copperband twitching its head

[daniella3d]

That's a bit what I am afraid of. I remember that with my discus they would become extremely skittish and stop eating for sometimes 2 to 3 weeks, even when the treatment was over. So with the butterfly wich is already a bit on the skinny side, that is scary.

So I will fatten him up for another week and do the treatment after he's nice and fat. I feed it about 10 times per day and he eats each time so should not take too long.

Tonight he seemed not too bad, breathing slower but he still twitch and dash for no apparent reason as if something is biting him. I looked at him with a magnifying glass but could not see anything.

What about Seachem Paraguard? will that kill flukes? fish seem to tolerate this quite well, at least it worked well for my triggerfish with popeye and it did not stop the fish appetite.

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

What you might want to consider (now and in the future) is that many fish will stop eating for a while after prazi. So you may want to get the new fish eating first, before you treat with prazi if the infestation with flukes isn't too bad. With my incoming fish, I try to get them eating my foods first and then after about a week or so, then I'll give them a prazi treatment.

Also, if you're up for trying it, a freshwater dip of 5 - 10 minutes will kill most external parasites, including flukes. This can be 'gentler' - I did this with a Potter's angelfish instead of an initial prazi treatment since it wasn't eating well yet. Just make sure to match your tank temp and pH and aerate well when doing the dip and keep and eye on the fish during the whole dip, and remove the fish if it's showing signs of a lot of stress.

[Delphinus]

FWIW, praziquantel didn't seem to affect the apetite of any of my fish when I treated my tank. Not that I noticed anyhow.

[shrimpchips]

You can also try a cleaner shrimp to see if it will help to alleviate the flukes - certainly helped for the potters when it was in qt. I wouldn't use a cleaner fish, as they're just another fish to qt, and they're not terribly long lived in captivity either.

[daniella3d]

That's a good idea because he seem to go near my peppermint in hope of being cleaned by it but the peppermint is not really keen on cleaning the fish and just move away.

Although I am not sure it's going to do the job 100% if there are some flukes on the gills. I looked very hard with a magnifying glass but could not see any flukes. Maybe it,s ich on his gills? When I first got it the fish had one white spot on a fin but that was gone the day after, so not sure what it is at this point. There is no white spots on the fish since that so not sure if that white spot I saw was just a little pimple from being cought in a net.

He's breathing faster in the morning and better in the evening so maybe the micro algae in my aquarium are producing lots of oxygen in the day time and at night it is much lover. I have the pump spraying upward to the surface and I have put a skimmer to help this so I will see.

yesterday he had quite a few episodes of sudden dashing and shaking but he's not scraching or flashing on the rock. He's starting to realise that my pipette is the food source as he now come to the pipette for food and almost eat from it. Still has a good appetite so I want to fatten him up before I treat for parasites.

What I am not sure is weather to go with paraguard or prazi. I don't have access to praziquantal, just prazipro and prazipro is a hit or miss with flukes (was with my discus anyway) as it is too weak. Paraquard treat for flukes and ich. prazi treat for flukes and some internal worms, but does nothing for ich.

hmmm...

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

You can also try a cleaner shrimp to see if it will help to alleviate the flukes - certainly helped for the potters when it was in qt. I wouldn't use a cleaner fish, as they're just another fish to qt, and they're not terribly long lived in captivity either.

[Myka]

If you keep feeding it and you find it isn't fattening up, consider cyanide poisoning. A Methylene Blue dip can help to alleviate symptoms of cyanide poisoning.

[daniella3d]

that's interesting because methylene blue is a antipoison for cyanide in human.

but I am wondering if a fish is poisoned by cyanide if there is actualy some cyanide remaining in its system weeks later. I thought that what was left after cyanide poisoning was liver or kidney dammage and that cyanide itself was gone?

I have that fish for 4 days only.

Originally Posted by Myka

If you keep feeding it and you find it isn't fattening up, consider cyanide poisoning. A Methylene Blue dip can help to alleviate symptoms of cyanide poisoning.

Originally Posted by daniella3d

that's interesting because methylene blue is a antipoison for cyanide in human.

but I am wondering if a fish is poisoned by cyanide if there is actualy some cyanide remaining in its system weeks later. I thought that what was left after cyanide poisoning was liver or kidney dammage and that cyanide itself was gone?

I have that fish for 4 days only.

common signs of cyanide poisoning:
will eat good but over time become none interested in food.
will become lethargic and will not respond as much to stimulation.
IE: show no interest in you when you are close to the tank just kind of hangs out further back in the tank. I have bisected many fish that were collected using cyanide poisoning; I find that the liver is usually bleeding and kiddies are enlarged. Head shaking is not a sign of cyanide poisoning, aimlessly wandering around the tank is..

head shaking red gills inflamed areas on the sides are signs of flukes. I would have to say flukes and Prazi-pro is your best bet. I treat all new fish when acclimating them with prazi-pro. Flukes can be white or a black color depending on the type, some flukes are species specific. I would treat the whole tank, I personally have not lost anything when I had to treat my whole tank my Nem shrunk a bit but that was all.

Yes methanol blue is a poison treatment but by the time we get these fish there is not much we can do for them if they have been collected with cyanide poisoning. We can treat them and prolong their life but that is all, if they have stated to show the signs of cyanide poisoning it been to long of the little guys.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

that's interesting because methylene blue is a antipoison for cyanide in human.

but I am wondering if a fish is poisoned by cyanide if there is actualy some cyanide remaining in its system weeks later. I thought that what was left after cyanide poisoning was liver or kidney dammage and that cyanide itself was gone?

I have that fish for 4 days only.

Where do you think us smrt fishy pple got the idea?

You gotta catch them pretty fast as far as I know, but there aren't many studies on ornamental marine fish so most of our methods are anecdotal at best. Personally, a fish like a CBB which is known to often still be caught with cyanide I would have dipped in MB during acclimation just as a precaution. MB is quite gentle on them, so I see it causing no further stress or harm. More of an anti-stress dip in my experience.