Fish flashing and formalin not working

J

jjohns

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Sep 26, 2003
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Bismarck, ND
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I have several fish flashing in one of my tanks, and can't kick whichever parasite is responsible. I have dosed with formalin daily at 1mL/10 gallons and saw improvement in one of my tanks, and have been dosing almost 2 weeks now. No flashing that I have seen, but I did see one fish yawn last night. I did a salt dip with a few fish before I started becuz I saw mucus build up and cloudy looking fins on a couple of them. So, dipped them and started formalin treatment. They seemed to improve right away, mucus was disappearing, color improving, eating good. So, still treating with formalin after 2 weeks, becuz I still have the issue in another tank and don't want to reintroduce it if it is in fact gone in that one.

Problem is, that I dosed with formalin for about a week now the same dose in the other tank, and I still have fish flashing. I can say it has definitely lessened since treating with formalin and not as frequent flashes, but they are still doing it some. Last night, I went ahead and did a salt dip for most of the fish in that tank, hoping that would jump start the treatment like it did in the other tank where I had good success. After the dip, they didn't flash of course. Redosed with formalin last night and today, I see flashing again on some of the fish I just dipped.

What should I do? Do I need to dose a higher dose with formalin, or do I just need to give it longer to work in that tank. The smaller tank looks pretty good after 2 weeks, but I should check it out closely too. Meds I have on hand for parasites are: PP, Prazi-pro (liquid), formalin/MG, trifon, fluke tabs, acriflavine, parasite clear (Jungle tabs). Just a note--I tried PP before and after 2 separate treatments, flashing was there and/or reappeared later and didn't have much luck with parasite clear from jungle (think its a combo med deal that doesn't have enough kick).

Any suggestions?
 
Could it possible be something in your water that is irritating them and not a parasite? Do you add ferts to your tanks?
 
I think it is parasite, and not something else in the water becuz when I treat with formalin, the flashing and flicking does decrease and they seem less irritated. However, the formalin just doesn't get rid of it completely. I am wondering since formalin breaks down in the presence of organics, that maybe my level or organics in that tank is higher than the other tank where the formalin seemed to work better.

The tank has been up for 1 1/2 years, ammonia & nitrites zero, nitrates under 5ppm, pH ~6.8 to 7.0. Fish in the tank are cichlids (angelfish and a couple severems) and most have been in there for 1-1/2 years.

If it is an organics issue and the formalin is breaking down too fast, I am considering adding a 2nd dose to the tank. I usually dose at night, but if it is breaking down, maybe I should add another 1/4 to 1/3 of the dose again in the morning to jump start it and keep the levels up?
 
if it were me, I would stop with the meds and use freshwater salt. I have always found that to really help the slime coat. too much meds can harm the slime coat..

unless you see white spots (ich) or gasping/clamped gills (gill flukes) I would stop treating with formalin unless you know for sure you have a parasite..

I had a similar problem years ago in my discus tank, water quality good - fish irritated. Meds did nothing. I used some freshwater salt and they stopped flashing/scratching.

it might help.
 
I have tried treating with salt also. I dosed with 1 tablespoon/gallon for over 2 weeks, and it didn't seem to do much at all and I still saw flashing and irritation going on.

Plus, the fact that I did see improvement after treating with PP and treating with formalin on separate occassions, makes me think it must be a parasite. I thought I had gotten rid of it actually after doing 5-6 spaced out PP treatments. I didn't see flashing for a month or so, and then it came back again. I figured I reintroduced it by either not cleaning my equipment well enough, or a few had survived to repopulate again.

But, if you do think there are metals in the water, what can I do about it...like iron or copper? I all ready use the phosphate buffer called Proper pH 7.0 that says it detoxifies heavy metals. There must be some sort of chelating agent in it. Wouldn't that take care of it? Are there heavy metal test hits I could buy to check it, and at least eliminate that as a possiblity?

Also, fish I had purchased and set up in quarantine using the same treated tap water and water conditioners look fine and do not show these same symptoms until introduced to the main tank. Again, leading me to believe it is a parasite. I would love to just do nothing and quit with the meds, but I think it would only get worse and the flashing would increase leading me to have a bunch of dead fish. And they can injure themselves from excessing scratching and end up with bacterial problems as well. That is why I would like to get this figured out.

I may do one more week of formalin, if they don't show much improvement, I will stop for a while and then probably end up doing serial PP treatments again and be way more cautious about cleaning equipment, etc.
 
if you can see a parasite, try prazipro instead. it worked great and was gentle on my pleco. he had a massive infestation of body flukes
 
I have the prazi-pro, but the thing is, I do not visibly see a parasite or thick mucus on anyone. Otherwise, I maybe would have gone that route all ready. The prazi-pro liquid thgat I have is kind of a thick messy liquid that makes a film on everything, and I think I would buy pure prazi powder if I wanted to go that route. I did have flukes in my tank over 2 years ago, but I treated with the prazi-pro and think I got all of them. I will keep it mind though, and maybe purchase some pure prazi to have on hand to go that route if I need to.
 
I agree the prazi pro is messy, I used it once when I had flashing. Have you considered AP's Clout? It's for protozoan parasites, flicking or scratching, skin & gill ***es, etc. I have some on hand, never tried it though. The expiration date is 2011 so it's good for a few years once you get some. The bottle says one treatment should be adequate.
 
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