FLUKES??

[engineguy129]

Hello everyone,
I have a questions concerning Flukes, a couple of my fish I have noticed will have one gill closed and heavely breathing out of the other, this is not constant......I leave em alone for a few minutes and they are fine with both gills pumping at the same amount. I change about 75% of my water daily, water parameters are good nitrite 0, nitrate about 3, ammonia is 0. I have formalin...what is the possiblity of doing a dip prior to in a concentration of 2 drops per gallon prior to moving them into another tank? Does salt help to knock off some of the adults?? I also have fluke tabs but heard those are very rough and can only be used at half dose. Thank you for any help

Rob

[Ardan]

Hi,
It could be flukes. If you have never treated them for flukes, praziquantel is pretty safe and effective if used for 21 day treatment.
order it from billman@citynet.net (he may be on vacation for a bit)

here is a link about flukes and prazi http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=1075

hth

[fcdiscus]

Why is that 21 day treatment so popular. I have had best luck with Prazi by using it at the 1/4 tsp per 20, leaving it in for 72 hours- no WC. You can siphon some, but no relacement water. then on 4th day, a 50% change. Repeat the procedure on day 8. JMO! Frank

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Frank:
With your treatment are you adding Prazzi on day 4 too?

[fcdiscus]

No Carol- Just days 1 and 8,and 15 if I still feel it necessary. I will also switch to a formalin treatment on day 15 occasionally just to kill any remaining flukes that might still hatch. For me, this seems to be the best way of contoling the flukes- even better than a flubendazole treatment. I do, however prefer Formalin- HYde!- for babies under 5 weeks old as it is the quickest way to irradicate flukes and helps with bacterial infections as well. Frank

[brewmaster15]

Hi Frank,
The 21 day prazi is based on what was reccommended for flubendazole. I did a side by side study using both. Truthfully no one really knows if 21 days is the right time course. Both meds have worked for me in that time course.

21 days with 50% wc daily and redosing everyother day is often used as the best time frame to kill all adults, and catch any eggs as well. The probelm with Flukes is that there can be as many as 3 adult generations in each worm, all able to lay eggs.

Don't know if that answers the question, but I guess the 21 days is so reccommended because it just seems to work best... in a non-scientific untested fashion. Shorter may also work, as well as different conc.s

a side note here. Flubendazole is reported to have an affect after 10 days ( Ardan please correct me here if wrong!)

where as Prazi does not affect eggs and must be present continually to kill adults.

take care,
al

[fcdiscus]

Thing is Al, the Prazi remains in the water and will kill the flukes as they hatch if you do not change too much water! I think it better both financially and for the treatment to leave it a bit. I also agree with what you said about the flubendazole- it takes about 10 days to start working. That is why I find it pretty useless for fry in an emergency situation. Frank

[brewmaster15]

Hi frank,
If the prazi stayed in the water I'd agree with you 110% on all accounts here..But i am not sure it does. Many Meds degrade with moisture and time. I have looked everywhere for stability info when in solution, but I haven't found any. :-\ The problem is it was designed to be ingested by people, not applied to fish tanks! and I don't think its been studied well.

we really don't even know if the dose is right for flukes. I have used it on fry at a 3rd of that dose (1/4 tspoon/20 gal) and had great result. If I was to guess I'd say for flukes you may need a fraction of what we use as they are external, and therefore in contact with the meds in the water. Also since gill flukes feed on blood from the gills, and those gills are probably absorbing meds. Someday maybe well have a better idea here. :)
take care,
al

[fcdiscus]

;)OK! Frank