Favorite Fluke Treatment

[Vanman]

My fish seem to have flukes every few months. I treat with FMG and all is well for a few months. Any suggestions for a once and done treatment?

[jeep]

There is no "one and done" treatment that I know of. Fluke eggs are resilient and are the cause of repeat infections. That's why flukes are called the Gift that Keeps On Giving... Formalin is a good choice, as is prazi. Formalin will damage your cycle, so keep that in mind. Eggs are sticky and can adhere to every surface of the tank, which is why every surface should be scrubbed and the tank vacuumed during your water changes between treatments. It's impossible to eliminate all the eggs in one shot, so hopefully several treatments will interrupt the life cycle before the newly hatched flukes have a chance to new eggs...

[Vanman]

I have found a dosage of 1 gram per 100 gallons every 5 days for three treatments. Does this sound about right?

[jeep]

I think that's a good approach.

[For100]

gary, did it work? I have a recurrent issue with fluke even though I did a 21 days treatment with praziquantel. They come back like clock work, 7 days later you see flared gills, one open one close, and flashing.

I am open to try formalin at this point.

[Vanman]

We treated all of our tanks with FMG and then three doses of Prazi. Worked very well. All of them seem to be fluke free and all act like different fish.

[jeep]

That's good news Gary. Please keep us updated for the long term. I've read about some "super flukes" that

There actually used to be a one and done treatment called Fluke Tabs but it's been discontinued. It was actually an insecticide and flukes were becoming resistant. Most of the meds out there today do contain prazi, although flubendazole has also been recommended. I tend to shy away from flubendazole because of reported side effects.

I'm actually going to start a treatment today. One of mine has some inflammation in one gill and I'd like to get a jump on it.

[For100]

Glad to hear your fish are doing better.

Brian, I treated my fish for 21 days with Prazi, dosing every 4 days after a large water change. It did not work as I was expecting, we are about a month after I finish the treatment, some fish have a flared gill and flashing from time to time, super flukes?, I hope not.

Anyways, I made my mind to use formalin. Not a big fan, but given my failure with Prazi It is my only other possible option.

Any suggestions for me to deal with the gift that keeps on giving?

[Vanman]

I used Rid Ich Plus once a day every three days for three or four treatments. Rid Ich Plus is formalin and malachite green. After that did not work as well as I hoped I used Prazi.

[brewmaster15]

The only problem with using mechanical killers like Formalin and malachite green is they do not kill eggs. They are good at knocking back numbers but Unless you guys are actually taking a gill scraping and microscope you are probably not fluke free, just low numbers.

I'm not sure its actually possible to totally eradicate flukes , what ever treatments used have toxic side effects and drawbacks. I think thats just a reality. That are some older methods using pesticides and DMSO I believe Dieter Untergasser mentions them, but I worked with DMSO in the lab and I really don't like that stuff. Its too good a solvent. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) can be bought at Amazon and supposedly it will get the meds into fluke eggs.

They only way I think to be 100% free is raise your breeders artificially using ammonia cycled sponges and never mix fish that were not.


My go otherwise is salt dips, prazi, and formalin ...repeat as needed.

al