Prazipro not working

[sdcosta]

I have a striped dog faced puffer in a 70 gallon quarantine. I am currently on round two of prazipro, nothing else has been dosed. Obviously has flukes and something else going on but the prazipro doesn't seem to be helping much.

I heard that it was not good to fresh water dip puffers but he could really use it.

He is eating very well and is very active so that gives me hope

 

[vetteguy53081]

Prazi wont do much. Try Ruby Rally Pro which is reef safe and works well
Freshwater dips also help to rid of flukes

 

[sdcosta]

Prazi wont do much. Try Ruby Rally Pro which is reef safe and works well
Freshwater dips also help to rid of flukes

Even though he is a puffer a fresh water dip will be okay?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Even though he is a puffer a fresh water dip will be okay?

Yes- Same temperature as tank temperature and 3-4 mins max. If it get irritable, you can return to display tank but FW will knock down flukes if you have them

 

[lagatbezan]

Can also get the salinity down to hypo within 24 hours and leave it there for 5 days.

 

[sdcosta]

did a water change and about to fresh water dip him, going to pick up the rally today as well. Can anything else be used in combination with rally? ie something to help prevent infections

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

FW dip is fine as long as the fish isn't too sick. Is it still feeding? If so, a five minute FW dip will be safe. Be sure to look at the dip water afterwards to try and identify if/what critters fall off your puffer...just because this looks like "worms" doesn't always mean that it is. Prazi works on trematodes, but less so on nematodes and leeches.

Since it is in a QT, no need to try Ruby Reef - that is only useful in cases where you have no alternative but to dose your DT.

Jay

 

[sdcosta]

FW dip is fine as long as the fish isn't too sick. Is it still feeding? If so, a five minute FW dip will be safe. Be sure to look at the dip water afterwards to try and identify if/what critters fall off your puffer...just because this looks like "worms" doesn't always mean that it is. Prazi works on trematodes, but less so on nematodes and leeches.

Since it is in a QT, no need to try Ruby Reef - that is only useful in cases where you have no alternative but to dose your DT.

Jay

Yes he is still eating very well. After the freshwater dip only some flukes came off, now that he is back in the tank it looks as if worms/something feathery is coming out near the gill area, this wasnt there before the dip. Ill try to get a good picture. How soon could I do another freshwater dip on him, without it being too stressful, because Im thinking whatever it is will detach if done a second time.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

As long as the only issue with the fish is multicellular worms, then redipping doesn't have to happen to quickly, due to their longer life cycle. Weekly would be about right. However, if the issue has a bacterial or protozoan component, then dips won't help that, and you'll need to consider an adjunct treatment. IMO, I would not FW dip more often than once every 72 hours. At least the puffer should be easy to capture for dips.....

Jay

 

[sdcosta]

So this is 4 hours after dosing rally and feeding food soaked in general cure. These parasites are literally popping out through his skin? I don't know the ID on this at all. He is breathing normally but wedged himself behind the heater, obviously uncomfortable.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

O.K., those are NOT worms, they are copepods. The things that look like worms are twin egg cases from the female copepod. These are crustaceans, so that explains why the prazi didn’t work. The FW dips may not kill them. Organophosphates work, but are dangerous to humans. Formalin dips work, but that is hard to get. Another issue- this is a very heavy infestation. If you kill all the copepods at once, they can decompose under the fish’s skin and cause toxic shock.
I would try another FW dip tomorrow...best scenario would be to dislodge a portion of them at a time to avoid toxic shock.
Jay

 

[sdcosta]

O.K., those are NOT worms, they are copepods. The things that look like worms are twin egg cases from the female copepod. These are crustaceans, so that explains why the prazi didn’t work. The FW dips may not kill them. Organophosphates work, but are dangerous to humans. Formalin dips work, but that is hard to get. Another issue- this is a very heavy infestation. If you kill all the copepods at once, they can decompose under the fish’s skin and cause toxic shock.
I would try another FW dip tomorrow...best scenario would be to dislodge a portion of them at a time to avoid toxic shock.
Jay

Thank you for getting back to me. What about dispersed formaldehyde? At a 37% dilution it would be like formalin dosage. I also have bayer on hand but not sure about that one.
I will think it over tonight and do another fresh water dip tomorrow. Maybe I will work on the guy with some tweezers tonight. Feeding erythromycin should help as well, if I can get him to eat again.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for getting back to me. What about dispersed formaldehyde? At a 37% dilution it would be like formalin dosage. I also have bayer on hand but not sure about that one.
I will think it over tonight and do another fresh water dip tomorrow. Maybe I will work on the guy with some tweezers tonight. Feeding erythromycin should help as well, if I can get him to eat again.

Sorry, I don’t know what Bayer is, an insecticide? The formalin dip is 150 ppm formalin in an aerated bucket for 45 minutes. Physical removal is pretty stressful.
Jay

 

[sdcosta]

Sorry, I don’t know what Bayer is, an insecticide? The formalin dip is 150 ppm formalin in an aerated bucket for 45 minutes. Physical removal is pretty stressful.
Jay

Bayer is an insecticide, I use it as a coral dip sometimes but will not be trying that route. Avoiding tweezers but with gloved hands in a container outside the tank I was able to gently massage and dislodge some, interesting buggers they are now zooming around the container. He is still very active so it gives me hope. I ordered the formalin and it will be here in two days, hope he makes it.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Bayer is an insecticide, I use it as a coral dip sometimes but will not be trying that route. Avoiding tweezers but with gloved hands in a container outside the tank I was able to gently massage and dislodge some, interesting buggers they are now zooming around the container. He is still very active so it gives me hope. I ordered the formalin and it will be here in two days, hope he makes it.

If you were easily able to remove some, I would continue to do that, since that will lower the number still on the fish when you use formalin. To dose formalin, it is PPM times gallons divided by 266 to give milliliter of formalin.
Jay

 

[sdcosta]

Morning update, he ate food soaked in general cure and erythromycin. After eating he did expel a huge amount of waste, not sure if related in anyway or he was just backed up. No noticeable difference in parasites compared to yesterday.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Morning update, he ate food soaked in general cure and erythromycin. After eating he did expel a huge amount of waste, not sure if related in anyway or he was just backed up. No noticeable difference in parasites compared to yesterday.

Good that it is still feeding! General Cure and erythromycin won't directly control copepods though. Not to say it doesn't have some comorbidity, and the erythro can help with the toxic shock I mentioned. I've used dimilin to control copepods, it is very safe for fish, but its action is to interrupt the molting cycle, so it won't control the adult female copepods that have already reached their final molt. Alsol, to add about the formalin dip, the dose for that is time/concentration dependant. I hedged towards a lighter dose. If 150 ppm for 45 minutes doesn't knock them off, you can try 166 ppm for one hour, but there is more risk to that.

Jay