Sick mandarin dragonet ?
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Etienne 97
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Etienne 97
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Jay Hemdal
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I don’t see any obvious specific diseases here.
The mandarin is a bit thin and I can see some mild pale areas. Can you increase the number of daily feedings?
The angel looks really good. If it is breathing fast and if it is scratching, you might want to treat it with praziquantel for flukes.
Etienne 97
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I can feed my mandarin a bit more she is already at 3-5 small feeding a day i have seen her trying to scratch the side of her face if i treat one for fluke should i do all my fish ? The only product i can find here in canada for now is on the picture how long should i let my tank without any fish ?
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Jay Hemdal
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I haven't used that product, but it appears to be pure praziquantel powder. That can treat flukes. Here is a draft that I just wrote up on using praziquantel: (this is a draft, it is still being reviewed internally by the #fishmedics here, to see if they have any additional input).
Using Praziquantel (PZQ) to treat flukes
Overview
In the early 1990’s, a researcher at the New York Aquarium published a paper on using Praziquantel (PZQ) to help control flukes, a parasitic flatworm. Also known as monogenean trematodes, these fish parasites can cause significant mortality in aquarium fish. It is also used orally to treat tapeworms. It has limited to no effect on other parasites. The mechanism of Praziquantel’s action seems to be that it causes the flukes to temporarily relax, allowing them to be dislodged from the fish. Once that happens, the adult fluke is unable to reattach, and it dies.
Basic dosing and application
To treat with Praziquantel, calculated the volume of water in the tank (L" x W" x H") divided by 231 to get US gallons. If the tank has rocks and sand in it, deduct 15% to offset water displacement (multiply by 0.85). Remove any carbon, turn off any UV, add a good air stone, keep any skimmer running, but disable the collection cup, or let it flow back into the tank.
Praziquantel powder is barely soluble in seawater. It needs to be dispersed as a fine particulate. One way to do that is to use a solvent (Glycol or alcohol or even DMSO). When you add the dissolved PZQ into the tank, you'll see it come out as a fine suspension when it hits the water - it gets dispersed that way. The trouble is these solvents can cause bacterial blooms. So - using a baby brine shrimp net or other fine material (even pantyhose will work) and then rinsing/pushing the powder through that into the tank is a better option. There are some nylon mesh available online that works as well as baby brine shrimp nets.
Timing the repeat doses
Multiple doses are required when using PZQ in order to break the life cycle of various species of flukes. PZQ does not kill fluke eggs or larva, so the timing needs to be spaced out to allow for all eggs to hatch and grow into young flukes, but then cause those flukes to drop off the fish before they can produce new eggs of their own. Cooler water temperature slows this process and warmer water speeds it up. There is also variation in species, as well as variation in a given population – so obviously, this is a major drawback in using PZQ to control flukes. Estimated timing is as follows:
Live bearing Gyrodactylus flukes are the easiest to control as they have no egg stage. Two PZQ additions, 48 hours apart is typically sufficient to eradicate this type of fluke. However, these are rarely seen in marine aquarium fish.
Egg laying Dactylogyrids are the common gill fluke in marine aquarium fish. Repeat doses to control this parasite is usually around 5 days, with three treatments required.
Egg laying Capsalids (Neobenedenia) are large flukes (the only ones that can be seen by the naked eye) and their eggs are very tough and sticky. Up to five doses, 8 days apart are required to control this parasite. In fish-only systems, hyposalinity (half salinity; 16 ppt or 1.012) is a better treatment option.
Encysted Digenean flukes and Turbellarians are not well controlled by PZQ, as they live inside cysts, so although they are temporarily incapacitated by PZQ, they do not fall off the fish and then they can recover and continue their parasitic life.
Drawbacks to using Praziquantel
Some people report their fish don’t feed well after PZQ treatments. Wrasses are commonly reported to be sensitive to these treatments. In both of these cases, a lack of aeration or the solvent used seems to be the root cause.
Bacterial degradation is a huge problem with multiple doses of PZQ. Each time PZQ is dosed, bacteria begin to consume it, As they do so, they multiply. Each subsequent treatment then becomes effective for less and less time. You can dose 3 to 5 times before the PZQ is pretty much rendered useless. The dose can be increased to compensate, that that's risky since you cannot really tell how much is being decomposed. Praziquantel, and the solvent in Prazipro is rapidly broken down by bacteria. The first dose is assimilated in about 36 hours, the second dose in perhaps 24 hours, then each successive dose gets consumed faster by the bacteria. After about five or six doses, the bacteria eat it faster than it can even work. Nobody really knows how long the heterotrophic bacteria remain hyperactive after they have grown to consume PZQ - but it is at least 4 months (personal experience). Most people sterilize the treatment tank and reset it if they plan to run multiple PZQ treatments.
Jay Hemdal
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Don't raise the water temperature, that just causes the parasites to multiply faster and the dissolved oxygen level to drop.
You can use hyposalinity and praziquantel together, but that is typically not done.
If there is a fluke issue, they will die out in an aquarium that has no fish hosts for them in 30 days.
Etienne 97
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Sorry, I can't tell what that is, looks like algae maybe. If so, it won't harm anything.
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Could it be some corrosion from metal material? Oxidized copper can look sort of blue in some instances.
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Elemental copper can cause mandarins to react negatively. However, do you also have any invertebrates in the tank? If so, they would be adversely affected at much lower copper levels than a mandarin would be.
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