copperband twitching its head

[daniella3d]

Ok I dosed again because it's the second time this week that I see my copperband breathing from only one gill and the other gill is closed and not moving. That was a clear sign of flukes with my discus, so I am guessing that breathing from only one gill is also a sign with saltwater fish?

I don't see how a second treatment will do harm since it went really well the first time and I will be safe that it will take care of what ever could be left.

I am going to wait 2 days and transfer the fish after that. Guess that will be about 10 days treatment with prazipro.

[daniella3d]

I put the copperband in the main tank this evening because his breathing was nice and slow and wow, within 2 minutes he started to roam the aquarium picking at the feather dusters all over. I thought he would be shy but no, he's all over the place. The best part is that nobody even pay attention to him, so he's doing his little thing in peace. So far so good

[Lance]

Good news! Enjoy him.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Bill, did you maybe mean Praztastic has a second ingredient besides praziquantel?

yes that was it I think, but dog medication for tape worms have 2 ingredients there are a few other med's that have praziquatel and another ingredient in it, so no one is wrong in this instants. and yes it can affect flat worms I believe it depends on the dose you use as Prazi pro is quite diluted in comparison to praziquatel when mixed up.

Bill

I know prazi-pro has a solvent but praziquantal is suppose to contain some thing else, metronidazole does sound familiar but I am not sure what the extra substance is. After doing some surching if you get the praziquantel for humans then it has no other medications in it but aparently the praziquantel for dogs does. this drug treats for worms and flukes. Flukes will retract during the day when exposed to bright light the little buggers can retract under scales of a fish. If you don't see them on the scales yet then your fish should be savable. flukes can be species specific so if you are lucky that is the type you have so they will not spread to your other fish. The fish that brought them into my tank was an angle and it spread to my clowns and none of the other fish.

Originally Posted by daniella3d

No, prazipro does not contain anything else except a solvant. It is praziquantal in a liquid form, already dissolved and ready to use. I have read that some people say it containt metronidazole but I have no idea where they got this.

It's not that it will kill the flatworms in high dose, but rather that it kill certain type of flatworms and not others and the others that it does not kill are those pests in our aquarium. I would rather use flatworm exit instead if needed

The problem that remain with my copperband is that he's breathing quite fast in the morning and that changes during the day, then he start to breath slowly and normaly by mid day. Maybe there is just a lack of oxygen in my tank during the night because I shut off my skimmer to let the fish sleep? or maybe he's just spooked when the light turn on? I would imagine that if this was flukes it would be breathing fast all day, not just in the morning?

[daniella3d]

Praziquantal is praziquantal, it is a pure medicine just like metronidazole (for protozoares). Prazipro contain praziquantal and a solvant, nothing else that I am aware of. It would be nice if you could find the reference about dog praziquantal containing something else and what is that something else. Praziquantal itself does kill flukes and some type of flatworms, not just flukes.

I don't think he's got flukes anylonger. I am not even sure it was fluke because I have not seen any. Today his breathing is nice and slow but he has not eaten the mysis and white worms yet...he's too full of feather dusters. I will try to offer the fish some fresh mussle as well.

Originally Posted by bvlester

I know prazi-pro has a solvent but praziquantal is suppose to contain some thing else, metronidazole does sound familiar but I am not sure what the extra substance is. After doing some surching if you get the praziquantel for humans then it has no other medications in it but aparently the praziquantel for dogs does.

[daniella3d]

Ok I am a bit tired of this. The copperband was ok after 2 prazipro treatments but now it's started doing the same thing again. He's breathing fast from one gill and the other gill is closed and not moving.

UPDATE: Today he's ok, breathing normally. Not sure what to think of this but since he's eating well and he's fat, I guess I should not worry. I bought a cleaner shrimp today and will give him a new friend. Hopefull that will help if there are still some parasites. Anyone seen this behavior with one closed gill and breathing only from only one gill? One of the gill move and breath and the other is not moving at all and it is closed shut.