Would gill infection cause same symptoms as the parasite that caused it?

[Kinghugo5]

Freshwater dip would offer relief from flukes within 5 minutes.

That’s why I am so frustrated. The clown has had multiple 5 min FW dips with no effect on whatever this is.

 

[ckalupa]

Have you done any water changes since adding all these meds? What was you copper treatment and how long?

 

[ckalupa]

Looks like hot rocks is reading this thread- good abx advice coming!

 

[Kinghugo5]

I’ve done many water changes. I did Cupramine for 30 days and when the clown continued showing symptoms, added metro. I did a 10 gallon water change (29g QT) after removing copper and metro. Dosed another round of prazi, 5 gallon change. Started Kanaplex with a Furan 2 dose, did a 10 gallon water change at the end of last week. Did a 5 gallon change yesterday before the 3rd prazi dose.

 

[ckalupa]

#reefsquad

 

[Starblenny]

That’s why I am so frustrated. The clown has had multiple 5 min FW dips with no effect on whatever this is.

I read somewhere FW dip will not completely kill gill flukes; medication or hypo will fully kill it.

That being said, I was going through the same scenario; do I have secondary infection or prazi resistant flukes. I ended up buying Fenbendazole to treat flukes (I just completed a fenben bath) and so far so good...

 

[HotRocks]

I agree, it looks like lympho on the clown for sure.

The tang having such a small spot makes me also think lympho. If it were ich that tang should be covered.

Flukes that have prazi resistance are another possibility, a FW dip should be able to confirm if flukes are present.

 

[Kinghugo5]

What prompted me to move them all to a QT was this pic. So Ich/velvet has played a role somewhere along this road but I haven’t seen any round spots like this since treating with copper.

 

[ckalupa]

The symptoms you describe certainly sound like flukes but other things have similar. The body of the tang overall looks ok from the pic but there is that white spot out on the top fin. Have you dipped the tang?

 

[Kinghugo5]

I agree, it looks like lympho on the clown for sure.

The tang having such a small spot makes me also think lympho. If it were ich that tang should be covered.

Flukes that have prazi resistance are another possibility, a FW dip should be able to confirm if flukes are present.

The tang had about 4 of those, all on the lining of the fins, and they went away within a few days.

Another thing I forgot to mention is, minus the tang and black clown, all of the fish are very reclusive. But sometimes even the tang.

Unless these flukes are TINY, I don’t know what else I can look for in a FW dip. I tried several.

 

[Kinghugo5]

All except the black clown and gramma have had a FW dip with no visible flukes falling off. Perhaps a flaky dust but I couldn’t confirm if that’s flukes without a microscope.

 

[Kinghugo5]

Sorry for the dirty glass, but there is a better pic of the tang spots. In person, it was obvious they weren’t perfectly round.

 

[HotRocks]

All except the black clown and gramma have had a FW dip with no visible flukes falling off. Perhaps a flaky dust but I couldn’t confirm if that’s flukes without a microscope.

If you had flukes detach in a FW dip it would be pretty obvious.

Only other thing I know to do is try formalin if you aren't sold on lympho.

The symptoms you describe would lead me to believe it's more than lympho as well. I have seen flukes cause fish to be very inactive, for example swimming in the same spot all day, which is not normal for a tang.

Bacterial infections can present themselves in many ways as well. But you have treated for that as well.

What do you feed? Do you supplement with anything like vitachem, selcon, etc.?

 

[HotRocks]

I would love if @Humblefish or @4FordFamily could chime in here...

My conclusion is wait it out and see if it corrects itself or do formalin baths and move to a clean QT. Pics appear to be lympho and symptoms you describe say otherwise.

 

[Kinghugo5]

If you had flukes detach in a FW dip it would be pretty obvious.

Only other thing I know to do is try formalin if you aren't sold on lympho.

The symptoms you describe would lead me to believe it's more than lympho as well. I have seen flukes cause fish to be very inactive, for example swimming in the same spot all day, which is not normal for a tang.

Bacterial infections can present themselves in many ways as well. But you have treated for that as well.

What do you feed? Do you supplement with anything like vitachem, selcon, etc.?

I started soaking the food in selcon a little over a week ago to give them a boost. This was the same time I was dosing Kanaplex and the clown seemed to be getting better, then yesterday all of the white was coming back.

The tang is half active half hiding in the pvc but the butterfly is extremely reclusive. The butterfly seemed to be doing better while in copper, really.

They all still have an appetite, and the butterfly even ate a clam today.

 

[Kinghugo5]

I feed LRS reef frenzy. Sorry, I didn’t answer that fully.

 

[HotRocks]

I feed LRS reef frenzy. Sorry, I didn’t answer that fully.

No prob, I'd say that is a high quality food and soaking in vitamins will definitely help if it is lympho.

 

[Kinghugo5]

I want to add, that at the same time the tang showed the spots, every fish in the tank at least had one visible blemish. The black clown had some pale spots and the gramma had one seemingly on its lip almost in the mouth. The butterfly was hard to see but under light, I could also see growths. Currently, only the orange clown has any visible symptoms and the butterfly has behavioral

Edit: this was directly after a prazi treatment.

 

[Kinghugo5]

I really appreciate everyone’s help! I’m desperately trying to get to the bottom of this and am willing to proceed with anything suggested. I feel like I’ve exhausted everything I’ve researched minus hypo or formalin.

 

[HotRocks]

If this were something viral, with high quality food, pristine water, and supplements added to food it could heal itself.

I'm torn on what to do. No flukes coming off in FW dip says viral.

Maybe just give them some time, see what happens and keep formalin close by.