Wrasse potential flukes or something?

[LukeSivyer45]

Hi everyone, im wondering if anyone can help. My flasher wrasse is healthy and is very active since adding to the tank (about a week ago) and eats both pellets, flake and frozen food. He does have a few small tears on his back fin but also this weird sort of marbling on his skin which you may see near the back of his head and few other spots on the body. With anyones experience or knowledge what do people think this is? It looks like its scales aren't missing but equally it doesn't really look like there is something attached to his skin like flukes. Also, these patches only appear if you look from an angle at him, if you are directly side on these don't appear.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi everyone, im wondering if anyone can help. My flasher wrasse is healthy and is very active since adding to the tank (about a week ago) and eats both pellets, flake and frozen food. He does have a few small tears on his back fin but also this weird sort of marbling on his skin which you may see near the back of his head and few other spots on the body. With anyones experience or knowledge what do people think this is? It looks like its scales aren't missing but equally it doesn't really look like there is something attached to his skin like flukes. Also, these patches only appear if you look from an angle at him, if you are directly side on these don't appear.

Most species of flukes are too small to see, you only see the damage that they do. Have you seen this fish scratching/flashing?

Another thought is that you are seeing stress coloration that these fish can show.

 

[LukeSivyer45]

Most species of flukes are too small to see, you only see the damage that they do. Have you seen this fish scratching/flashing?

Another thought is that you are seeing stress coloration that these fish can show.

Okay thats interesting as I do not know a lot about fish disease or flukes from my limited research. The wrasse doesn’t scratch but does occasionally flash but I think it’s his natural behaviour rather than it being irritated. Thats interesting you say the stress colouration which makes as wrasse tend to have a weird pattern when stressed. Do you think it is possibly still stressed and getting used to my tank then? I know most wrasse are more sensitive than other fish as they don’t ship well

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Okay thats interesting as I do not know a lot about fish disease or flukes from my limited research. The wrasse doesn’t scratch but does occasionally flash but I think it’s his natural behaviour rather than it being irritated. Thats interesting you say the stress colouration which makes as wrasse tend to have a weird pattern when stressed. Do you think it is possibly still stressed and getting used to my tank then? I know most wrasse are more sensitive than other fish as they don’t ship well

It could be stressed from flukes, tankmates or something wrong with the water.

 

[LukeSivyer45]

It could be stressed from flukes, tankmates or something wrong with the water.

I mean on the second day of it being in the tank my female clown was being a bit aggressive and have since isolated it. Do you think a freshwater dip would be a good idea?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I mean on the second day of it being in the tank my female clown was being a bit aggressive and have since isolated it. Do you think a freshwater dip would be a good idea?

No - FW dips won’t cure the fish. Putting the fish back into the tank just allows for reinfection. They are really only useful as a diagnostic tool in conjunction with a microscope to diagnose flukes and other diseases.

You can treat with prazipro in your display tank though.

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

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...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[LukeSivyer45]

No - FW dips won’t cure the fish. Putting the fish back into the tank just allows for reinfection. They are really only useful as a diagnostic tool in conjunction with a microscope to diagnose flukes and other diseases.

You can treat with prazipro in your display tank though.

Dosing Praziquantel (PZQ)

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...

www.reef2reef.com

Okay thanks for your help. Here in the UK its hard to get medications but luckily I have some prazipro.

I have a few more questions with flukes. I understand depending on the type they have different cycles but how long would it take for a fish to get in seriously bad condition. How long does it take for them to spread to other tankmates?

On a bit of a side note I did previously have another wrasse years ago and remember it having similar sort of markings and it randomly died after a month and I couldn’t figure out why it died. I also had a few other fish in the tank and they were fine so maybe it wasn’t flukes? I will test my parameters again and come back

 

[vetteguy53081]

Okay thanks for your help. Here in the UK its hard to get medications but luckily I have some prazipro.

I have a few more questions with flukes. I understand depending on the type they have different cycles but how long would it take for a fish to get in seriously bad condition. How long does it take for them to spread to other tankmates?

On a bit of a side note I did previously have another wrasse years ago and remember it having similar sort of markings and it randomly died after a month and I couldn’t figure out why it died. I also had a few other fish in the tank and they were fine so maybe it wasn’t flukes? I will test my parameters again and come back

If you run out of prazi, you can also use Sera Tremazole or NT labs Acriflavin.

 

[LukeSivyer45]

If you run out of prazi, you can also use Sera Tremazole or NT labs Acriflavin.

Thank you for the recommendation!

Okay my tests were as follows:

Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.15-8.3
Dkh 7.7-8
Phosphate 0.03
Nitrite and ammonia 0

I used salifert test kits

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for the recommendation!

Okay my tests were as follows:

Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.15-8.3
Dkh 7.7-8
Phosphate 0.03
Nitrite and ammonia 0

I used salifert test kits

Water looks good based on salifert tests and DKH slightly low but no effect on fish, but rather corals

 

[Jay Hemdal]

If you run out of prazi, you can also use Sera Tremazole or NT labs Acriflavin.

I don’t think acriflavine treats flukes though….

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Okay thanks for your help. Here in the UK its hard to get medications but luckily I have some prazipro.

I have a few more questions with flukes. I understand depending on the type they have different cycles but how long would it take for a fish to get in seriously bad condition. How long does it take for them to spread to other tankmates?

On a bit of a side note I did previously have another wrasse years ago and remember it having similar sort of markings and it randomly died after a month and I couldn’t figure out why it died. I also had a few other fish in the tank and they were fine so maybe it wasn’t flukes? I will test my parameters again and come back

Putting any sort of definite time frame on fluke infections just isn’t possible without knowing the species of fluke. I’ve seen flukes kill fish in a few weeks, and I’ve seen fish live for years with a chronic fluke infection.
Generally though, flukes take a month or more to begin causing fish loss.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I don’t think acriflavine treats flukes though….

Ouch, , , , Listed wrong med - meant fluke solve (@LukeSivyer45 )

 

[LukeSivyer45]

Putting any sort of definite time frame on fluke infections just isn’t possible without knowing the species of fluke. I’ve seen flukes kill fish in a few weeks, and I’ve seen fish live for years with a chronic fluke infection.
Generally though, flukes take a month or more to begin causing fish loss.

Thats very interesting. With the fish that lived years with chronic fluke infection do you think there were any factors like feeding, water quality or maybe something else that prevented the fish from dying quickly?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thats very interesting. With the fish that lived years with chronic fluke infection do you think there were any factors like feeding, water quality or maybe something else that prevented the fish from dying quickly?

There are a number of cases of this: usually, the fish are in a public aquarium and a full treatment isn't possible, so they are just "held at bay" due to the large tank size. In smaller, home aquariums, the reinfection numbers are so great, this usually doesn't happen - but 2 to 4 month time frames are pretty common.