Diagnosing Gill flukes in aquarium

dach

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Hi,

i recently lost my helfrichi. I had him for 6 months totally fine, but i did notice once in a while he would flash against the sand. I left for a few days so my tank was unfed. Before i left i noticed he was breathing a little fast. The day i got back my helfrichi was fine. The next day at 5pm which is my normal feedining time, i noticed he was on the bottom just sitting there, would have a random burst and just eventually tuckered out and passed. I’m now noticing my tailspot blenny flashing against rocks and also swimming erratically and scaring my other fish by darting at them. Is this possibly Gill flukes? I have a reef tank so I’m not sure how to go about treating and keeping the corals alive as well. I have prazipro if necessary.
 

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Hi,

i recently lost my helfrichi. I had him for 6 months totally fine, but i did notice once in a while he would flash against the sand. I left for a few days so my tank was unfed. Before i left i noticed he was breathing a little fast. The day i got back my helfrichi was fine. The next day at 5pm which is my normal feedining time, i noticed he was on the bottom just sitting there, would have a random burst and just eventually tuckered out and passed. I’m now noticing my tailspot blenny flashing against rocks and also swimming erratically and scaring my other fish by darting at them. Is this possibly Gill flukes? I have a reef tank so I’m not sure how to go about treating and keeping the corals alive as well. I have prazipro if necessary.
Those symptoms do sound like gill flukes. The timing, flashing and breathing all point to that.
With care, Prazipro can be used with corals. You need to dose to exact water volume of the tank, minus rock displacement and add sump volume. You need to run your skimmer with no cup and add an air stone or two to the tank. Then, dose twice, 8 or 9 days apart. It’s a good idea to do a 25% water change before the second dose.
Jay
 
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dach

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i have 15 gallons of water in my 20 gallon, no skimmer but i have filter floss and chemipure elite. I’ll throw and airstone in and dose prazipro for 15 gallons of water. I just did a 33% water change today since my kh was a little low (no dosing on this tank)
 
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dach

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Yes, avoid chemical filtrants when dosing prazi.
Jay
I have dozed 3.75ml prazi into my tank, added an airstone, and removed chemipure last night. My blenny is still erratic and flashing. Now biting at his tail. My clowns are now showing signs of flashing. Is there anything else i can do besides follow thru with the prazi? Is there a chance this is something else?
 

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Jay Hemdal

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I have dozed 3.75ml prazi into my tank, added an airstone, and removed chemipure last night. My blenny is still erratic and flashing. Now biting at his tail. My clowns are now showing signs of flashing. Is there anything else i can do besides follow thru with the prazi? Is there a chance this is something else?
It is really common for flashing to increase after the first dose of prazi - it flukes move around and drop off, causing added stress to the fish.

Sure, it could be something else, but in your post, and in the video, I don't see any evidence of what that might be, so holding the course with the prazi treatment is best.

For a brief second, I saw what looks like damage to the blenny's tail - is it doing that to itself?

Jay
 
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dach

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It is really common for flashing to increase after the first dose of prazi - it flukes move around and drop off, causing added stress to the fish.

Sure, it could be something else, but in your post, and in the video, I don't see any evidence of what that might be, so holding the course with the prazi treatment is best.

For a brief second, I saw what looks like damage to the blenny's tail - is it doing that to itself?

Jay
I’m not sure, my helfrichi did have some tail damage when he died, is that something that could be related? Stocking wise i have hermit crabs, a pistol shrimp , yasha goby, nas snails, bumblebee snails, cleaner shrimp, Mexican turbo snail, pair of clowns, tailspot blenny.
 

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I’m not sure, my helfrichi did have some tail damage when he died, is that something that could be related? Stocking wise i have hermit crabs, a pistol shrimp , yasha goby, nas snails, bumblebee snails, cleaner shrimp, Mexican turbo snail, pair of clowns, tailspot blenny.
It is really tough to figure out the culprit with tail damage in fish - a bite is over in a split second and may only happen once a day or so - you'll likely never see it haoppen, just the results. I fguess I'd consider the clowns as being a possibility....

Jay
 
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dach

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It is really tough to figure out the culprit with tail damage in fish - a bite is over in a split second and may only happen once a day or so - you'll likely never see it haoppen, just the results. I fguess I'd consider the clowns as being a possibility....

Jay
So i think this may be ich. Or at least the stress of the treatment or something is bringing out the ich. My orange storm male clown now has white spots on him and i saw him resting sitting on some rock work. Is this cause to stop prazi treatment and remove and try to treat sick fish?
 

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So i think this may be ich. Or at least the stress of the treatment or something is bringing out the ich. My orange storm male clown now has white spots on him and i saw him resting sitting on some rock work. Is this cause to stop prazi treatment and remove and try to treat sick fish?
In your video, I didn't see any ich on the blenny and the clowns were moving to fast and out of focus to see. Your best bet for seeing ich will be on the orange or black stripes of the clowns.

If you can confirm that it is ich, then treat for that. Ich kills fish faster than flukes do, and the fish have at least gotten some time against flukes since they've been in prazi, and that would have killed the adult flukes (but not the eggs).

How are you going to treat for ich though? There isn't any effective reef tank treamtnt, you'll need a quarantine tank or do TTM (but then, you can't just put the fish back into your display).

Jay
 
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dach

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In your video, I didn't see any ich on the blenny and the clowns were moving to fast and out of focus to see. Your best bet for seeing ich will be on the orange or black stripes of the clowns.

