Gill Flukes - what is safe for puffs?

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mlefessler

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Mar 4, 2008
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Rochester, NY
Current water parameters are as follows :
55 gallon
2 puffs (1.5" & 2")
Ammonia/Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 ppm
Temp: Steady 80F
SG: 1.010
24" bubble wall
Heavily stocked
Both puffs were introduced to a cycled tank (resided in a 20-gallon previously, so new home and environment = possible stress!)
I feed a diet of krill, plankton, snails, shrimp, etc.

Here's my current situation:
Both puffs are breathing hard and out of one gill. Occasionally they will "cough" or "gasp" and the one closed gill will kind of flutter open until they're done coughing/gasping (I've found this website that I'm not sure is fallible or not and made me think gill flukes, but check it out and see for yourself: http://article.discusnews.com/cat-02/flukes1.shtml). They will cruise the glass until they've worn themselves out (by wearing themselves out, I mean 5-10 minutes), then sinking to the bottom/laying on plant leaf. There they will lay there, panting, not using their fins and their spots will fade. Gills are inflamed and pinkish / red. They were eating like little piggies just the other day, now it seems as if they take a bite and then swim away, therefore their appetite seems to be diminishing.

However, today I actually saw a long, red stringy like thing coming out of one of the puff's gills. Should I assume definite gill fluke? I read a previous post by Pufferpunk concerning treating your troubled puffs: Discomed by Aquatronics from the Big Al website. I tried looking that up, but apparently it has been discontinued?

In the meantime, I will have to purchase some Melafix to help with inflammation. Is there any commonly available remedy/medication from a LFS that I could use in conjunction with Melafix to treat these horrid things? Copper seems a bit iffy to me considering that they're scaleless fish. Is there any one out there who has had success treating their puffs for gill flukes?
 

SpockthePuffer

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Jan 2, 2008
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I did a search for gill flukes on the puffer forum to try and find a medication that works.

Prazipro is puffer safe and will treat fill flukes. I also saw a posting about using formalin and doing lots of water changes.

also, here is a thread with someone who just treated with parasite guard for flukes. His puffer is still alive but for awhile the medication seemed to have messed him up more than helped him. http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11882&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=gill+flukes

I hope this helps.
 

mlefessler

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Mar 4, 2008
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Rochester, NY
Well, I treated with PraziPro and Melafix. Provided plenty of aeration.

One puff (1.5") is doing okay. He's actually breathing out of BOTH gills! Very responsive - when I come up to the glass, he'll come up and greet me. Color is a healthy green. Swims fine. Eyes are moving in response to his environment. Gills are still a little red, but will continue the treatment with Melafix to soothe the inflammation.

The other puff........not so good. Turned a dark, dark color - though his belly is still gleaming white - no stress lines. He can't swim that well - swimming nose down and sideways constantly. He seems as if he can't control where he wants to go - naturally bumping into things. I studied his eye movement and see that he does not move them at all. He'll try swimming to the top, getting caught in the filter stream and goes spiraling down, eventually smacking into the glass / bottom. He'll pass by the filter intake and get himself caught. He can barely get himself off, but every other time I look over at the tank, I will have to manually go in there and wedge him off.

I start to think "swim bladder" - but seriously, can it come so sudden? Or is this a profound result of PraziPro? As soon as he started acting like such, I immediately halted the treatment and refreshed the water and replaced the carbon filters.

I guess the absolute best thing I can do for his is make him as comfortable as possible...if at all possible. I don't think he's going to make it. So sad. I wish there was something I could do to further help him, yet I'm terrified of the consequences.

I feel like such a terrible fish keeper..........
 

Pufferpunk

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He may have had them too long--too much damage. I'd continue the treatment. Keep an eye on your parameters.
 

mlefessler

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Mar 4, 2008
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Rochester, NY
One passed last night. *pout* Strange thing is, the other puff was doing fine. Since the other passed, he must've contracted something because then HE died this morning. What could cause a chain reaction like that?

I've had it up to my neck in trying to take care of these guys. I feel as if I am not the right person to care for one, even though I feel I did everything right - from studying, researching, quarantine, cycling the tank to varying their diet. What did I do wrong?! I even checked the water parameters after I flushed the second one down the toilet, and everything was beautiful. I can't even begin to tell you my level of frustration.........I just want to take this tank and chuck it out the window.

But then again.........it IS a used tank. The previous owner never told me what happened to his fish. Did he return them? Did they all die? I feel that I cleaned it thoroughly....but maybe it wasn't enough?

If I can ever get over this frustration and feeling like I am just not the right person to care for these little guys....would it be wise to nuke the tank and start all over again?
 
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SpockthePuffer

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I'm sorry for your loss :( You tried everything you could

I have no idea what happened but maybe pufferpunk will have an idea if she sees your post.

I would wash the tank really well. You can boil decorations if want or you can also clean then with oxyclean which I've heard is easy to do and better then bleach because it isn't as deadly.
 

brackeeper75

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Feb 23, 2008
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I honestly can't believe that it is the tank itself. It was drained right? These puffers are all wild caught and they come with things like this, and there really is nothing you can do, except treat and hope for the best. I think if I were you I would treat them immediately when you got them to keep them from being weakened. I have 2 fig 8's that I have had for 4 years now, I started with 3, and have tried with multiple failures to replace the 3rd one. The same things happen I have decided now just to keep the two. I would not give up. I would just be really picky with the ones you buy and treat them for parasite asap.
 

mlefessler

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Mar 4, 2008
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Rochester, NY
I do not believe it's the tank itself - I'm just trying to justify any reason to link the deaths. Haha! I did drain the tank and washed it really well. Not with any cleaning agent, but just rinsed it really well.

It's just so frustrating when I DID quarantine them and treat them...and yet, they still died. I suppose that's just the nature of Mother Nature.

As far as cleaning the tank, I want to REALLY clean it. I'm steering away from Bleach.....Oxyclean? Really? I like the idea of boiling the decorations, and I will do that. However, I've heard a lot of things on cleaning the tank: water, bleach (yikes...a little harsh, no?), Oxyclean (that's a new one on me) and vinegar.

Instead of using gravel as a substrate, would aragonite help speed up the cycling process?
 

SpockthePuffer

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I don't think a different substrate will speed up the cycle. You could cycle it freshwater and use filter media from one of your other tanks and that will speed up the cycle, probably almost instantly cycle it. But then you would have to slowly raise the sg which would be fine since a lot of brackish fish are kept in fw at the stores.

Oxyclean isn't as harsh as bleach and whatever is in it disintegrates (I think thats what it does at least) so it doesn't mean you have to wash out the tank over and over (like you would with bleach) I don't really know how it works, I just know thats what some people use to clean tanks instead of bleach and vinegar.
 

Pufferpunk

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I was going to say what brac said--these are wild-caught fish & can come with all sorts of problems. Parasite infection can pop up after many months. You did way more than most fish keepers are willing to do, which makes you the perfect person for keeping these difficult fish.
 
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