Flukes – General Guidelines

[JumboShrimp]

So from this, in the original post...

2. Hyposalinity – Scientific research also showed hyposalinity at 15 ppt for 2 days eliminated juvenile and adult flukes. When maintained for 5 days, egg hatching was prevented.

... may I conclude that hyposalinity can be used as a complete and effective ‘stand-alone’ treatment? If so, it would seem like a good route for a FOWLR with some wrasse, correct... just lower the salinity on all the DT’s fish for 5 days?

 

[Pbh-reef]

I suspect my flame angel has flukes, and possibly even my Lyretail Anthia as ive seen both flashing and scratching on the back wall of my tank, the flame angel also has a puffy/cloudy right eye and some slight discolouration on the face.

I want to do a FW Dip as advised and try to treat with prazi if I spot any flukes.

My question is: Can I treat the whole DT with prazi even if i've got fish who may not be infected with flukes? Will they also benefit from the treatment or will it hurt them?

Also my flame angel is eating fine and is otherwise swimming pretty normally, could it be something else other than flukes which has his eye puffy/cloudy and has him flashing against the back wall?

Prazi is reef safe-ish, it may harm and kill decorative worms and bristle worms. Be ready with water in case a big die off of wormshappens and you need to do a water change. That is unlikely btw But something to be ready for just in case.Also Prazi De-oxygenates the water so increasing surface agitation is a good idea. Dose the tank then wait 5-7days and dose again.

the other fish are at risk from catching flukestoo so you need to treat the whole tank

a puffy eye and discoloring could be bacterial. Flashing could be any number of skin and gill parasites (flukes, ich, velvet, brook). I would suggest starting a thread with pics in white (not heavy blue) light to get help with an ID. a freshwater dip is the best way to get a positive fluke id

 

[Pbh-reef]

So from this, in the original post...

2. Hyposalinity – Scientific research also showed hyposalinity at 15 ppt for 2 days eliminated juvenile and adult flukes. When maintained for 5 days, egg hatching was prevented.

... may I conclude that hyposalinity can be used as a complete and effective ‘stand-alone’ treatment? If so, it would seem like a good route for a FOWLR with some wrasse, correct... just lower the salinity on all the DT’s fish for 5 days?

Yes, as long as you can keep the salinity at 15 100% of the time (use an ato). I would guess snails, hermits, worms and other CuC members may die if It’s a Fowlr vs truly fish only you may run into an Ammonia spike doing hypo one theDT but I’ve never done it so i don’t actually know

 

[3D Reefin']

I recently had to deal with flukes. I went to petco to buy some salt and saw this flame angel getting picked on and looking pretty frail. So I got it and have been nursing him/her back to health.

@Humblefish

I hope these pictures help can help folks dealing with flukes. The Ti rod is for size reference. The rod is 0.0625"/1.6mm in diameter.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Quite the infestation :(

 

[MamaP]

I recently had to deal with flukes. I went to petco to buy some salt and saw this flame angel getting picked on and looking pretty frail. So I got it and have been nursing him/her back to health.

@Humblefish

I hope these pictures help can help folks dealing with flukes. The Ti rod is for size reference. The rod is 0.0625"/1.6mm in diameter.

@3D Reefin' First, thank you for being kind enough to care about trying to save that poor fish. Second, thank you for the pics with a reference point for size...that helps. Third, I have a couple questions.
1) Can you have just one fluke? For instance, I did a FW dip on a "canary" black molly to test for Flukes, and 1 thing was left in the water that looked similar to the pics, but in every pic I've ever seen, there are multiples, so I'm wondering if it was a fluke or something else. The reason I was testing for flukes in the first place is the gulping air at the surface (which could be just typical molly behavior...), hanging out in a corner, and darting around the tank. No swimming into powerhead, scratching, twitching, etc.
2) Can flukes ride in on inverts? The "canary" mollies are in my invert QT, whose 45 days are up on Wednesday, so I need to figure this out quick.

Posting a pic for reference (pardon all the spots on the magnifying glass and dog hairs on the rug...).

Thoughts? #reefsquad

 

[Tuffloud1]

After freshwater dipping a Flame Hawkfish from Live Aquaria.

 

[Tuffloud1]

I treated with PraziPro for flukes, did a water change on the 4th day, treated with PraziPro again on the 6th day. How long should I wait before transferring fish to display?

 

[Redfoxtang]

I treated with PraziPro for flukes, did a water change on the 4th day, treated with PraziPro again on the 6th day. How long should I wait before transferring fish to display?

Prazipro does it’s job pretty quickly and usually within 24 hours. So it’s safe to say within 48 hours you would be ok to transfer!

 

[Ev8siveaz]

@Humblefish I have a tank that I believe has flukes and I am thinking of dosing Prazipro. It started with my yellow tang getting stressed out and then getting a bacterial infection. I fed heavy and used vitamins and he cleared up. He still was white and breathing heavy. The bacterial infection came back after a water change. I then started to notice two of my triggers scratching, yawning, and going up for air. I think this confirms flukes have been my issue. My only concern is my 9 inch green bird wrasse. He is my favorite fish and I am scared to lose him. I have seen some posts that say that wrasse dont do well with Prazi. He is very healthy, active, fat, and eats like a pig. He also the only one of my fish that doesnt show any fluke symptoms. Is this something I should worry about? I want to make sure that he will be good as hes my favorite and they honestly have been hard fish to acquire as of late. I would really like your opinion on the subject. Thanks in advance!

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have used General Cure many times on Wrasse like a Yellowhead, Bluehead, and Lunare many times. Based upon that my hunch would be that your Bird Wrasse would be OK.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Humblefish I have a tank that I believe has flukes and I am thinking of dosing Prazipro. It started with my yellow tang getting stressed out and then getting a bacterial infection. I fed heavy and used vitamins and he cleared up. He still was white and breathing heavy. The bacterial infection came back after a water change. I then started to notice two of my triggers scratching, yawning, and going up for air. I think this confirms flukes have been my issue. My only concern is my 9 inch green bird wrasse. He is my favorite fish and I am scared to lose him. I have seen some posts that say that wrasse dont do well with Prazi. He is very healthy, active, fat, and eats like a pig. He also the only one of my fish that doesnt show any fluke symptoms. Is this something I should worry about? I want to make sure that he will be good as hes my favorite and they honestly have been hard fish to acquire as of late. I would really like your opinion on the subject. Thanks in advance!

If you use Prazipro, be sure to add good aeration. Also, change the dose interval from 48 hours to 8 or 9 days, and do 3 treatments (needed to break the life cycle).

That said, I can’t be certain that you have a fluke issue here, so I’m relying on your diagnosis….

Jay

 

[Superlightman]

Hello if I unterstand the topic, it should be use 3 times , each time 5 to 7 days between the treatments?
Do we really need to do a water change as is it reef safe? Is Charocal not enough?
Can the skimmer without the cup be ok during the treatment for increase oxygene levels?
Can we let the UV on?
How do you treat news fish that you buy? Just a dip?

 

[sc50964]

Following

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello if I unterstand the topic, it should be use 3 times , each time 5 to 7 days between the treatments?
Do we really need to do a water change as is it reef safe? Is Charocal not enough?
Can the skimmer without the cup be ok during the treatment for increase oxygene levels?
Can we let the UV on?
How do you treat news fish that you buy? Just a dip?

UV should be turned off.
Skimmers should be run, but without the cup, this helps with oxygen.
Water changes are just to reduce nutrients from the bacterial decomposition of the medication.
New fish should get a comprehensive quarantine process:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay