life bearer or formalin with cory cats? Discus have gill flukes

stephcps

stephcps

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Jun 2, 2009
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So, I'm pretty sure my discus have gill flukes. I am trying to figure a treatment. I have narrowed down to life bearer or formalin. Does anyone have any experience with these meds and corycats? Or BN plecos?
Do you have any other methods for treating gill flukes?
 
Praziquantel is effective against gill flukes and is about the safest med you can use in terms of side effects, results of overdosage, etc.
 
You've had success with prazipro specifcally for gill flukes? I've read it is not effective for that. Can you tell me how long you treated and your water change regimen during treatment?

THX
 
I used it according to the directions, I believe 1oz per 20g. I routinely change water in my tanks twice a week but any time I am treating a tank I treat the water just after a WC and then wait a week to change the water again.

I have only had to treat once at full strength and all signs were gone by the end of the week, although it does say repeat doses may be necessary. My biggest positive with this particular med is that it doesn't seem to have any negative effects on the fish, at least not like with some others that I've used.
 
Hey steph, it's been a long time since I've treated any gill flukes, but I did successfully with the discus a few years back. At that time I used APPLUS+ Antifluke which can be used with everything except inverts. I had no inverts in the tank at that time, but did have cories and otos and tetras and a pleco or two. While it cured it, there's no instructions on the bottle how to redose after the first dosing. I know I called the company, their phone number is on the med, to find out when and if to repeat the meds. This med worked.

Prazi products always scared me with the discus...too much reading on my part I guess. I have had a bottle of prazi-pro unopened for years! I know a lot of people do use prazi products though. I've used AP (Aquarium Products) Quick Cure which also treats mild fluke outbreaks, but I had tetras in the tank and had to use it at half strength. It contains Formalin and Malachite Green.
 
Although I have not tried Praziquantel on gill fluke infestation (Gyrodactylus), Prazi product worked well on certain internal worm infestations including both internal trematodes/cestodes.
The fluke mentioned in above link is about internal trematode (sometimes referred to as fluke) infestation but not Gyrodactylus, an external paraiste..

If gill flukes on Steph's fish are Gyrodactylus (livebearing fluke), I would prefer Formalin based med over Prazi as specified by parasitology books and meds I tried.
Well, provided that this is gyrodactylus to begin with as they are at or smaller than 1 mm long which may not be correctly id by naked eyes.

By all means, I am not discrediting others experiences, just pointing out the simple facts.

Unless confirmed this is Gyrodactylus infestations, I really dont know which med to use. If one feels this is definitely Gyrodactylus, more than one fish may be infested.
Perhaps divide them into two different groups in separate q/t (but same water condition) and try diffferent meds and record the results.

Can someone provide ingredients on life-bearer? I am thinking it is based on Formaldehyde as well.

Good Luck!
 
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