Treatment for Gill flukes

[valery]

Hello all,

I believe my fry have gill flukes, but if someone thinks its something else, please do let me know. The fry spend most of their time at the bottom, staring into space, only some of them eat (and not as aggressively as they used to), no activity, right before they die, they come up to the surface of the water gasping for air, laying almost sideways. There have also been cases of them coming up for air and just falling dead to the bottom like a feather. Based on some things I've read its flukes? Please do comment if you think otherwise.

Assuming it is flukes, what is the best treatment and for how long should this treatment go on? Should feedings resume at 6/day or be cut down? The currect foods include varieties of flakes and bits.

Fraser has posted a thread about them last week, as he was taking care of the fish while I was gone. (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=79870) The treatment was clout and acriflavine? The treatment was short, only about 2 days, becuase the fry started to act much better, and figured fresh water would finish the treatment.

I can treat the same thing, but for how long? I also have methalyne blue.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

[Eddie]

Meth Blue will do zilch for flukes, same with acriflavine.

If you had improvement using clout, then you might try Anti-Fluke Life Bearer. It is trichlorfon, which is the key chemical in clout that affects flukes.

Best flukes treatment, hands down and fry can handle it.

http://www.4fishstuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=61&products_id=6641

HTH

Eddie

[valery]

Meth Blue will do zilch for flukes, same with acriflavine.

If you had improvement using clout, then you might try Anti-Fluke Life Bearer. It is trichlorfon, which is the key chemical in clout that affects flukes.

Best flukes treatment, hands down and fry can handle it.

http://www.4fishstuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=61&products_id=6641

HTH

Eddie

Thanks for the reply Eddie. Is this medication only available for shipping? Is there anywhere I can look for it locally? And I'm assuming you do agree with me that this is flukes?

[Eddie]

Thanks for the reply Eddie. Is this medication only available for shipping? Is there anywhere I can look for it locally? And I'm assuming you do agree with me that this is flukes?

It's hard to say really but if clout helped, then it is most likely flukes as they have a life cycle, which basically causes the fish to develop the same symptoms several days later. Keep in mind, you must keep things really clean and perform multiple water changes daily to ensure it is not bacteria.

Eddie

[Fraise]

Big Al's newmarket location shoudl have plenty of Fluke Tabs if it is flukes that are the problem.

[valery]

So I have now noticed many inactive fry passing stringy white/clear poop. What could this be? And what kind of medication should I get?

Thanks in advance

[Eddie]

So I have now noticed many inactive fry passing stringy white/clear poop. What could this be? And what kind of medication should I get?

Thanks in advance


You mentioned the fry were not eating right? Hmmmm....not sure.

[grantbudd74]

all I can say is that I have lost around 60 fry over the past 10 days to flukes :-)

We have fluke tabs here is Ozzie and they worked well after the initial treatment and the fry were looking so much better but within 48hrs they were dropping off again! I now have around 10 all different sizes and this who;e experience has been rather sad for me seeing dead fish every day. I do not hold out much hope for the others which is a shame as there are a few that look like real baby discus now with many bars and high fins.

I have run the treatment for longer than stated on the packet as every time I go to straight water they start to die again. Mum and dad handled the treatment (prazi 100%) very well and are eating well again after nothing for a week or more.

This would lead me to ask maybe in a new thread: What do you do to prevent flukes? In fact I'll start it now.

Good luck and jump onto treatments NOW! Stringy poo is worms I would think and given Prazi is good for both if you can get it go for that but as you say its better to know whats going on before you dose meds. My fry did exactly as your did! Last go at breathing and died! Lots of air, fresh water and meds

Good luck :-( :-)

[mmorris]

all I can say is that I have lost around 60 fry over the past 10 days to flukes :-)

We have fluke tabs here is Ozzie and they worked well after the initial treatment and the fry were looking so much better but within 48hrs they were dropping off again!
Good luck and jump onto treatments NOW! Stringy poo is worms I would think Lots of air, fresh water and meds

Good luck :-( :-)

Grant, it doesn't sound like you have flukes. IMO it is important NOT to jump onto treatments when you are not sure what the problem is. I recommend you both invest in a microscope, cull one of the fry and see if it has flukes. Even if it does, that may not be the reason why they are dying.
Val, white, clear feces may be because the fry are not eating, and what you are seeing is stomach lining. What is your wc regime? Are you wiping everything down daily? What are you using for aeration/filtration? I rinse my sponge out daily as well.

[valery]

Thank you for the replies everyone. The remaining fry are in great health for some time now. What I did was I treated with CLOUT for about 3 days (recommended on packaging is one treatment - didnt work). The waterchanges were 90% daily.

Right after the 3day treatment all the fry showed great strength and activity after a waterchange. The fry are now all in perfect condition, very active, just how they should be. :)

I also was not able to change the water one day, and the next morning the fry were even more active!!! They were showing signs of such great health that it made me wonder, maybe I was changing too much??? Seems contradictive of everything I've thought and read on here. I am now trying 50% waterchanges daily and the fry are doing great! They are eating like never before, and swimming constantly.

Thoughts?

*The water that I use is out of the tap, treated with PRIME.

Also, do you think these fry still have the chance of growing out to large, healthy discus with good shape?? They were sick for a while, the weakest died. They were treated with clout twice, once for 1 day, and the second time for 3 days (the time that worked). Will this play a negative role in their growth or future health?

Thank you in advance

[mmorris]

How long were they off their food, Val?

[Eddie]

Hey there Val, thats great news! If they were down for more than a week or 2, it may impact their overall growth but if they are back on track and doing well, guess they may catch up.



Take care!

Eddie

[valery]

Thank you for the replies Martha and Eddie,

Martha, the ones that survived were always eating, just not very well, nor very much. They were sick for about 2 weeks - not active, with 2 - 3 fry lost daily, and minimum food being eaten. But the ones that were able to survive were eating at one point or another.

[mmorris]

Some people would cull the lot and start again, just in case the fry were compromised. At seven weeks or so they should be two inches or close to it. If they are not, you might want to think about culling. How old are the survivors and how big are they? Do you age your water? It's strange that the fry should be more active when you do not do a wc. You might want to test the ph from the tap, test it aerated and aged in a barrel or bucket overnight, and then again in the tank. Fry should love a wc!

[valery]

Some people would cull the lot and start again, just in case the fry were compromised. At seven weeks or so they should be two inches or close to it. If they are not, you might want to think about culling. How old are the survivors and how big are they? Do you age your water? It's strange that the fry should be more active when you do not do a wc. You might want to test the ph from the tap, test it aerated and aged in a barrel or bucket overnight, and then again in the tank. Fry should love a wc!

Martha, at seven weeks the fry are about 1 inch. I don't think they are too far off. I'm noticing some fast growth now that the fry are eating and moving. Besides, all this work just can't be for nothing, they've put me through hell already as my first batch lol. I gotta see where it goes, and continue the experience. Hopefully their growth continues with the current speed and no more interruptions along the way.

The fry do love the waterchanges, I think I've figured out what it might be. Every time I feed BH flake, the next morning some of the fry are sick, staring into space in the corner. Not sure if they can't handle its nutritional value. Whenever I stop BH flake, they all do well. (Not to mention they first got sick right after BH flake was introduced). Odd, but whatever works for them. :o

No, unfortunately I am not able to age my water. It's straight from the tap treated with PRIME.

Thanks again Martha :)

[Fraise]

You might want to test the ph from the tap, test it aerated and aged in a barrel or bucket overnight, and then again in the tank. Fry should love a wc!

from the tap the water is approx 7.6 and after 24hrs in the tank its still approx 7.6