Body Flukes on Gramma, is tank infested?

[YegReefRookie]

I recently lost a royal gramma to flukes. We got her about two weeks ago and as soon as she entered the tank our yellow fin damsel was on her. Persistently chasing her and nipping her. so bad that we had to remove her and decided we needed to find a new home for the damsel. She had a bit of her tail missing and what seemed at the time to be some body scratches (white patch) from his attacks. Once the damsel was gone we put her in the DT and was doing great for about a week, tail was back to normal and no white patches. Then we noticed that her tail started to look frayed, thought that maybe our carpenters wrasse was nipping, albeit we never had an issue with him before. Her health started to deteriorate pretty quick as she wasn't staying in her normal spot in the rocks, started laying on the sand in the corner of the tank. Her tail fin and side fins started looking pretty ragged. She also had a few white patches or lines that looked like scratches from the rocks.

This morning I found her on the sand struggling to breath... pretty much done for. I did some research on here about fish diseases and figured it was worth doing a FW dip to see if she had Flukes. Sure enough after about 2-3 min in the fresh water the flukes started showing up, turning to white sesame size, on her purple flesh and falling off. She was actually covered in them which weren't detectable before. Unfortunately with her state she didn't make much more that an hour after taking her out of a 4 min FW dip and putting her in her own tank.

My question.... is the tank contaminated now and will the rest of the fish end up getting it? I pulled both clowns and the PJ Cardinal out and did a 4 min FW dip on them. None of them had any signs of Flukes. Unfortunately we can't get Prazipro or similar medication here in Canada to treat the tank. Any idea on whether I need to worry about the rest of the fish? Anyone else go though this situation? And if so what should one do rid it of the tank?

Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I recently lost a royal gramma to flukes. We got her about two weeks ago and as soon as she entered the tank our yellow fin damsel was on her. Persistently chasing her and nipping her. so bad that we had to remove her and decided we needed to find a new home for the damsel. She had a bit of her tail missing and what seemed at the time to be some body scratches (white patch) from his attacks. Once the damsel was gone we put her in the DT and was doing great for about a week, tail was back to normal and no white patches. Then we noticed that her tail started to look frayed, thought that maybe our carpenters wrasse was nipping, albeit we never had an issue with him before. Her health started to deteriorate pretty quick as she wasn't staying in her normal spot in the rocks, started laying on the sand in the corner of the tank. Her tail fin and side fins started looking pretty ragged. She also had a few white patches or lines that looked like scratches from the rocks.

This morning I found her on the sand struggling to breath... pretty much done for. I did some research on here about fish diseases and figured it was worth doing a FW dip to see if she had Flukes. Sure enough after about 2-3 min in the fresh water the flukes started showing up, turning to white sesame size, on her purple flesh and falling off. She was actually covered in them which weren't detectable before. Unfortunately with her state she didn't make much more that an hour after taking her out of a 4 min FW dip and putting her in her own tank.

My question.... is the tank contaminated now and will the rest of the fish end up getting it? I pulled both clowns and the PJ Cardinal out and did a 4 min FW dip on them. None of them had any signs of Flukes. Unfortunately we can't get Prazipro or similar medication here in Canada to treat the tank. Any idea on whether I need to worry about the rest of the fish? Anyone else go though this situation? And if so what should one do rid it of the tank?

Thanks

Hi, that sounds like Neobenedenia flukes. Even a single egg can start an infection. The eggs are resistant to medication and they have sticky tendrils so they stick to things and get moved around. Not all species of fish are susceptible to these flukes, but many are.
If you have a fish only tank, no invertebrates, you can treat with low salinity (12 ppt or 1.014) for 35 days. If you have inverts, then Prazipro dosed 3x, 10 days apart might work.
Jay

 

[YegReefRookie]

Hi, that sounds like Neobenedenia flukes. Even a single egg can start an infection. The eggs are resistant to medication and they have sticky tendrils so they stick to things and get moved around. Not all species of fish are susceptible to these flukes, but many are.
If you have a fish only tank, no invertebrates, you can treat with low salinity (12 ppt or 1.014) for 35 days. If you have inverts, then Prazipro dosed 3x, 10 days apart might work.
Jay

Thanks Jay, ya unfortunately we can't get Prazipro in Canada anymore. You need to take your fish to a vet to get a prescription for any medication. UGH.

And the tank has coral and inverts so I wont be able to do a low salinity method either.

 

[Saltyanimals]

That stinks for Canadians especially for these lower risk meds. Can you order them online maybe ebay from private sellers? You may pay a premium, but it's one of those meds that are good to keep on hand. Local Canadian reefer group that may have meds?