How long do Flukes live outside the aquarium?

Lukara

Lukara

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Jan 13, 2003
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I've been having an ongoing battle with flukes for a few months now and I'm not sure if my water changing equipment may not be a part of the problem.

I do weekly 50% water changes and I'd like to know from those of you who are knowledgeable about flukes if the parasites can live for long periods of time outside the aquarium, such as in my python or in my bucket used for pre-treating the water to refill my aquarium.

Thanks in advance.
 
Aquatic parasites can not survive for long out of water, as a rule. Most can't tolerate dessication, and very, very few can survive for long outside of a host. Flukes are in this category--they have require a host to live.

What I suspect is that you are treating the fish for the visible symptoms, and then ceasing treatment. The problem is that the life cycle of flukes include eggs, which typically are unaffected by treatment. So the adults die off, you quit treating, and the eggs hatch, causing another infestation. I recommend treating the entire tank with 2 tsp of salt per 10 gallons of water, maintaining this level for 4 weeks. Begin doing water changes with FW after, to slowly reduce the salinity.
 
OrionGirl thanks for your reply. I'm glad to hear that I won't need to sterilize my python and bucket weekly after every water change.

Last week I put Praziquantel in my aquarium and the fish seemed to stop scraping ever since. I was thrilled! However, today I did a 50% water change as well as some pruning and rearranging of some plants and after it was done I noticed one of my little guys scraping on some leaves. I was worried that perhaps they could get reinfected with flukes from my python or the bucket. If the parasites can't survive for 1 week without a host or out of water, then it's not re-infection. Perhaps the flukes never all died out with the Prazi, or it could be me being paranoid. I know that some fish scrape themselves on objects when there are changes in the water chemistry such as a ph fluctuation, and in my case, I only saw this fish scratching itself after the water change. My tap water is 7.4 and my aquarium hovers between 6.8 in the morning to 7.0 in the evening because of the CO2.

I will pay close attention this week and see if they continue to scrape.
 
Praziquantel is a godsend in eliminating flukes I'm just as paranoid about flukes as Lukara. One thing not mentioned yet in this good thread is that flukes (both gill flukes and body flukes) are in the flatworm phylum. Praziquantel works against flatworms and nematodes. I noticed (inadvertently) that it paralyzes Lumbriculus California blackworms.

My understanding is that prazi remains effective in the aquarium for a moderately long time. It doesn't degrade quickly like formalin or potassium permanganate. Praziquantel gets the eggs as they hatch... but you might be diluting it out with water changes.

BTW. praziquantel is really hard to get into solution, IME. Does anyone have an emulsifier that they use and would recommend?
 
Wetman, if I see that the scratching continues... Do you think that if I put in a 2.5 mg/L dose of Biltricide and then I forgo one weekly water change and only make a 50% water change two weeks after the dose that I will get a 100% kill - adults, eggs and larvae? I keep my tank temp at 78 - 80 degrees depending on how hot the weather gets.

I was surprised at how difficult it was to dissolve. I put it in a 1L container and stirred for about 5 minutes (Someone suggested to get a container with a lid and shake it vigorously, which is a better idea). Then I took a bucket and filled it with 5 gallons of tank water and poured the container into the bucket and stirred for another 5 minutes. I poured that into the aquarium and rinsed off the big bucket as much as I could. It was tedious because the prazi was sticking onto the bucket near the surface of the water. I got most of it though and when I poured it into the aquarium, I saw some of the prazi settle on my plants, and there was accumulation on the glass near the surface of the water. I did this treatment in the evening before lights out and the next morning the prazi appeared to be dissolved completely.
 
I would do a repeat dose-- 100% kill is always hard to guarantee. I found with Fluke-Tabs that the flukes would recur. (And its active ingredient is a toxic organophosphate insecticide.)

Now Praziquantel is part of my quarantine regime.

The screwtop jar is quite necessary.I'm sorely tempted to use the household blender, but that's just the kind of monkeyshines that make me a social pariah from time to time... I've noticed too that prazi seems to have dissolved/disappeared within 24 hours.

If you google "praziquantel" most of what you pull down is about de-worming us warm-blooded critters and our household mammals. Dr Erik Johnson at www.koivet.com has the best article on praziquantel for fish (koi).
 
I too used Fluke tabs as well and I had a recurrence. Also, my fish didn't seem to like me after the treatment. I will not use that stuff again.

I'm quarantining some fish at this time, it has been almost 3 weeks now and they are showing no signs of illness at all. I'm curious Wetman, you say that you use Prazi when you quarantine, do you use whether or not you see signs of illness? I'm tempted to use it even though I don't see any problems with my quarantine fish since it's so mild, but I'm on the fence on this idea.
 
A thought occurred to me regarding ways to dissolve the prazi and I'd love your opinions on this...

What if I took a piece of very clean pantyhose and put the prazi inside it and attach it to the filter output nozzle for 24 hours?
 
Haven't had any experience with the product, so ignore me if I'm in left field here...But I know they make a small gadget that's used for crushing pills. Sort of like a small mortal and pestle, all in one. Would something like this be useful in getting the tab into a smaller granule that might dissolve more easily?
 
Mine has always been in finely powdered form. The tablets are for dosing mammals, since it's so bitter we're all likely to gag on it.

My feeling is that fishes always arrive with some low population of skin or gill flukes. Random checks of Brochis and Cories imported into Britain showed flukes deeply imbedded in skin and gills. A light load of flukes is sustainable in the wild, but runs rampant in the aquarium, IME.

So I'm giving a preventive dosing of prazi. Its toxicity for fishes is quite low, I'm reading. In mammals, prazi is quickly cleared from the liver. (This is especially an issue when re-dosing any medicament.)
 
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