Parasite ID (curious to see if your ID matches my suspicion)

[beesnreefs]

OK, vid of my WTBT tang included. It's helpful if you set it to HD in Youtube (if it doesn't already default to that for you). In particular, note the white spots on his side, back third of his torso, at the 5 and 6 second mark. What do you think this is?



Please don't judge the frustrating dinos and GHA we are battling currently

I have a strong suspicion of what this is and some info to back it up...but I'm definitely as far from expert as they come so I thought I'd get 2nd (and 3rd, 4th, 5th....) opinion from the R2R fish disease community.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I see some possible ich trophonts. Flukes usually don’t show as spots, you need to ID those through secondary symptoms. Fish of course, often have both at the same time.
Jay

 

[beesnreefs]

I see some possible ich trophonts. Flukes usually don’t show as spots, you need to ID those through secondary symptoms. Fish of course, often have both at the same time.
Jay

Thanks @Jay Hemdal.

Secondary symptoms would include:

• WTBT tang occasional "jerky" swimming as if trying to shake something off. I've seen him flash on the sand and back wall 2-3 times in the past 24 hours.
• Ornate leopard wrasse with no visible spots hiding sporadically, minimal appetite, and heavy breathing for about a week. Today he finally is swimming actively and eating. Breathing is still faster than normal, but slower than it has been.
• Midas blenny occasionally flashing, no visible spots.
• Lyretail anthias with similar white spots (maybe 4-6 of them) on pectoral fins.
• Juvenile orange shoulder tang with 1-2 white spots on a pectoral fin.
• Other than leopard wrasse, all fish are active and have typical voracious appetite.

Anything else I could describe that would be helpful?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks @Jay Hemdal.

Secondary symptoms would include:

• WTBT tang occasional "jerky" swimming as if trying to shake something off. I've seen him flash on the sand and back wall 2-3 times in the past 24 hours.
• Ornate leopard wrasse with no visible spots hiding sporadically, minimal appetite, and heavy breathing for about a week. Today he finally is swimming actively and eating. Breathing is still faster than normal, but slower than it has been.
• Midas blenny occasionally flashing, no visible spots.
• Lyretail anthias with similar white spots (maybe 4-6 of them) on pectoral fins.
• Juvenile orange shoulder tang with 1-2 white spots on a pectoral fin.
• Other than leopard wrasse, all fish are active and have typical voracious appetite.

Anything else I could describe that would be helpful?

Sounds like flukes may be the primary issue here. Just watch the spots - if they come and go and change location, and generally increase in number, that is more like how ich behaves.

One possible treatment would be prazipro, dosed twice, 8 days apart with good aeration. Run your skimmer, but don't collect the skimmate. Some people report that wrasse react negatively to prfazi, but I haven't seen that, I wonder if they just didn't aerate well enough?

Not sure what could have caused the leopard wrasse's spontaneous improvement....

Jay

 

[beesnreefs]

Sounds like flukes may be the primary issue here. Just watch the spots - if they come and go and change location, and generally increase in number, that is more like how ich behaves.

One possible treatment would be prazipro, dosed twice, 8 days apart with good aeration. Run your skimmer, but don't collect the skimmate. Some people report that wrasse react negatively to prfazi, but I haven't seen that, I wonder if they just didn't aerate well enough?

Not sure what could have caused the leopard wrasse's spontaneous improvement....

Jay

So, I sent in an AquaBiomics eDNA test last month, sample pulled early-February. Got the results on March 4th. It showed exactly one parasite present in the tank. This is a snapshot from the report:

8 days ago this fish began showing these white spots. We added a UV to our system and started peroxide dosing per another forum's experiment (yes, @Jay Hemdal, I know you don't approve of that "treatment" ). By yesterday, a week after first showing signs, almost all of the white spots had disappeared. Today, new ones showed up.

I'd like to do a FW dip to confirm the flukes but I gotta be honest, catching this fish could be quite the nightmare. The thing is, you're not the first person to say, "Hmmm...could be ich, could be flukes." So I'm a bit at a loss.

Thinking about pausing the peroxide and trying PraziPro to see if that helps. Would I need to shut down the UV for the PraziPro?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So, I sent in an AquaBiomics eDNA test last month, sample pulled early-February. Got the results on March 4th. It showed exactly one parasite present in the tank. This is a snapshot from the report:

8 days ago this fish began showing these white spots. We added a UV to our system and started peroxide dosing per another forum's experiment (yes, @Jay Hemdal, I know you don't approve of that "treatment" ). By yesterday, a week after first showing signs, almost all of the white spots had disappeared. Today, new ones showed up.

I'd like to do a FW dip to confirm the flukes but I gotta be honest, catching this fish could be quite the nightmare. The thing is, you're not the first person to say, "Hmmm...could be ich, could be flukes." So I'm a bit at a loss.

Thinking about pausing the peroxide and trying PraziPro to see if that helps. Would I need to shut down the UV for the PraziPro?

Yes, I always shut down the UV for any medicattion - just too many variables.

I've never dosed peroxide and praziquantel at the same time, not sure if I would risk that.

I'm not against using peroxide in aquariums, I'm just against how it is so often used improperly. Basically, it boils down to this; it is an oxidant. All oxidants; peroxides, ozone, hypochlorite, permanganate must be dosed based on their reactivity, and that is a result of how much reactive material is in the water, and THAT is dependent on the tank's organics. That value changes as you add more oxidants. So - dosing any oxidant without being able to measure the reactive fraction left is dangerous. I use ozone dip test strips.

You can only confirm one species of flukes with a FW dip (Neobenedenia). The other flukes require a microscope to see in the dip water....so skip the dip.

Cryptocaryon will kill your fish faster than flukes will, so if you have confirmed that there is a relapse with ich, I think you need to work on getting that under control first.

Jay