flukes/gills and skin.

[craig]

hi guys,

just want as many ideas as possible as to eradicate these nasty's.

so who has had them and who got rid of them???

tropical and goldfish.

i've and am battling them now with goldfish. tried salt dips,tried fluke tabs(which can't buy now) and now trying dogwormer.

i put under micro after salt and fluke-tab's little buggers still there.

haven't finished dog wormer treatment yet but will be taking sample to the scope then.

any ideas or experiences with these nasty bugs would be helpful.

cheers.

[alanmin4304]

You can use Neguvon (sheep dip) 3% for 3minutes and treat with 0.25- 0.5 ppm (.5ppm 0f 1% soln = 1ml / 20 litres)

or

chelated copper sulphate at 2 drops per 4 litres. Stock solution 62 gramns copper sulphate and 35 gramns citric acid per US gallon.

or formaldehyde but I can't remember the dose, but the salties might be able to help, I think they use it.

All of the above may cause temporary sterility

[Discusguru]

Formalin 37 1/2% strength at 1ml per 20 ltrs water.

Pottasium Permanganate . Make up a stock solution from crystal. Drip into tank till water turns pinkish purple. Keep tank water pink for at least an hour to be effective. Repeat on third day.

Make sure you have Plenty of Airations when using both treatment.

Both treatment will depleate (sp) oxygen. PLENTY OF AIR NEEDED.

Ron

[craig]

hi alanmin4304,

i always thought copper was toxic big time to goldfish!!!!

formulin is pretty hard on fish. especially big flash tails of a fancy goldfish.

the dog wormer has 50mg praziquantel in it which doesn't hurt fish nor plants nor your filter,you don't even have to waterchange between doses.

but does it work, i will have to wait and see

have you ever used the sheep dip?

[craig]

hi ron,

potassium permanganate kill my filter and all bacterial life in tank, i can't take them out of tank to be treated as the little rotten flukes,larvae,eggs will live on in tank.

[Discusguru]

Formalin do not harm the tail of your fancy goldfish. I know cos I use to breed all sorts of fancy goldfish ( oranda, ryukin, crown pearlscale, bubble eyes). I use formalin mix with malachite green powder.

PP does kill off everything in your tank and it will keep everything clean. Maybe it's time to give the tank a once over including filter since you say the flukes are everywhere.

You win some and lose some lol.

Most med will have a effect on the filters.

Ron

[alanmin4304]

The copper sulphate is chelated (with citric acid) this makes it less toxic to fish but still toxic to parasites. Copper is used to treat a number of problems by importers, but it is deadly on some fish. I used both routinely on goldfish I imported from Singapore with no ill effects. I have also used formaldehyde (formalin solution) successfully on goldfish but I could not remember the dose rate. I take it that the rate given is correct. You can use it as a bath or treatment or both.

[sharn]

everythign i have read about flukes has reccomeneded prazi so id keep up with that if its strong enough, hope things work out for you!

[craig]

thanks guy's for your help.

have any of you's ever looked under micro after a treatment to see if the flukes have gone?

my tank does not need an over haul, fish came with the problem

and i was given the wrong dosage for formulin at 3mls per 20lt and yes it did burn finnage,so that kinda put me off the stuff,plus working in a quareentine facility i get to see what drugs have more pro's and con's.

my tanks had been treated with salt and salt and formulin is a toxic mix,even after waterchanges to try and get a right reading of the low salinity level extremely hard, not worth the risk.plus so hard to work out. should have stayed at school :lol:

i will stick to the dog wormer,and will take another look under micro in a week or so,will let you know the result. if it works, the pros of the drug prazi are fantastic,no waterchanges during treatment,no airation no risk to plants nor your filter and fish no worries with sterility of the fish.

would be great for discus too.

so far in the treatment fish have perked up,little erosions on the fish where the parasite has been, fish stopped scratching within 4-5 hrs, so is looking up. but i am sure the only way to fined out will be the microscope plus tank is a pretty pink colour :lol:

[Discusguru]

I use liquid prazi for worming my discus.Does not contain the other ingredients found in dog wormer and the water stays crystal clear

At the same time it fix the fluke if there is any around (one stone kill two birds).

If you do your waterchange and quarantine new fish you should be able to keep the flukes under control.

Ron

[alanmin4304]

Goldfish tend to carry a lot of parasites and it does not seem to bother them under good conditions. The usual requirement is to control the parasites when breeding because the fry can't handle them like the adults, hence my comments on sterility.

