It's Flukes! What to do now!?

[misslauren]

Ok, finally figured out what my sick emperor has, its eye flukes!

Now so far treatments are suggesting fresh water dips, other than that any further recommendations??

Thanks!

[reefhead728]

I would do the fresh water dip then keep him in a qt tank for a few weeks and keep a close watch on him. Good Luck

[reefhead728]

you can also treat with praziquantel while its in your QT.

[reefhead728]

hows your emperor doing?

[misslauren]

Hi Reefhead,
Well, he's in pretty bad condition to be honest. Unfortunately he hadn't eaten anything since last Wednesday, so obviously he has lost a lot of condition. To be perfectly honest I'm surprised he's still been around. Thankfully I got him to eat yesterday, and a significant amount. Accidentally spilt way too much Spectrum Finicky Fish into the main tank, and the fish went crazy for it, including the emperor. Such a relief to see him eat

Unfortunately it may have just taken too long to diagnose him... the damn flukes are absolute devils, have done sooo much damage, especially to one of his eyes Unfortunately if he does pull through I think he may have lost all/most of the vision in one of his eyes..

I think we'll see in the next two days or so If he will pull through. I've got him in a quarrantine tank with a product called Sterazin... it was recommended from our fish shop and I've read that several people on the net have used it successfully for fluke. If he manages to continue eating and build a little more condition, I'll try fresh water dipping him in 2 days or so...

[misslauren]

Managed to find a pic (from thefishsite.com) showing the fluke in the eye... hopefully it may be of help diagnosing in the future?

[reefhead728]

Hope he makes it.

[leebca]

The eye fluke is very rare in our marine fishes. However the best treatment is physical removal (surgery). I don't suspect you are set up to do that.

The next best treatment is the use of Praziquantel, though it has only been partially able to control the fluke and rarely has cured ornamental marine fishes.

The condition leads to blindness in most cases and although doesn't kill the fish, it makes it impossible for the fish to find its food.

If you want to try the Praziquantel treatment, then the fish is moved into another tank -- a hospital/quarantine tank. You'll add the quantity to the tank water, recommended on the medication.

Least effective is the FW dip. However, you can perform this treatment after you catch the fish and on its way into the QT. You would follow the guidelines for this treatment found here: Freshwater Dip for Marine Fishes Follow those instructions closely however limit the time the fish is in the freshwater to 10 to 13 minutes.

Good job at finding a diagnosis!

[misslauren]

Thanks, I'm just irritated I didn't find it earlier. Do you know if it spreads quickly? The tang has started showing very mild symptoms so we were going to give him a freshwater dip, but currently none of the other fish are showing symptoms. Main problem is the qt really isn't big enough for all the fish. Managed to feed the emperor yesterday, but his vision is pretty bad.. He was bumping around a bit in the qt. We currently have him on stetazon by waterlife? So should I try track down this other medication?
Thanks, Lauren


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[misslauren]

The Emperor died... *$@^!!!!!!!!!!

I managed to finally find someone at a reasonably close fish store who seemed to know a bit about it. He seemed to think that eye flukes are very rare and can't spread from fish to fish? Is that true?

[leebca]

Sorry for your loss.

Saying 'fluke' is a bit like saying 'virus.' There are many different kinds. Flukes have different life cycles. Some require snails and other invertebrates to complete their cycle -- in fact only certain species of snails.

The likelihood of these spreading to another fish in captivity is small because of their complex life cycle.

I would stock some Praziquantel. In fact, have you read this post? Stocking the Marine Fish Medicine Cabinet

[reefhead728]

Sorry to hear about you emperor.