Chloroquine for Flukes?

[Mark]

Some of the wild Discus guys mention using Chloroquine Phosphate for treating flukes. I get that FW and Saltwater parasites differ, and flukes is a broad range of organisms. But I was still curious if anyone has experimented with treating gill flukes with CP? I've always relied on Chloroquine, but finish the quarantine period with Prazi for good measure. Chloroquine has been solid and easy to use, but I'm always a bit on edge with Prazi and oxygen levels.

 

[Hot2na]

fenbednazole

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Some of the wild Discus guys mention using Chloroquine Phosphate for treating flukes. I get that FW and Saltwater parasites differ, and flukes is a broad range of organisms. But I was still curious if anyone has experimented with treating gill flukes with CP? I've always relied on Chloroquine, but finish the quarantine period with Prazi for good measure. Chloroquine has been solid and easy to use, but I'm always a bit on edge with Prazi and oxygen levels.

I've never used CP for flukes - it may work though as it controls protozoans and I know it kills corals, sponges, algae and anemones, so it may kill flukes as well.

However, it is almost impossible to get CP in the US right now. If you are worried about oxygen reduction using praziquantel, just don't use a solvent with it. Ethanol and the glycol solvent in Prazipro are the primary issues with growing the bacteria that then scavenges the tank's oxygen. If you add the pure prazi powder to a fine mesh brine shrimp net and run water through it, you can make a suspension that effectively doses the material.

Jay

 

[Mark]

I've never used CP for flukes - it may work though as it controls protozoans and I know it kills corals, sponges, algae and anemones, so it may kill flukes as well.

However, it is almost impossible to get CP in the US right now. If you are worried about oxygen reduction using praziquantel, just don't use a solvent with it. Ethanol and the glycol solvent in Prazipro are the primary issues with growing the bacteria that then scavenges the tank's oxygen. If you add the pure prazi powder to a fine mesh brine shrimp net and run water through it, you can make a suspension that effectively doses the material.

Jay

Thanks Jay! I will hunt down so prazi powder.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay! I will hunt down so prazi powder.

In a pinch, you can use General Cure, which is prazi and metronidazole.

Jay

 

[Jposch]

Chloroquine does NOT work for flukes. At least not the ones I dealt with. Fish were in 1.010 (did not go any higher than 1.011) and Chloroquine at 80mg/gal. (Actually. The level was much higher for a while due to a math error) for 6 weeks. 3 rounds of General Cure a week apart did nothing. I had to use Fenbendazole. IME, don't rely on hypo or Chloroquine to kill flukes.
NFP has it listed on thier site for flukes, which I don't think is true. Freshwatwe flukes may be susceptible, I don't know.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Chloroquine does NOT work for flukes. At least not the ones I dealt with. Fish were in 1.010 (did not go any higher than 1.011) and Chloroquine at 80mg/gal. (Actually. The level was much higher for a while due to a math error) for 6 weeks. 3 rounds of General Cure a week apart did nothing. I had to use Fenbendazole. IME, don't rely on hypo or Chloroquine to kill flukes.
NFP has it listed on thier site for flukes, which I don't think is true. Freshwatwe flukes may be susceptible, I don't know.

You need to be really careful with fenbendazole - it has a bad history of causing unexpected mortality in fishes. Flashlight fish, and many bottom dwelling freshwater fish for sure, but I suspect that list will grow. I won't use it anymore except as an oral med. The problem seems to be something related to the gills, and doesn't seem to be dose related, I saw issues at 2 to 5 mg/l.

Hyposalinity consistently works for Neobenedenia melleni, but there are some other capsalids that come from brackish water that hypo doesn't touch - I can't tell them apart visually.

I was just commenting that chloroquine kills such a wide range of aquatic life - algae, protozoans, coelenterates and sponges, that I wouldn't be surprised if it killed flukes as well. In Drum and Croaker, Barret Christie reports that some aquariums tried it and it did not work on flukes.

Jay

 

[Jposch]

I agree. Even fish that aren't sensitive, really take it hard! I just finished a treatment, and followed up with an NFG bath in hopes the methylene blue will help detox that nasty stuff. I had serious concerns of bacterial degradation, so I decided prazi probably would be broken down too quickly to be of any help and it just wasn't feasible to transfer the fish to another QT. I rank Fenbendazole 3rd least favorite after FW dips and Formalin.