Should I contact a veterinarian???

[Fowler freak]

Adult male scribbled angelfish has not eaten in QT in 5 days with elevated breathing.
RECAP
* had for 5 weeks in a 20 gallon went thru copper power for 14days at 2.0(Hanna)
* ate EVERYTHING and soaked hikaris “Seaweed extreme”/PE mysis in vitachem/selcon/probiotics.
*daily water changes with ammonia badge bright yellow ALWAYS.
* after two weeks of copper transferred to new sterile tank and a full dose of Prazipro was administered.
* 48 hours after praizipro fish stopped eating and was breathing rapidly.
* immediately did a water change and inserted poly filters in HO filter
Adding a power head pointed at surface plus air stone.
* waited two days while doing water changes daily to see if fish recovered but no change.
* started NFG once Prazipro was out and today is day three of that treatment with no change in behavior.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

 

[FishDoc]

Hmm this is a tough one due to the fact that it seems like you approached every step with the potential issues in mind. When I hear labored breathing I almost always direct to test for ammonia directly using a reliable test kit. I personally would not trust the ammo badge to any degree of accuracy as they simply aren't reliable to the level needed when treating fish in quarantine. I will say however that based on your water change schedule I would not suspect ammonia is the issue unless they aren't large enough to keep up with the limited bio filtration in the system (all assumptions because the video wouldn't load). So I'd start there. The other potential suspect is that the fish itself is having a stress reaction to prazi. It can be quite oxygen depleting however you said you had ample surface agitation and an air stone, so I'm doubtful it's oxygen. It may be having a delayed reaction to the copper treatment. What level did you introduce the fish to initially? How fast/slow did you increase to 2.0 ppm? Fish can be very sensitive to abrupt increases so it's defiantly a must to treat slowly and incrementally. Unfortunately, some fish do not respond well to this type of preventative treatments and often simply transferring to quarantine for observation without treatment so they can acclimate first is necessary.

 

[Big G]

Due to the heavy breathing, you may have come across some prazi resistant flukes. And the prazi only irritated them.
Alternate treatments are advised.
Fenbendazole is another option for treatment of prazi resistant flukes.

General and more treatment info:

Flukes – General Guidelines

Many thanks to "Newsmyrna80" for writing this. Reposted with her permission. Some facts: Flukes are not true flukes. They are actually parasitic flatworms belonging to the class of Monogeans. There are 13 families of flukes. However, only three families infect saltwater fish. 1...

www.reef2reef.com

Fenbendazole

Fenbendazole

Fenbendazole (dewormer) - (updated 5-6-2023) What It Treats: Flukes (Monogeneans) and intestinal worms. Fenbendazole is particularly useful to treat flukes & intestinal worms which seem resistant to praziquantel. How To Treat: Fenbendazole is a drug often prescribed by veterinarians to treat...

humble.fish

 

[Fowler freak]

Ok you guys I can’t thank you enough for this beauty needs help ASAP or he’s a goner.
Im starting to think after reading big Gs reply that I might have some crazy flukes that I never knew existed. I never saw anything (flukes) symptom wise while he was in QT before and during copper power. Think I would’ve saw something like darting/scratching/nodding his head but none of that took place at all for the 4 weeks he was in QT. I raised the copper slowly to 2.0 over the course of 1 week and once the 14 days at therapeutic level was achieved I didn’t ramp down just transferred to new seeded tank. I do have formalin on hand but have never used it before and am a little reluctant. From what I read A FW dip won’t dislodge Gill flukes and if that’s what he has (symptoms align with his behavior) I will have to use that instead of relying on a FW dip to get rid of them. Also after 2 days of Prazipro wouldn’t

 

[Fowler freak]

Cont’d.....
If he does have a Prazi resistant strain of flukes Would the Prazi just kind of awaken them and then they reek havoc?

 

[Big G]

Formalin is pretty nasty stuff. A known carcinogen. It "can" shorten the life of a fish due to liver, kidney damage that varies considerably from fish to fish. I have some. I use it for extreme need only. And with precautions: gloves, goggles, etc.

Freshwater dips can help inform your treatment. The problem is that there are 3 common types of flukes: skin flukes that come off easily during FW dip; gill flukes that some will come off but most are protected by the mucous within the gills; eye flukes that unless they are on the surface of the eye are usually unaffected by FW dips.

 

[Fowler freak]

Thank you. I’m not going to use formalin it’s not an extreme case,YET. I’m preparing a FW dip now and ordered ThomasLabs fish bendazole which will be here tomorrow. I’ve never administered this med ever so not sure how quiet yet but will read a bunch on it before it arrives. Should I start to take out the NFG that’s in the tank now with a poly filter until I do a WC tomorrow? I did one today already and don’t want to add more stress especially after a FWD. Any advice as far as the new med goes I’m all ears. Again, thank you so much I think you nailed the diagnosis and have never come across this before.

 

[ca1ore]

Or maybe multiple weeks of being pounded with meds is just too much for it take. I’m increasingly of the view that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of meds (many of which are essentially poison). I doubt you’d find a vet that knows much about fish. I’d pull out all meds and see if it recovers.

 

[Fowler freak]

Or maybe multiple weeks of being pounded with meds is just too much for it take. I’m increasingly of the view that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of meds (many of which are essentially poison). I doubt you’d find a vet that knows much about fish. I’d pull out all meds and see if it recovers.

Fish passed this AM and am devastated. He really didn’t get pounded with meds......2 weeks with nothing 1 week of ramping up copper and 2 weeks at therapeutic. After that it was a sterile tank with Prazipro for 2 days with 3 days of NFG. He was so healthy and couldn’t feed him enough. Pretty sure Big G nailed it when we said it might be a Prazipro resistant fluke.....makes sense anyway. The perfect parameters, perfect heath, and gasping even when Prazipro was taken out and long gone. The fish Bendazole meds ordered yesterday came in today a day too late. Going to give the deseased fish a bath in that med and look to see if that really is the case. Call me crazy but I feel like I need to know the cause.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Sorry you lost it.

Just do a fwd if you want to find out if it was flukes.

 

[Fowler freak]

Thank you me too ;(
I did a fwd and found some. As far as I know gill flukes don’t come off as easily as skin flukes and pretty sure that’s what he had due to the fact his breathing was labored and a little rapid.

 

[Thomashtom]

Sorry!!!