PraziPro Questions

marxman · Aug 14, 2020

Hi All,

I have a Blue Tang that seems to have developed small black spots on his body over the last few days. Seems to be normally active and eating; after some research on here I think I have landed on Black Ich (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/black-ich-turbellarians.259912/)
Haven't been able to get a good picture of him yet, will try and post here if possible.

I read good things about Prazipro so decided to try dosing the Display Tank as it seems to be pretty reef safe, and I don't have any of the livestock / corals mentioned that might be adversely affected.

I just had a few questions if anyone has used PraziPro before.

1) How long before you can tell if it is working on the affected fish?

2) I have shut off the skimmer and carbon / GFO reactor. How long should i keep these off for? I saw a website that said PraziPro is active in water column for 72 hours, perhaps they are turned back on after this?

3) I read; Dose tank, wait a week, 20% water change, dose tank again. Is this what people have followed?

Thanks anyone for the help.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 14, 2020

How many spots on the fish would you guess? I often don't treat for this if it isn't a severe infestation, in many cases, it is a self-limiting disease. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming disease book on this issue:

Turbellarian Infection (a.k.a. black spot disease, black ich, tang disease)

Turbellarians are a group of worms related to trematodes. They often go undiagnosed as a cause of active infections in fishes except for one group: Paravortex sp.

Cause and symptoms
Since this disease is often seen in newly acquired fish, the suspicion is that the fish bring the disease with them and become infected due to the transport stress they endure.

This parasite causes very distinctive black spots on some species of fish, most notably tangs and surgeonfish. Other fish that may become infected with Paravortex include butterflyfishes, angelfishes, gobies, and jawfishes.

The worm encysts under the fish’s skin, and the fish deposits black melanin pigment as a reaction to the infection. Since these spots are so apparent to even the casual observer, this disease is easily diagnosed, even by beginning aquarists.

Often self-limiting

The problem is that this sometimes causes the aquarist to overreact and begin a treatment that actually might be more harmful than the disease itself. It turns out that many cases of Paravortex infections are self-limiting; unless tank conditions are very poor, the worms often die out and the infection goes away on its own.

Only if the spots increase greatly in number (more than 20 spots on a fish) or the fish begin showing other signs of ill health should a treatment be undertaken.

Cleanliness counts

Some aquarists have reported that careful siphon-cleaning of the aquarium substrate and improving overall cleanliness in the aquarium helps to reduce this infection. It is possible that Paravortex has a non-parasitic, free-living form at one stage of its life cycle and that careful cleaning will remove the parasite at that point.

Some turbellarians are tougher to diagnosis

There are other turbellarians that do not cause melanistic skin changes in fish and are much more difficult to diagnose. Ichthyophaga is one type known to infect fishes and can cause significant fish loss in crowded conditions. Diagnosis of this parasite generally requires a skin scrape.

It’s also noteworthy that treatment with freshwater dips may contort the worm’s body shape so much that positive identification is difficult. In some cases, no real symptoms are seen until fish loss occurs. Under the microscope, look for an oval-shaped worm with a pair of dark eyespots.

Treatment options
Because turbellarians cause a fairly deep-seated infection, they are difficult to remove using freshwater dips or other topical treatments. Other treatment options that have been utilized with varying degrees of effectiveness include:

Praziquantel at 2 mg/l is a safe, commonly used treatment for this malady, but for some reason, it is not always effective.

A 45-minute formalin dip at 166 ppm can be effective, but then the fish must be moved to a non-infected aquarium.

Chloroquine at 15 ppm has been shown to be an effective treatment, but some fish may experience toxic reactions at this dose.

Organophosphate pesticides, such as Trichlorfon (Dylox), have been the treatment of choice for many years but cannot be recommended due to their potential toxicity to humans.

Copper treatments are ineffective, at least at the concentrations well tolerated by fish.

Jay Hemdal

marxman · Aug 14, 2020

Hi Jay,

Thank you so much for the response.
I managed to get 2 iphone quality shots of the fish and you can see he black spots on him.

The spots do look a little raised.

The fish has been in my tank for maybe 2-3 weeks. Fine so far, been eating and not harassing or being harassed by any other fish. I feed frozen brine shrimp (which I am pretty sure he has been eating) and seaweed on a clip (which i know my yellow tang has been eating, I'm not sure if this guy has been eating it though). He swims around and doesn't hide, so I'm guessing he isn't stressed.

I decided to treat with PraziPro because everything seemed to indicate it would be safe for what I have in my tank.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 14, 2020

Double post deleted.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 14, 2020

Yeah, that’s a pretty bad case, I’d treat with prazi. As a side note, try adding frozen mysis to their diet to augment the brine.

Jay

marxman · Aug 14, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
Yeah, that’s a pretty bad case, I’d treat with prazi. As a side note, try additional no frozen mysis to their diet to augment the brine.

Jay

he is still in display tank, Is there any use in moving to QT? I figured i would give him some time in display tank seeing as I just treated it.

thanks again

Jay Hemdal · Aug 14, 2020

marxman said:
he is still in display tank, Is there any use in moving to QT? I figured i would give him some time in display tank seeing as I just treated it.

thanks again

If you can dose your DT safely, I’d treat it there.

Jay

marxman · Aug 14, 2020

Jay Hemdal said:
If you can dose your DT safely, I’d treat it there.

Jay

Thanks Jay, i will continue to do that and hope he gets better.

marxman · Aug 16, 2020

As a quick update he actually looks like he is doing better today, seems like less black spots on one side for sure.

I dosed Thursday night.
Since then, Skimmer and Carbon Reactor are off.
Will try to get a picture for comparison.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 16, 2020

marxman said:
As a quick update he actually looks like he is doing better today, seems like less black spots on one side for sure.

I dosed Thursday night.
Since then, Skimmer and Carbon Reactor are off.
Will try to get a picture for comparison.

Be aware that with encysted parasites, a scar may remain at their location, even after you've killed the worm, and the scar may take a week or two to heal.

marxman · Sep 21, 2020

Wanted to update this thread with some results.

After dosing with Prazipro, leaving the skimmer off for a week (it goes bananas with this med in the water), and performing a water change at the end of the cycle all fish survived and the Blue Hippo Tang has made a complete recovery.

Thank you everyone for the help and for the identification, very grateful!