Flukes or Ich?

[hightide33]

Im running a fish only system salinity @ 1.015 sg
Can anyone positively identify what I'm dealing with here? I thought it was ich because the tank has had ich in the past however I know that flukes are very common in angelfish.
This photo is from about a week ago. I haven't seen any white spots on the fins since the photo was taken so I'm not sure how to proceed.
I appreciate any advice/recommendations.

 

[gentlefish]

Looks like ich. Did you freshwater dip for flukes? How does the fish look now? Do you have an updated picture?

 

[hightide33]

Looks like ich. Did you freshwater dip for flukes? How does the fish look now? Do you have an updated picture?

Thanks for the response. Here's a couple pics I took just now. I didn't do a freshwater dip because I won't be able to catch it. I have a bottle of Prazipro that I picked up today in case I need to treat for flukes (guy at the local fish store said that's what I needed after he looked at the original pic I shared) but I wanted to get another opinion before I go treating the tank.

 

[gentlefish]

This looks remarkable good. The pectoral fin damage could be an injury. Hyposalinity does seem to work well. This seems to be worthwhile to observe prior to additional therapy. Salinity is chronically difficult to measure and even standards seem to be off frequently. There is a tread how to mix your own standard somewhere her.

 

[gentlefish]

I hope I quote Jay Hemdal correctly for therapy of ick AND flukes at salinity 1.012.

 

[hightide33]

This looks remarkable good. The pectoral fin damage could be an injury. Hyposalinity does seem to work well. This seems to be worthwhile to observe prior to additional therapy. Salinity is chronically difficult to measure and even standards seem to be off frequently. There is a tread how to mix your own standard somewhere her.

I was told that the fin was probably eaten away by flukes. Is this something I should worry about?

 

[gentlefish]

I am worried about coexistence of ick and flukes, but I don’t think that the fin damage has to do with either. Should heal without antibiotics if nothing changes.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Emperor angels frequently get Neobenedenia flukes. A specific gravity of 1.012, as mentioned, will manage that (keep it there for 35 days in order to kill the fluke eggs). The fish could also have ich of course. The later pictures don't seem to show that, but you need to keep a close eye on that. One possibility might be to keep going with hypo to 1.009 - that will control ich and neo, but is more stressful to some fish.

Jay

 

[hightide33]

Emperor angels frequently get Neobenedenia flukes. A specific gravity of 1.012, as mentioned, will manage that (keep it there for 35 days in order to kill the fluke eggs). The fish could also have ich of course. The later pictures don't seem to show that, but you need to keep a close eye on that. One possibility might be to keep going with hypo to 1.009 - that will control ich and neo, but is more stressful to some fish.

Jay

Thank you so much for the information.
Do you recommend the hyposaline method over prazipro treatment?
The tank currently has a juvenile emperor angel, a rusty angel, a clown fish, a cleaner wrasse and a snowflake eel.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you so much for the information.
Do you recommend the hyposaline method over prazipro treatment?
The tank currently has a juvenile emperor angel, a rusty angel, a clown fish, a cleaner wrasse and a snowflake eel.

Yes, for Neobenedenia, hyposalinity always works better than prazi. The issue with prazi is twofold; it doesn’t control the fluke eggs, so you need to keep redoing the dose as new eggs hatch out. Secondly, each time you dose a tank with prazi a population of bacteria grows that actually consumes the prazi. After 3 doses or so, the bacteria eat the prazi so fast that it doesn’t have time to kill the flukes. You end up treating higher and higher doses more frequently, but the bacteria grows right along with that...
Prazi works best on live bearing flukes that can be controlled with two doses.
That all said, we don’t have 100% confirmation that your angel has Neo

Jay