[craig]

hi ron,

this liquid prazi do you get it from a vet? what is the mg/g?

yes i was a bit worried about the other ingredients,but the prazi content 50mg. another breeder uses it 2 a year with no problems,and as i was getting at the end of my rope was willing to try anything.

to cut along story short,bought fish,put in new never used before ponds, which had been cycled,at no stage did ponds get any levels,with the money spent on these fish,they were very well looked after and monitered. they breed had heaps of fry. not having enough room, i brought the adults inside 14 adults into a 6ft and a 4ft also well cycled healthy tanks. you could say they have been quareentined in their ponds never been mixed with anything else.the fish tanks were even new. i have taken all procautions.

i relise that the tank enviroment is the cause of the outbreak, in the pond the flukes and fish co-excist quite nicely,by bringing them in to clean healthy conditions the parasites had an orgy.but i was completely blown away by the non affects of med's for flukes. any treatments i have done have been followed strickly from koivet Dr erik johnson. with the fluke tabs full treatment and follow-up treatment, another sample under scope still there.the only thing i can think of is maybe old stock,no expiry date on boxes.

all the ponds the fish were in have been chlorined and sunbaked,filled left for wks then fry put in. all fry doing well.

as can tell at wits end, if this doesn't work, what next?????

i guess i'll just have to cross-fingers for the adults i have been battling this for months now.

if i can get them cleaned up. i have now free'd up 2 large ponds for these guys,which have been up and running for years with no problems with fish.

thanks for all your help guys,will keep you posted.

but if anyone knows where prazi is sold in high mg and by itself i would love to hear from you. i have heard you can get it at the doc's 600mg biltricide i tab would treat 300lts but not sure what else is in it,as yet.

[Caper]

Craig aside from seeing the flukes under a microscope...how did you know it was flukes? I thought I read somewhere on the net that you could see them with naked eye, is this true?

[craig]

hi caper,

no couldn't see them with my eyes. but i knew something was not right with the fish,flashing and scratching,missing scales and reddening of finnage(veins). first of all as always checked water quality, that was all fine. sometimes you can see where the flukes have been ie ulcers, they say that bacterial infections and flukes go together,if you have seen a fluke under the scope they have 2 nasty pincers which grip the fish, these often start a bacterial infection.no wonder fish try to scratch them off.

nasty nasty bug. hollywood could make horror movie out of these guy's.

cheers,

shell.

[craig]

hi guys,

just an update on the nasty flukes.

i did the 2 doses of the dog wormer and then took another sample.

no flukes

so the prazi seems to work.

hopefully they are all gone from tank too.

will test again in another few weeks justy to make sure.

fish are all doing great,the prazi is definitely easy on the fish and their enviroment.

cheers for all your help.

[BK]

What dog wormer is it. i asked at vet about prazi when getting last lot of Metrozondal (sp). Could only buy in large containers and went of quick so no good for me.

[craig]

hi BK,

it was vitapet dog wormer plus,50mg prazi in it also has 2 other med's in it. i was a concerned about it but the risk was worth it.

put's a pink colour to your tank. i freaked when i first put it in, the fish disapeared completely.but it cleared after an hour sort-of,well you could see the fish. they improved within 4-5hrs.

hope this is of some help.

shell.

[BK]

I here that people use "Drontal" dog wormer but unsure what the active drug is.

[craig]

hi BK,

main ingredient is praziquantel,praziquantel comes under many brand names ie droncit,drontal, and for human's biltride. mg's might change from product to product though. vitapet has 50mg so is quite exspensive to treat.

biltricide comes at i think 300mg tab. asking the doctor for it will be a laugh. i will let you know how i get on there.

very hard to get praziquantel in pure form.

another praziquantel is good for is intestinal worms so it really cleans up your fish inside and out.also safe with fry.

it's just a pity it's not as available here as it is overseas.

shell.

[stu]

ok so i think i have the same prob with my goldfish. seen them scratching and flashing irratically. with the dogwormer such as masterpet what quantities would i use in a 100L tank with 8 fish? one worming tablet at a time?

[craig]

hi,

the ingredient praziquantel which is in the dewormer is 50mg.

2 mg of prazi will treat a Lt of water,1 tab dewormer 50mg will treat 25lts.

packet has 4 tabs,so do 100lts. dissolve in tank water in a glass etc. then add to tank, after 4 days treat again,no need to waterchange during treatment,although i like to do a waterchange before i treat a tank,also take carbon out of filter.

prazi won't hurt fish nor filter nor plants.

4 days after the second dose do a 50% waterchange and put carbon back in filter.

it fixed my fish up a treat,no sign under the scope of the little buggers(flukes).

does take awhile for the pink to dissappear from the tank,don't panick it does go after normal waterchanges.

shell.