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Thread: Unsure what's wrong. Possible Gill Flukes?

  1. #1
    Registered Member Scales's Avatar
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    Default Unsure what's wrong. Possible Gill Flukes?

    Please complete this questionnaire if your fish are sick (copy and paste). The more details you can provide, the better we are able to diagnose and help you treat your sick fish.

    DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


    Problem

    1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

    THIS STARTED ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO AFTER MOVING FROM A 55 GALLON TO A 125 GALLON.


    2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

    STARTED WITH ONE FISH WITH A FLARED GILL. SLOWLY OVER TIME A COUPLE OTHER FISH SHOWED GILL PLATES FLARING SLIGHTLY. THEY EVENTUALLY BECAME SKITTISH AND DARTING. AFTER WATER CHANGES THEY WOULD GROUP TIGHTLY FOR A WHILE THEN SLOWLY SPREAD OUT OVER TIME. ALL ARE EATING NORMALLY. VERY RARELY ANY FLASHING. OCCASIONAL "HEAD SHAKE".


    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

    FIRST I PUT CURTAINS UP IN THE ROOM, THINKING SHADOWS MAY BE SPOOKING THEM. NEXT I RAN TAP WATER THROUGH SEDIMENT AND DUAL CARBON BLOCK FILTERS TO TRY TO ELIMINATE ANY POSSIBLE TOXINS IN THE WATER. I DID A BODY SLIME SCRAPE, SMALL GILL BIOPSY AND SMALL GILL SCRAPE TO SEE IF ANY PARASITES WERE INFECTING THE GILLS OR BODY. NOTHING WAS FOUND, ALTHOUGH THIS WAS MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH A MICROSCOPE AND ATTEMPTS TO IDENTIFY. I JUST FINISHED 14 DAY PARAGUARD TREATMENT. THE SHOWED MUCH IMPROVEMENT DURING TREATMENT. ONCE STOPPED THEY STARTED GROUPING BACK UP TOWARDS THE BOTTOM SHOWING STRESS BARS FREQUENTLY. TRYING TO DECIDE WHETHER TO DOSE WITH PRAZIQUANTEL WHILE ASSUMING I MAY HAVE MISSED SOMETHING, LIKE FLUKES DURING THE MICROSCOPE SEARCH?



    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

    125 GALLON. 12 ADULT DISCUS

    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

    50% EVERY OTHER DAY NORMALLY. 50% DAILY FOR THE LAST 3 TO 4 WEEKS.

    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

    BARE BOTTOM. RUNNING 6 MONTHS. CARRIED SPONGE FILTERS OVER FROM 55 GALLON GROWOUT TANK.


    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

    YES, AGED WATER. 24 HOURS, 6.6 FROM TAP TO 7.4 AFTER AGEING. HEATED TO 84 DEGREES.

    8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?

    DOUBLE DOSE SEACHEM SAFE EVEN THOUGH WATERS FILTERED THROUGH CARBON BLOCKS


    9. Parameters and water source;

    Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.

    NOTICED A SHOWING OF AMMONIA SINCE TREATING WITH PARAGUARD. NORMALLY A 0 READING.


    - temp _84____

    - ph _7.4____

    - ammonia reading __0.25__

    - nitrite reading __0__

    - nitrate reading __5-10__

    What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

    - well water ____

    - municipal water __X__

    - RO water ____


    10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

    NO, BUT IS POSSIBLE OF CROSS CONTAMINATION FROM ANOTHER TANK WITH SOME CORY CATS. BUT THEY SHOW NO SYMPTOMS OF ANY ILLNESSES. SEPARATED MAINTENANCE TOOLS ARE USED TO TRY TO AVOID CROSS CONTAMINATION.


    11. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.

    PRIMARILY MIXED PELLETS (HIKARI BIO GOLD, SERA IMMUNPRO, OMEGA ONE DISCUS, TROPICAL WILD DISCUS GRANULES, TETRA COLOR BITS) ALSO LESS OFTEN HOMEMADE BEEFHEART MIX AND FREEZE DRIED BLACKWORMS.



    12. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

  2. #2
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: Unsure what's wrong. Possible Gill Flukes?

    Sounds like a long term case of gill flukes, with the flaring gills and head shack. The head shake usually comes with rapid mouth movement that appears like they're trying to spit something out and sometimes in a light backward motion. Is this their behavior? If so, you'll need at least 4-5 treatments over a period of about a month or so. So about once a week/5-6 days times 4 or 5 treatments. It will take over a month to rid them completely.

  3. #3
    Registered Member seanyuki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Unsure what's wrong. Possible Gill Flukes?

    From Wayne Ng’s book
    Praziquantel is used in bath 75 mg per gallon.......750 mg per 10 gallons.


    For gill flukes, at least 2 treatments are needed , spaced 4 or 5 days apart. Gill flukes reproduce by laying eggs, and like most parasites, their eggs are immune medications. This means that the first treatment will only kill the adult and juvenile flukes, but not the eggs. The second treatment is needed, usually after 4 or 5 days, to kill next generation of flukes once they hatch.
    Grasshopper
    Francis

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    Default Re: Unsure what's wrong. Possible Gill Flukes?

    Can you share photos of your samples via microscope?

  5. #5
    Registered Member Scales's Avatar
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    Default Re: Unsure what's wrong. Possible Gill Flukes?

    Thanks for the replies back! Some do the quick mouth movements with a slight reverse movement. I highly suspected it was flukes until I didn't see any under the microscope. I feel I've eliminated most likely possibilities so far. I'll start praziquantel treatment after their water change this afternoon. Thanks for the help and reassurance!

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