Sick fish

[jdm_aquatics!]

Hello so I have lost about 10 fish from my 220 so I set up a qt and pulled all the fish I was wondering how long can flukes survive without fish

 

[fishguy242]

#fishmedic

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello so I have lost about 10 fish from my 220 so I set up a qt and pulled all the fish I was wondering how long can flukes survive without fish

Typically its 6 days without a host but as much as 45 days but there are cases they have made it 5 months at lower temperatures. The problem is often when tank is treated with Prazi, one assumes it has killed them when in reality it creates spasms forcing the fluke to dislodge from the fish which still spasms with the presence of Praziquantel. After about 12 hours of spasms, the fluke generally dies. This is why after the initial treatment of an 8 day period, you want to siphon the bottom (to remove the dead worms and apply one more dose for an 8 day duration to assure any eggs that may have hatched also are sent into spasms

 

[Bucs20fan]

Three treatments of prazi pro each 8 days apart is general medicinal route. Either that or running hypo salinity for 45 days at 1.009.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Three treatments of prazi pro each 8 days apart is general medicinal route. Either that or running hypo salinity for 45 days at 1.009.

its not 3 treatments but may be required for stubborn worms and does not work for all versions but mainly neobendenia and last recourse I would do is Hypo as it does not address gill flukes.

 

[Bucs20fan]

its not 3 treatments but may be required for stubborn works and does not work for all versions but mainly neobendenia and last recourse I would do is Hypo as it does not address gill flukes.

I stand corrected then, Jay advised me three treatments 7-8 days apart is standard when hypo is not applicable.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I stand corrected then, Jay advised me three treatments 7-8 days apart is standard when hypo is not applicable.

Jay and I on same team and share similar advice. There are cases where an additional will be needed but quite rare

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Different species of flukes have different fallow periods. For live bearing flukes, with no hosts the larval flukes die out in about 72 hours. Egg laying flukes are different. For Neobenedenia, the eggs supposedly need to hatch and find a host fish in 12 days. I don’t trust that time period though. I go 30 days just to be safe. I do t know how long the eggs of gill flukes can live, but it is unlikely to be longer than that.
Jay