Fluke Treatment

[Bronco765]

Does formalin (I know the forbidden fruit) kill flukes the same way Prazi works where the Prazi causes the flukes to go into seizures and fall of the fish and die or does the formalin outright kill the flukes on the fish? Also how quickly does the formalin work compared to Prazi? In the 90’s you could buy formalin at Pets Mart or any lfs but a lot has been learned about the hazards using it. I’ve used Prazi and with so many flukes falling off all at once the fish dies from bleeding out with all the holes left behind.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Does formalin (I know the forbidden fruit) kill flukes the same way Prazi works where the Prazi causes the flukes to go into seizures and fall of the fish and die or does the formalin outright kill the flukes on the fish? Also how quickly does the formalin work compared to Prazi? In the 90’s you could buy formalin at Pets Mart or any lfs but a lot has been learned about the hazards using it. I’ve used Prazi and with so many flukes falling off all at once the fish dies from bleeding out with all the holes left behind.

Formalin best for protozoan and not recommended, prazi pro would be your answer dosed once for a 7 day period, change water and add one more dose lasting 7-8 days

 

[MnFish1]

Does formalin (I know the forbidden fruit) kill flukes the same way Prazi works where the Prazi causes the flukes to go into seizures and fall of the fish and die or does the formalin outright kill the flukes on the fish? Also how quickly does the formalin work compared to Prazi? In the 90’s you could buy formalin at Pets Mart or any lfs but a lot has been learned about the hazards using it. I’ve used Prazi and with so many flukes falling off all at once the fish dies from bleeding out with all the holes left behind.

You may also want to consider where you're getting your fish - or how you're quarantining your fish before you put them in your tank. I think it's relatively rare for the bleeding out problem to occur unless there are a LOT of flukes, i.e. an advanced infection. Maybe jay has a comment on this

 

[Bronco765]

You may also want to consider where you're getting your fish - or how you're quarantining your fish before you put them in your tank. I think it's relatively rare for the bleeding out problem to occur unless there are a LOT of flukes, i.e. an advanced infection. Maybe jay has a comment on this

The bleeding out and dying hasn’t happened a lot but it has happened. Problem is with flukes you can’t see the darn things on the fish like you can see Ich so there’s no way to know how infested the fish is looking at it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The bleeding out and dying hasn’t happened a lot but it has happened. Problem is with flukes you can’t see the darn things on the fish like you can see Ich so there’s no way to know how infested the fish is looking at it.

Treatment will have impact on them

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Does formalin (I know the forbidden fruit) kill flukes the same way Prazi works where the Prazi causes the flukes to go into seizures and fall of the fish and die or does the formalin outright kill the flukes on the fish? Also how quickly does the formalin work compared to Prazi? In the 90’s you could buy formalin at Pets Mart or any lfs but a lot has been learned about the hazards using it. I’ve used Prazi and with so many flukes falling off all at once the fish dies from bleeding out with all the holes left behind.

Formalin kills flukes outright, while prazi just causes them to relax and fall off the fish. Neither treatment kills the fluke eggs though.

I tried for years to control flukes with formalin, it almost always failed - it requires huge water changes or moving the fish to a sterile tank after each treatment.

I would dose a tank with 150 ppm formalin for 45 minutes and then would do a 80% water change within 15 minutes. That leaves a 30% residual dose of formalin and that degasses after 24 hours. This was in a public aquarium though and we had huge pumps to change water that fast.

 

[Bronco765]

Formalin kills flukes outright, while prazi just causes them to relax and fall off the fish. Neither treatment kills the fluke eggs though.

I tried for years to control flukes with formalin, it almost always failed - it requires huge water changes or moving the fish to a sterile tank after each treatment.

I would dose a tank with 150 ppm formalin for 45 minutes and then would do a 80% water change within 15 minutes. That leaves a 30% residual dose of formalin and that degasses after 24 hours. This was in a public aquarium though and we had huge pumps to change water that

 

[Bronco765]

When you get fish do you do a Prazi bath before you put them into quarantine?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

When you get fish do you do a Prazi bath before you put them into quarantine?

I give all new fish a full prazi treatment or hyposalinity. Our current quarantine protocol is kept updated here:

Thread 'Current Quarantine Protocol'

Apr 25, 2021

2026 Quarantine Procedures

Jay Hemdal
David Scarborough

Introduction
Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired marine fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before adding the fish to your display tank. This process may not fully control Brooklynella, Uronema, viruses or internal parasites. Those issues however, make up a proportionally much smaller number of disease cases in marine fish.

Options

1)...

• Jay Hemdal
• Replies: 1,192
• Forum: Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

• 
• 
• 

 

[Bronco765]

I see on the Coppersafe bottle that it contains 2.2% copper sulfate and Copper Power is 1.26% copper sulfate so I assume that is why you have to run Copper Power at a higher concentration?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I see on the Coppersafe bottle that it contains 2.2% copper sulfate and Copper Power is 1.26% copper sulfate so I assume that is why you have to run Copper Power at a higher concentration?

The target copper concentration for both of those products is 2.25 ppm, so one is just more dilute, but then, you would add more of it.