First Time Prazipro Doser

[Silviamac06]

This is my first time posting on here and I think I might have an emergency with my first time dosing Prazipro. My tank is about 7 months old. I have one Foxface, two firefish, one basslet, one small blue tang ( I plan to get a larger tank next year) two clowns, two cleaner shrimp and two hermit crabs. My tank size is 23 gallons. I started noticing what I thought were flukes on my fox face about five days ago. I had noticed something similar on my tang about a month ago but it went away in a couple of days. I went to my LFS store and was told to dose my entire tank with Prazipro. The store owner told me to remove my carbon AND bio media because it was likely infected with the disease, since this has come up from time to time since I started my tank and bought fish from a different store. He said that it would be best to throw away my media because the disease was really in there. He told me to keep the prazipro there for 5 days before doing a water change, adding new media, charcoal and a whole bottle of "One and Only" from Dr. Tim.

I followed his instruction and took out the activated charcoal, bio media and did a 50% water change before adding Prazipro around 2 p.m. yesterday. When I woke up this morning, my female clown had died. I didn't even know that she was infected because she wasn't showing symptoms. She was very dominant in the tank and seemed like she was one of the stronger fish. All of my other fish seem ok but are looking kind of sluggish. My fox face, who was the reason why I decided to look into Prazipro to begin with, is looking a little better but still a little sluggish. She's not hiding as much as when she had the flukes, but I'm not sure how long it takes to heal. I have since added a new pack of bio media to my tank, on the advice of a different fish store employee who said that I should have never taken it out to begin with. My cleaner shrimp molted, even though it had just moved last week. I am concerned and have the following questions:

Is it too soon to do a 20% water change? I am nervous that more fish will die because the medication is too strong. My water test is also registering a slight ammonia spike, my nitrite is at 0.
My PH is the lowest it's been since I started the tank, how do I get it back up?
How soon can I add the activated carbon?
How soon can I add another clown to my tank so that my other clown doesn't get depressed and die?
Will the Prazi disappear on its own or do I have to do another water change once the five days passes?
If I shouldn't have dosed the Prazi to begin with, will a water change get rid of it?
Will my fish survive.

I have included a picture of my fox face with what I thought were flukes. Thank you in advance, this is really stressful because I have never kept saltwater fish before. Everything was going really well with my tank until this, now I feel scared that I will kill more fish.

 

[lion king]

Prazi pro would not have been the med of choice from the looks of that fox. When dosing prazi pro in a display with rocks and such, it is very important to dose to water volume, not tank size, so you must account for displacement. Aeration is also very important, if you have a skimmer, leaving it running without the cup is a good way to add aeration, some people add an airstone and break the surface with powerheads. It's easy to OD prazi pro when displacement isn't considered and lacking aeration. When you say "remove media" did you mean biological media, is so that could have caused the ammonia spike, you do not remove biological media. For further assistance on what you may actually be dealing with, @Jay Hemdal

 

[Silviamac06]

Prazi pro would not have been the med of choice from the looks of that fox. When dosing prazi pro in a display with rocks and such, it is very important to dose to water volume, not tank size, so you must account for displacement. Aeration is also very important, if you have a skimmer, leaving it running without the cup is a good way to add aeration, some people add an airstone and break the surface with powerheads. It's easy to OD prazi pro when displacement isn't considered and lacking aeration. When you say "remove media" did you mean biological media, is so that could have caused the ammonia spike, you do not remove biological media. For further assistance on what you may actually be dealing with, @Jay Hemdal

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I feel terrible about what I put my fish through. Yes, I was instructed to remove the biological media because he said that it was probably infected with the disease. I have since put in a new pack of biological media. My sponges are still in the filter so I'm hopeful that there is a lot of bacteria left in there. I will likely do the 20% water change to address the ammonia spike. What would have been your med of choice for the fox? Are those not flukes? I am super new to this so any advice is appreciated. Thank you so much.

