Getting Fish to Eat After Flukes

[situationlol]

Unfortunately, after purchasing fish from an online vendor that markets themselves as a place to buy quarantined fish, a wave of flukes hit my tank. Also unfortunately, I'm relatively new to the hobby and it took me a couple weeks to realize what was going on. Since then, I've dosed with prazipro and it seems to have largely done the trick. The one convict tang who was scratching himself constantly has stopped and the other residents have regained their energy and are no longer shaking their heads and flashing. The only one who hasn't snapped out of it is a sailfin tang who was part of the shipment group. He has basically not eaten (other than pecking at algae, which I do see him do on occasion) since he arrived ~3 weeks ago. I gave him (and the other fish I was able to catch) an RODI dip and it did seem like flukes came off. Other than offering him a bunch of different foods, is there anything else I can do to get this guy to eat? He's noticeably thin at this point and I suspect he's on the brink of death. I'm not noticing serious bullying or anything other than the illness that would be stressing him out. My water is a little 'dirty' as some might say with nitrate and phosphate slightly elevated but nothing wildly out of line.

 

[MnFish1]

I'm going with the first paragraph - how did you dose Prazipro? Was it correct?
Second - how do you know 'a wave of flukes hit your tank'

But I gather from your post - you're concerned about the sailfish - its unclear what 'flukes seemed to come off' - but - I might recheck your prazipro dose- re dose - and see what's happening

 

[situationlol]

I'm going with the first paragraph - how did you dose Prazipro? Was it correct?
Second - how do you know 'a wave of flukes hit your tank'

But I gather from your post - you're concerned about the sailfish - its unclear what 'flukes seemed to come off' - but - I might recheck your prazipro dose- re dose - and see what's happening

I dosed according to the instructions on the bottle: 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons.

I diagnosed flukes based on (1) one fish (from the shipment I assume was the cause) rubbing on the sand bed at a very high frequency (2) other fish in the tank becoming lethargic, shaking their heads, sometimes darting around, and occasionally also scratching on rocks and (3) I gave the fish I could catch an RODI bath for 5 minutes and I did see small white bits coming off of them, consistent with what is seen in this video

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just one thing to add - lack of appetite is not a symptom of fluke infestations until a fish is just about deceased. The sailfin may well have flukes, but it’s not eating is caused by something else … what foods have you tried?
Jay

 

[situationlol]

Just one thing to add - lack of appetite is not a symptom of fluke infestations until a fish is just about deceased. The sailfin may well have flukes, but it’s not eating is caused by something else … what foods have you tried?
Jay

Flakes, pellets, seaweed, and all manner of frozen foods (mysis shrimp, bloodworms, squid, etc.)

 

[situationlol]

Just watched him die, sadly. I suppose if I were more experienced I would have started treatment sooner and perhaps saved him, but also hard not to be pretty frustrated that a service advertising quarantined fish somehow managed to send me fish that were showing symptoms only a couple days after they arrived. Of the 5 I ordered, one remains. Lesson learned I suppose that this service was not a reliable substitute for doing my own quarantines.

Thank you for the comments all.