Gill Flukes infestation in 2500 Gallon saltwater pond killing my Fish Hypo Salinity and Prazipro are not working

[Troy V24]

My Dad owns a 2500 Gallon out door Saltwater Pond lately the Water Quality has been poor and we noticed the fish ( Quarantined for 2 Months) were acting funny for maybe 4-5 days ago turns out it was Gill Flukes and all of our smaller fish have been dying. Since the start of the out break weave been dosing with PraziPro but it hasn't worked then we used Hypo Salinty and its also not working. Today our 10 year old clown trigger died if you can leave advise that would help.

Thank you - Troy P.S My dad is a 15+ Reefer and I'm just trying to help him so if this is Vague note I have no experience caring for fish

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi, Welcome to Reef2Reef!

How did you diagnose gill flukes?
Can you post a video of the fish/pond?
What is the current salinity/specific gravity?
What fish remain alive?

Jay

 

[Troy V24]

Hi, My dad put one of the dead Fish under the Microscope and the fish lost scales and he looked at the wound and it had fluke anchors on it and before it died it was stressed out and swimming sideways I currently don't know what the salinity is but weave lost around 7 fish so far but the big/ Medium fish are still alive

 

[Phlynamjax]

are you sure your salinity is in proper hyposalinity level? I had flukes that I couldn’t eradicate using prazi. However, I have never encounter flukes that survived 10 days of hyposalinity.

 

[Troy V24]

are you sure your salinity is in proper hyposalinity level? I had flukes that I couldn’t eradicate using prazi. However, I have never encounter flukes that survived 10 days of hyposalinity.

We have been using Hypo for 2 days I didn't know that it takes 10 days to kill Flukes while using Hypo. The salinty is the proper Hyposalinty level Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

We have been using Hypo for 2 days I didn't know that it takes 10 days to kill Flukes while using Hypo. The salinty is the proper Hyposalinty level Thanks

Hyposalinity for flukes needs to be at about half natural seawater levels - so 16 ppt or a specific gravity of 1.0125

The minimum time to use hyposalinity to control Neobenedenia flukes is 16 days. I always go 30 days, because I've had issues with Neo not dying off as it should (the hypo doesn't kill the eggs, those need to die out from lack of being able to hatch out).

Jay

 

[Troy V24]

Hyposalinity for flukes needs to be at about half natural seawater levels - so 16 ppt or a specific gravity of 1.0125

The minimum time to use hyposalinity to control Neobenedenia flukes is 16 days. I always go 30 days, because I've had issues with Neo not dying off as it should (the hypo doesn't kill the eggs, those need to die out from lack of being able to hatch out).

Thanks, but I have a question when the gill Flukes remove the scales and removes the slime layer of the fish will Bacteria attack the open wound?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks, but I have a question when the gill Flukes remove the scales and removes the slime layer of the fish will Bacteria attack the open wound?

The process is that while flukes are attached to the fish’s skin or gills, it is a pretty stable dynamic - the fluke is taking in the fish’s blood of course, but the fluke is covering the wound it made. When you kill the fluke with medication, it drops off - leaving an open wound. This causes blood loss and increases the risk of bacterial infection. The more flukes there were, the greater the overall risk.

Jay

 

[Troy V24]

The process is that while flukes are attached to the fish’s skin or gills, it is a pretty stable dynamic - the fluke is taking in the fish’s blood of course, but the fluke is covering the wound it made. When you kill the fluke with medication, it drops off - leaving an open wound. This causes blood loss and increases the risk of bacterial infection. The more flukes there were, the greater the overall risk.

We currently cant run full Hypo to kill the Flukes and we can not catch the fish out of the pond what would you recommend to kill the flukes? #medic

 

[Jay Hemdal]

We currently cant run full Hypo to kill the Flukes and we can not catch the fish out of the pond what would you recommend to kill the flukes? #medic

Bulk praziquantel dosed 3x 8 days apart with good aeration is another option. You need to mix it in a bucket, wearing a mask, then express it out into the pond through a fine mesh net.
Jay