 

[lion king]

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I feel terrible about what I put my fish through. Yes, I was instructed to remove the biological media because he said that it was probably infected with the disease. I have since put in a new pack of biological media. My sponges are still in the filter so I'm hopeful that there is a lot of bacteria left in there. I will likely do the 20% water change to address the ammonia spike. What would have been your med of choice for the fox? Are those not flukes? I am super new to this so any advice is appreciated. Thank you so much.

It appears to be a protozoan disease in which copper would be the chosen course of treatment. Copper is not reef safe and your options will be complicated. You will have to separate your inverts and corals from the fish. I did tag someone who can help you will a accurate diagnosis and treatment.

A foxface and blue tang should have never been put in a 23g, and with the previous advice on treatment, I would find a new lfs or make sure I did all my own research and do not take any further advice from them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is my first time posting on here and I think I might have an emergency with my first time dosing Prazipro. My tank is about 7 months old. I have one Foxface, two firefish, one basslet, one small blue tang ( I plan to get a larger tank next year) two clowns, two cleaner shrimp and two hermit crabs. My tank size is 23 gallons. I started noticing what I thought were flukes on my fox face about five days ago. I had noticed something similar on my tang about a month ago but it went away in a couple of days. I went to my LFS store and was told to dose my entire tank with Prazipro. The store owner told me to remove my carbon AND bio media because it was likely infected with the disease, since this has come up from time to time since I started my tank and bought fish from a different store. He said that it would be best to throw away my media because the disease was really in there. He told me to keep the prazipro there for 5 days before doing a water change, adding new media, charcoal and a whole bottle of "One and Only" from Dr. Tim.

I followed his instruction and took out the activated charcoal, bio media and did a 50% water change before adding Prazipro around 2 p.m. yesterday. When I woke up this morning, my female clown had died. I didn't even know that she was infected because she wasn't showing symptoms. She was very dominant in the tank and seemed like she was one of the stronger fish. All of my other fish seem ok but are looking kind of sluggish. My fox face, who was the reason why I decided to look into Prazipro to begin with, is looking a little better but still a little sluggish. She's not hiding as much as when she had the flukes, but I'm not sure how long it takes to heal. I have since added a new pack of bio media to my tank, on the advice of a different fish store employee who said that I should have never taken it out to begin with. My cleaner shrimp molted, even though it had just moved last week. I am concerned and have the following questions:

Is it too soon to do a 20% water change? I am nervous that more fish will die because the medication is too strong. My water test is also registering a slight ammonia spike, my nitrite is at 0.
My PH is the lowest it's been since I started the tank, how do I get it back up?
How soon can I add the activated carbon?
How soon can I add another clown to my tank so that my other clown doesn't get depressed and die?
Will the Prazi disappear on its own or do I have to do another water change once the five days passes?
If I shouldn't have dosed the Prazi to begin with, will a water change get rid of it?
Will my fish survive.

I have included a picture of my fox face with what I thought were flukes. Thank you in advance, this is really stressful because I have never kept saltwater fish before. Everything was going really well with my tank until this, now I feel scared that I will kill more fish.

These are mucus cones and likely from ich or skin irritation or both. Looks like there may be ich mixed in there as well one source of these mucus cones is often ich.
Do any of the other fish show these spots?
Fish sometimes develop excess mucus that excretes from the producing skin cells which rises up as a cone or a plug. These often derive from skin irritation.
Assure good water quality and for cure often good water quality will diminish it but treating with coppersafe and copper power may help at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I also don't think the foxface has flukes - well, it could have flukes, but those spots are not a sign. Look for scratching and/or rapid breathing and tattered fins, cloudy eyes. Those spots could be mucus plugs/cones or they could be protozoans.

The clownfish dying with no previous symptoms could be from lack of oxygen. Your dealer should have told you that you need to aerate your tank well after a prazi treatment. Do you have a protein skimmer or an air stone on the tank? If so, then lack of aeration would not be a problem, but if you don't, it could well be that.

Taking the carbon out of the filter was correct, but removing the bio media was wrong advice.