If you can confirm that it is ich, then treat for that. Ich kills fish faster than flukes do, and the fish have at least gotten some time against flukes since they've been in prazi, and that would have killed the adult flukes (but not the eggs).

How are you going to treat for ich though? There isn't any effective reef tank treamtnt, you'll need a quarantine tank or do TTM (but then, you can't just put the fish back into your display).

Jay
honestly i think it might be both, but the clown was stressed and is showing symptoms of ich which must have already been present in my tank. I was thinking of raising the temp to help boost the immune system of the fish. By chance do you know what the flukes look like when they fall off? I saw some little yellow things in my rockwork on D2 of treatment that looked like tiny grains of sand.
 

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honestly i think it might be both, but the clown was stressed and is showing symptoms of ich which must have already been present in my tank. I was thinking of raising the temp to help boost the immune system of the fish. By chance do you know what the flukes look like when they fall off? I saw some little yellow things in my rockwork on D2 of treatment that looked like tiny grains of sand.

Oh - don't raise the water temperature! That is one of those things that has gotten entrenched in the hobby, but it is wrong. Freshwater ich, caused by a different organism, is controlled by higher temperatures. Marine ich has a "sweet spot" for reproduction at around 85 degrees F. People extrapolated the FW idea to their marine tanks, but it just makes things worse. You are best off just holding the temperature at 78 degrees, plus or minus one degrees.

I've never seen flukes in a tank. When you give fish a FW dip, you can see the flukes of one species on the bottom of the container afterwards (Neobenedenia) but the other flukes are all too small to see without a microscope.

Jay
 
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dach

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Oh - don't raise the water temperature! That is one of those things that has gotten entrenched in the hobby, but it is wrong. Freshwater ich, caused by a different organism, is controlled by higher temperatures. Marine ich has a "sweet spot" for reproduction at around 85 degrees F. People extrapolated the FW idea to their marine tanks, but it just makes things worse. You are best off just holding the temperature at 78 degrees, plus or minus one degrees.

I've never seen flukes in a tank. When you give fish a FW dip, you can see the flukes of one species on the bottom of the container afterwards (Neobenedenia) but the other flukes are all too small to see without a microscope.

Jay
Thanks i didn’t know that! Interesting, so not sure what i saw then. Thanks for your help. If this truly is ich i guess i just have to hope for the best here? Maybe I’ll just finish out the prazi treatment just in case and just hope that they fight off the ich if it’s there. Not sure what else I can do. Any advice? I could set up a QT tank, but i doubt I’ll be able to catch all of my fish without significant stress, then they would have to live in a crappy Qt setup since i live in a small apt. Keeping my tank at 78 for now.
 
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dach

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Thanks i didn’t know that! Interesting, so not sure what i saw then. Thanks for your help. If this truly is ich i guess i just have to hope for the best here? Maybe I’ll just finish out the prazi treatment just in case and just hope that they fight off the ich if it’s there. Not sure what else I can do. Any advice? I could set up a QT tank, but i doubt I’ll be able to catch all of my fish without significant stress, then they would have to live in a crappy Qt setup since i live in a small apt. Keeping my tank at 78 for now.
Ugh lost my orange storm clown just now. Only my blenny, black storm, and yasha goby left for fish. Inverts seem to be okay, same with corals.
 

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Ugh lost my orange storm clown just now. Only my blenny, black storm, and yasha goby left for fish. Inverts seem to be okay, same with corals.
I'd say based on the fish loss, you need to start some treatment, else the losses will likely continue. If you can confirm ich, or even if that's your best guess, I would start immediate treatment for that...copper or hypo in a QT or TTM and then move to a clean tank.

jay
 
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dach

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I'd say based on the fish loss, you need to start some treatment, else the losses will likely continue. If you can confirm ich, or even if that's your best guess, I would start immediate treatment for that...copper or hypo in a QT or TTM and then move to a clean tank.

jay
I’m pretty sure it’s velvet at this point. I’ve heard it affects gills first before the skin. I think i saw my clownfish swimming into the powerhead. Same treatment as ich tho right? I don’t know how I’m going to catch these fish.. especially the yasha goby which is burrowed under my sand. i have 5 gallons of salt water on hand and could start a copper treatment tank with that. What do i do about cycling? I don’t have a qt set up and cycled.
 

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I’m pretty sure it’s velvet at this point. I’ve heard it affects gills first before the skin. I think i saw my clownfish swimming into the powerhead. Same treatment as ich tho right? I don’t know how I’m going to catch these fish.. especially the yasha goby which is burrowed under my sand. i have 5 gallons of salt water on hand and could start a copper treatment tank with that. What do i do about cycling? I don’t have a qt set up and cycled.
Hypo and TTM does not work well for velvet, copper would be the way to go for that. Velvet has pretty clear rapid respiration as the primary symptom, like on the order of 150+ gill beats per minutes.

Jay
 
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dach

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Hypo and TTM does not work well for velvet, copper would be the way to go for that. Velvet has pretty clear rapid respiration as the primary symptom, like on the order of 150+ gill beats per minutes.

Jay
I’m pretty certain it’s velvet at this point since symptoms have been mostly respiratory from the beginning. I have Fritz coppersafe on hand, is that a good copper product to treat?
 

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I’m pretty certain it’s velvet at this point since symptoms have been mostly respiratory from the beginning. I have Fritz coppersafe on hand, is that a good copper product to treat?
That’s what I use, but to be honest, it is slow to work (but it is very mild). You’ll want to ramp up to a full dose right away. Sometimes, people will do a FW dip on the fish to buy some time for the copper to work.
Jay
 
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