copperband twitching its head

[daniella3d]

Ok thanks, I will do that.

Originally Posted by Myka

If he looks good after 24 hours, start Prazi. If he looks bad, decide from there whether to give him a bit more time or whether time will only make things worse. Educated guess is about all we have for most diseases/parasites.

[daniella3d]

I treated the tank with prazipro yesterday. none of the flatworms in the tank are affected one bit. They are all over the glass as if nothing was in the tank.

Either prazipro does not affect aquarium flatworms or this prazi (brand new) is not good any longer (unlikely).

If it does kill flatworms, it takes longer than a day to do so. My bristle stars and bristle worms are not affected as well as my spagetti worms.

[Delphinus]

That's interesting about the flatworms not being affected. When I did praziquantel I bought both Prazipro and Praztastic but only used the Praztastic, which is I think more concentrated so it could be that it takes longer with Prazipro. I did not have the red flatworms or the smaller clear ones, or at least, none that I knew of, but I did notice weird flat worm looking things coming out of the rock and floating off into the current, so I figured it did have an effect.

I intended on doing a second treatment because the tang was so badly "infected" but after about a week I did start to notice improvements .. so elected to hold off on the second treatment and only do so if really necessary - but it never proved to be necessary.

I had major amounts of green slime algae form on the glass shortly after treatment that lasted until well after the treatment stopped so I was all too happy not to do that second treatment.

So my advice is to keep watching for now, it might take a few more days. Hopefully that's all it is. Good luck!

[Myka]

Prazi won't hurt flatworms or starfish ime.

[daniella3d]

Ha ok. I was wondering because I had read of some people were advised to use prazipro for flatworms instead of flatworm exit.

The fish seem to be breathing much slower now. Still eating but much less so I guess it's because of the medication. Good thing I waited until he was really fat.

[Myka]

I think scientifically flatworms aren't actually worms which is why they won't be harmed by Prazi, but don't quote me on that.

Sounds like you're taking the right steps, and they are working for you. Right on!

[fiorano]

i've had a copperband for over 2 years now. and he twitches his head frantically every time i walk by the tank. i've by now guaranteed myself its just because he wants food and is excited. mainly because he makes eye contact and twitches more when i walk from the freezer to the tank ha ha, could it maybe just be something as simple as that?

[daniella3d]

Mine was also breathing fast and darting, shaking its fins etc..

I am pretty sure he had flukes because he was breathing quite a bit faster than normal and that's better now. I know the twitching can be nervous too, but the fast breathing when the fish is not stressed is wierd.

Originally Posted by fiorano

i've had a copperband for over 2 years now. and he twitches his head frantically every time i walk by the tank. i've by now guaranteed myself its just because he wants food and is excited. mainly because he makes eye contact and twitches more when i walk from the freezer to the tank ha ha, could it maybe just be something as simple as that?

[daniella3d]

Should I do 2 treatments with prazipro or just one is enough? I was planning to put the fish in my display tank this week. Been treating with prazipro for 5 days and was planning to do 7 days. Is that enough?

should I do 5 days, wait 5 days and do another treatment in 5 days? to cover the full fluke cycle?

[Delphinus]

If it was me in your situation I think I would only consider doing the second treatment if I could see that there were still symptoms.