave88]

Thanks bluprntguy,

I did my best with the picture. As a Royal Gramma, you know he spends most of his time hiding. So if I don’t see flukes in the freshwater dip, I should do a paraguard bath or should I skip the dip and do the bath? I’m not sure what a bath entails, but I can look that up.

Thanks again,
Dave

 

[kswan]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

Here is a link worth reading. Within you can find a link for a FW dip procedure.

 

[vetteguy53081]

When it poops , is it white/puss looking? If so, internal parasites, if not. . . continue prazi pro.