I'll try to answer your specific questions:

Is it too soon to do a 20% water change? * You can do a change 24 hours after the dose

My PH is the lowest it's been since I started the tank, how do I get it back up? * that is a symptom of the lack of aeration I mentioned.

How soon can I add the activated carbon? * after the water change

How soon can I add another clown to my tank so that my other clown doesn't get depressed and die? * Do not add any new fish until this all has been worked out. Then, clownfish will more often FIGHT with new ones. I have a single clown in my home office that has lived fine by itself for 2 1/2 years.

Will the Prazi disappear on its own or do I have to do another water change once the five days passes? * Prazi breaks down in about 36 hours

If I shouldn't have dosed the Prazi to begin with, will a water change get rid of it? * yes

Will my fish survive. * I can't say - I think there is something else going on here. Can you post a clear video of the remaining fish?

Jay

 

[Silviamac06]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I also don't think the foxface has flukes - well, it could have flukes, but those spots are not a sign. Look for scratching and/or rapid breathing and tattered fins, cloudy eyes. Those spots could be mucus plugs/cones or they could be protozoans.

The clownfish dying with no previous symptoms could be from lack of oxygen. Your dealer should have told you that you need to aerate your tank well after a prazi treatment. Do you have a protein skimmer or an air stone on the tank? If so, then lack of aeration would not be a problem, but if you don't, it could well be that.

Taking the carbon out of the filter was correct, but removing the bio media was wrong advice.

I'll try to answer your specific questions:

Is it too soon to do a 20% water change? * You can do a change 24 hours after the dose

My PH is the lowest it's been since I started the tank, how do I get it back up? * that is a symptom of the lack of aeration I mentioned.

How soon can I add the activated carbon? * after the water change

How soon can I add another clown to my tank so that my other clown doesn't get depressed and die? * Do not add any new fish until this all has been worked out. Then, clownfish will more often FIGHT with new ones. I have a single clown in my home office that has lived fine by itself for 2 1/2 years.

Will the Prazi disappear on its own or do I have to do another water change once the five days passes? * Prazi breaks down in about 36 hours

If I shouldn't have dosed the Prazi to begin with, will a water change get rid of it? * yes

Will my fish survive. * I can't say - I think there is something else going on here. Can you post a clear video of the remaining fish?

Jay

Wow! Thank you soooooo much for this advice! I feel terrible about everything. I asked both of the fish stores about it being flukes and both agreed and said I should dose with Prazi. I feel so bad about this! The PH is still low, should I buy a skimmer? I don't have a skimmer nor do I have air stones. My fox face still has the spots and isn't eating as much, but he is out more and is swimming around more than he was a few days ago. He seems very timid. I did the water change and now the ammonia is at 0. He's not scratching and he's not breathing too heavily. It's just the spots and the lack of activity. His eyes seem more clear. My other fish seem to be fine, which is great because I feel so bad about accidentally killing my clown. Thanks again for the reply.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Wow! Thank you soooooo much for this advice! I feel terrible about everything. I asked both of the fish stores about it being flukes and both agreed and said I should dose with Prazi. I feel so bad about this! The PH is still low, should I buy a skimmer? I don't have a skimmer nor do I have air stones. My fox face still has the spots and isn't eating as much, but he is out more and is swimming around more than he was a few days ago. He seems very timid. I did the water change and now the ammonia is at 0. He's not scratching and he's not breathing too heavily. It's just the spots and the lack of activity. His eyes seem more clear. My other fish seem to be fine, which is great because I feel so bad about accidentally killing my clown. Thanks again for the reply.

You can sometimes adjust your filter to cascade back into the tank to make bubbles. Air stones or skimmers are better, and one or the other really should be used in all marine aquariums to balance out the dissolved gasses - oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Jay

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would suggest to get a larger tank or rehome the fishes, those fish should be in tanks much larger than 23 gallons, they will always be stressed and unhappy, and probably have short lives. Its important to somewhat respect the recommeded tank sizes for fish, or risk disease, jumping, or aggression.... (I know, the fishes were small, and will be rehomed later......)