Prazipro reef safe?

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Pansy-Paws

I would agree that the fluke diagnosis appears to match the evidence, could be a combination of a skin fluke (causing skin cloudiness and hemorrhaging) and a gill fluke (affecting breathing).

There are many different types of flukes (a fish disease book I have claims ~1500), most of which have a narrow host range in nature. This would explain why only your angelfish appear to have been affected.

I've had battles with flukes in the past, and they can be very resistant. As others have said, first of all, treatment in a QT is required. The use of a QT can also give you a range of treatment options, from the usual prolonged immersion treatment listed on the medicine bottles, or short-term baths (say 30 minutes to 3 hours) with more concentrated dosages of medications. I would recommend the book Fish Diseases by Edward Noga if you want to learn more about disease and treatment.

The effort to catch the Queen Angel for transfer to a QT, even if it means partially dismantling the tank, will give the fish the best chance. A word of caution on setting up a rush QT ... aim to do 25% water changes daily until the biological cycle is established, and really monitor the ammonia level (it can spike within a day and kill --- so have some de-toxifier on hand such as Amquel). Personally, I believe ammonia is the largest cause of death for fish in QT, from my own experience as well, unfortunately.

I would start with prazipro, and next go with formalin if the situation does not improve.

Flukes can double in as little as 24 hours ... good luck in saving the queen.

There is no biological cycle in a proper quarantine tank....the medications that are effective will kill it off...sigh...hence the reason you don't use them in a display tank...among other reasons...if all you are doing is a hypo treatment then fine....pretty much everything else will effect the biological cycle also frequent water changes are a must always in a quarantine tank. Hence the cost of setting one up properly and why most don't. You need to keep the ammonia down with constant water changes as well as medication levels topped up to required levels. A qt tank is not simply another tank you put fish in and do nothing but look at them. It is for active medicating of fish...just as one would dip corals before you put them in a tank...(ask anyone who has had flatworms if they wished they'd dipped) a qt tank is like a prolonged dipping of fish. Pro-active is better then putting a fish in and simply looking at it...(albeit you must first suspect or see signs of a disease...there are a few catchall products that work quite well for use as a pro-active treatment..always better safe then sorry and if done right no harm to fish) but if you must wait to observe if there is anything wrong with the fish...this is quite acceptable, then so be it. I rather a fish die of an unknown in a qt tank then in my display. You really should medicate every fish you put in your tank...dogs need shots to travel between countries as do humans...is it a stretch to think fish do as well? Again don't worry about a biological cycle for a qt tank...it is simply a waste of your time, as if the fish has something you will more than likely kill it off when medicating.

[my2rotties]

One thing I cannot find is the life cycle of flukes. If I do remove all my fish to QT, how long will it take for my tank to go fallow? I know about ich and that was always my biggest fear and concern for my fish.

So... now I am where I am at, and have learned a lesson or two... I have no idea where the flukes came from and perhaps if I did things more slowly I would have not had these issues. Sadly I did not and it was at the cost of my fish's lives now. Losing money sucks but it is not about the money...

I am going to the city to grab some meds to put into the food until I can better set myself up to deal with this issue. Hopefully a fish trap will work for the fish I know have flukes and I can get them into QT. I will be making the 55g fuge into the QT tank and am able to cut it off and isolate it from my main water supply. Not ideal but it is all I have at this point to work with. I have a separate skimmer for it and will do my best for the fish if I can catch them. Good thing I have dozens of pails to remove the rock work to try to catch them.

So far that is all I have for a plan but I am sure Kevin will be able to help me out with advise when I get there today.

There is a saying "Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step". Well here is the first step that I am going to be taking. I know if I do panic I will make things worse.

I wish I knew how to recognize illness in fish prior to purchase but I guess that is why people do QT. Lesson learned. I bought many corals and live rock form tank shut downs, as well as fish... I do not know where the flukes came form and know I never will.

I do find the varying info quite confusing on what to decide to do at this point, since there are so many options. Picking the right one which is best for my fish is the hardest choice to make.