Advice on treatment for flukes

[MrTaleb]

Hello,
I know flukes have been brought up a lot and I think I read every contribution that Jay has made and I just want your advice if possible.
I have a FOWLR and I believe my fish have neobendenia flukes and that they came in on my Niger triggerfish. I have seen the flukes with my naked eye.
The advice I seek is wether to go down to 1.012 or 1.009 since I know for a fact that there are neobandenia flukes but don't see any specific symptoms of ich. I saw one of your comments that listed the symptoms of flukes and my fish are doing every single symptom you listed.
My fish have not been quarantined or treated for ich with copper so would you assume that they have it and that it is present in my tank and treat for it by going down to 1.009 since I am already going throught the effort of going hypo? The tanks salinity is now at 1.015 and I am bringing it down as I type this.

 

[MrTaleb]

You can see one of the flukes on his side here in this video. I don't have other pictures of videos but I have seen them with my eyes.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Flukes often can’t be seen with naked eye but you want prazi pro
Apply initial dose at 85% of recommended allowing it to last 8 days, change water and one more dosage
Add aeration with air stone during treatment

 

[MnFish1]

You can use hypo salinity for flukes. If your question is 'can you drop it to 1.009 for Ich' - the answer is 'yes'. This will not help velvet. As Vetteguy said - Prazipro can also be used. Do not use hyposalinity if inverts present

 

[Jay Hemdal]

You can see one of the flukes on his side here in this video. I don't have other pictures of videos but I have seen them with my eyes.

You usually cannot see Neobenedenia when it is alive and on the fish. Sometimes, you can see an outline of this fluke when they are on a fish's eyes, but the flukes on the body are invisible. The typical signs are a general "rough" looking appearance and some cloudiness to the fish's skin. Where you REALLY see Neo is after a FW dip - they drop off and settle to the bottom of the container and look like sesame seeds or fish scales.

Why is the triggerfish swimming head up like that? Is it doing that all the time?

Jay

 

[MrTaleb]

You usually cannot see Neobenedenia when it is alive and on the fish. Sometimes, you can see an outline of this fluke when they are on a fish's eyes, but the flukes on the body are invisible. The typical signs are a general "rough" looking appearance and some cloudiness to the fish's skin. Where you REALLY see Neo is after a FW dip - they drop off and settle to the bottom of the container and look like sesame seeds or fish scales.

Why is the triggerfish swimming head up like that? Is it doing that all the time?

Jay

I have seen the outline on his eye, and I was pretty sure what I was seeing was a fluke on his skin but I did tell my wife that it looks too big and we shouldn't be seeing it that clearly. He is laying in his tree, that was I think a gorgonian that came in with the Gulf live rock that I used to seed the tank.

 

[MrTaleb]

Also I wanted to add that I brought down the salinity to 1.011 yesterday and he seems to be doing a lot better. I have attached two videos that I took of him right now, he is swimming well and isn't scratching but you can see how his skin is looking.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also I wanted to add that I brought down the salinity to 1.011 yesterday and he seems to be doing a lot better. I have attached two videos that I took of him right now, he is swimming well and isn't scratching but you can see how his skin is looking.

Videos do not play. Can you post you tube version?

 

[MrTaleb]

Sorry for the lack of updates. Salinity has been at 1.009 since Friday June 7. Fish seem to be doing great. No flashing, color back to normal. The trigger has a few marks from where he was scratching a few days ago but besides that is completely normal.

 

[MrTaleb]

Update fish are doing well, pH has been hard to keep stable but I'm trying to keep it above 7.8.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update fish are doing well, pH has been hard to keep stable but I'm trying to keep it above 7.8.

Be sure you are aerating the water and not just circulating it, you need to have bubbles breaking the surface. Then, if the pH continues to remain below, say 7.7, you can buffer it to 7.9 or do.

 

[MrTaleb]

Be sure you are aerating the water and not just circulating it, you need to have bubbles breaking the surface. Then, if the pH continues to remain below, say 7.7, you can buffer it to 7.9 or do.

I have a large skimmer that's running, this tank was setup as a reef tank and I have a large thing that I filled with sodaime that I used to attach to my skimmer to keep pH at 8. It slipped my mind that I still have it, do you think I should set it up for the rest of hypo?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have a large skimmer that's running, this tank was setup as a reef tank and I have a large thing that I filled with sodaime that I used to attach to my skimmer to keep pH at 8. It slipped my mind that I still have it, do you think I should set it up for the rest of hypo?

I think a manual adjustment would be safer - I’d shoot for a pH between 7.7 and 8.

 

[MrTaleb]

sorry my earlier message was confusing, I was referring to the jumbo co2 scrubber from BRS and I used to fill it with soda lime. Would setting this up hurt if it just stops co2 from being put into the system?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

sorry my earlier message was confusing, I was referring to the jumbo co2 scrubber from BRS and I used to fill it with soda lime. Would setting this up hurt if it just stops co2 from being put into the system?

Sorry, be never used one of those, so can’t advise you about that.

 

[MrTaleb]

Hey, so I am at 35 days and going to start increasing salinity over the next week. There is some type of bacterial infection that is coming and going on some of the fish, it comes in like black patches and is most visible on the light colored fish. It has been going on for about 2 weeks now. It has completely cleared up from this fish

for example.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey, so I am at 35 days and going to start increasing salinity over the next week. There is some type of bacterial infection that is coming and going on some of the fish, it comes in like black patches and is most visible on the light colored fish. It has been going on for about 2 weeks now. It has completely cleared up from this fish

for example.

Bacterial infections are not usually (ever, really) black. Are you seeing any other symptoms? Could this be granulation (healing) tissue - that IS black.

Jay

 

[MrTaleb]

No other symptoms besides when I look very closely under bright white lights.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

No other symptoms besides when I look very closely under bright white lights.

I'd just keep a close eye on it for now, watch for ANY signs of new symptoms. If it is granulation tissue, that's a healing process and a good thing. I'd hate to have you rush into some treatment for a fish that might actually be on the mend.....

 

[MrTaleb]

I agree, I am going to start raising salinity over the next 8-10 days. Thank you for your help. It has been a stressful month .