Is API general good for gill flukes ?

[anewbie]

Is api general good for gill flukes or is there a better medicine? Also will it kill plants? I was looking at one of my fishes with a magnifying glass and i believe it has something a bit odd around the gill area; in this specific aquarium there has been premature deaths that don't occur in my other 5 aquariums but they have been scattered on a time line which makes me suspicious. The time between deaths have been approx every 6 to 8 weeks of individual fishes but until today i never saw anything i could explain for them - the tank has approx 30 fishes:

12 ember tetra (no effected)

6 eques cory 2 died about 12 weeks ago

some guppies over a period of the past 2 months 6 died - maybe 12 left but only older ones died none of the young ones have died

1 borelli apisto died (the 2nd one has weird marks around the gills which make me suspect flukes)

2 sparking gourami died - 2 left

one grumpy old female swordtail is in the tank; she has a bit of age maybe 3 years.

I've never seen any out right aggression and no markings on the dead fishes. 

-

The deaths have been scattered as i said over time not clumped and i suspect it was latent bacteria issue but now i'm thinking a parasite.

[Colu]

General cure is an effective treatment for Gill flukes and it won't harm your plants it can take three courses of treatment 2 weeks apart have you notice any rapid breathing hanging near the surface listlessness sunken belly spitting food out flashing @anewbie

[anewbie]

@Colu no i haven't noticed those symptons. Well the belly of the fish in question is a bit small for sure; and there are lesions on the skin just behind the gills (not part of the gills but the skin behind); there has been no flashing but the eques will occasionally rapidly swim to the surface then return to the bottom (but they have stopped doing this - they only did for a short period; maybe they were just hungry). If is bacteria it takes a few months to kill or it is something toxic in the aquarium that only occassionally affect the fish. I did suffer the loss of 4 male guppies in a week but only the males and only the guppies (this was about a month ago); if a fish is being aggressive it could pretty much only been the swordtail or maybe a sparkling gourami but the sword-tail has been in the tank for 3 years; the sparkling is newer - they were put in 7 months ago but about 1/2 of them suddenly died about 2 months ago (2 of 4).

[Colu]

Theirs a couple of things that could be causing your deaths have you had any ammonia or nitrite spikes when doing water change do you use a water dechlorinator like prime and have you notice more fish deaths after a water changes and odd deaths over a period of time can be caused by a parasitic infection bacterial infection can take two weeks in some cases to kill fish I think with the 6 to 8 weeks between deaths a bacterial infection is unlikely and  you would have seen some other symptoms if it were bacterial infection killing your fish @anewbie

Edited December 12, 2022 by Colu

[anewbie]

On 12/11/2022 at 8:56 PM, Colu said:

Theirs a couple of things that could be causing your deaths have you had any ammonia or nitrite spikes when doing water change do you use a water dechlorinator like prime and have you notice more fish deaths after a water changes and odd deaths over a period of time can be caused by a parasitic infection bacterial infection can take two weeks in some cases to kill fish I think with the 6 to 8 weeks between deaths a bacterial infection is unlikely and  you would have seen some other symptoms if it were bacterial infection killing your fish @anewbie

Not ammonia from water changes;  i do water changes on 3 aquariums in sequence from the same prepared pail of replacement; this is the only one that has had problems. Furthermore the other aquariums have more delicate fishes than this aquarium.

Edited December 12, 2022 by anewbie

[anewbie]

I should qualify this answer; it is not ammonia from water change; the tank has been setup for over 3 years; it could be something in the tank producing ammonia though i have no clue what. Also there has been a few spots with white streaks (algae?) if that provides a hint. 

[Colu]

On 12/12/2022 at 11:44 AM, anewbie said:

I should qualify this answer; it is not ammonia from water change; the tank has been setup for over 3 years; it could be something in the tank producing ammonia though i have no clue what. Also there has been a few spots with white streaks (algae?) if that provides a hint. 

Do you use aquasoil or fluval stratum they can leech ammonia 

[anewbie]

No; i use an inert black substrate (estes stoney river); tank been setup with 3 years and if the substrate did leach i would hope it had finished by now; also these deaths are more recent; they started this summer after i purchsaed some fishes from an untrusted seller - in may. I also want to stress what-ever is affecting the tank is having zero impact on the school of 13 ember tetra....

 

Also my normal water change routine is 50% twice a week for the two 29s that sit side by side.

Edited December 12, 2022 by anewbie

[Colu]

On 12/12/2022 at 12:12 PM, anewbie said:

No; i use an inert black substrate (estes stoney river); tank been setup with 3 years and if the substrate did leach i would hope it had finished by now; also these deaths are more recent; they started this summer after i purchsaed some fishes from an untrusted seller - in may. I also want to stress what-ever is affecting the tank is having zero impact on the school of 13 ember tetra....

 

Also my normal water change routine is 50% twice a week for the two 29s that sit side by side.

I think the best course of treatment would be week 1 general cure then water change Expel p week 2 water change Expel p week 3 general cure water change then Expel p  week 5 general cure that will treat most types of  parasites from skin and Gill flukes Hexamita nematode worms round worms to cover all bases 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Colu

[anewbie]

What do you mean 'expel p'; also it will be hard to tell if it works since the deaths are so scattered. My original thought it was latent bacteria that a fish would occasionally encountered - one thing in common is only the ember never go to the substrate; the other fishes all spend at least some time poking around the bottom for food. Of course the L397s havent' died yet (there are 5 young ones).

[Colu]

On 12/12/2022 at 12:40 PM, anewbie said:

What do you mean 'expel p'; also it will be hard to tell if it works since the deaths are so scattered. My original thought it was latent bacteria that a fish would occasionally encountered - one thing in common is only the ember never go to the substrate; the other fishes all spend at least some time poking around the bottom for food. Of course the L397s havent' died yet (there are 5 young ones).

Fritz Expel p active ingredient is levamisole usually these types of random deaths are caused by poor water quality ammonia nitrite etc or a parasitic infection that why I recommended the combination of general cure and Expel p that will treat most types of commonly encountered parasites treatment options two treat with general cure every 2 weeks for a total of 3 full course of treatment and do a course of maracyn in food that will most bases 

[anewbie]

On 12/12/2022 at 7:08 AM, Colu said:

Fritz Expel p active ingredient is levamisole usually these types of random deaths are caused by poor water quality ammonia nitrite etc or a parasitic infection that why I recommended the combination of general cure and Expel p that will treat most types of commonly encountered parasites treatment options two treat with general cure every 2 weeks for a total of 3 full course of treatment and do a course of maracyn in food that will most bases 

Would expel be better than the above? I've not had much luck getting my fishes to eat medicated food.

[Colu]

 

On 12/12/2022 at 1:14 PM, anewbie said:

Would expel be better than the above? I've not had much luck getting my fishes to eat medicated food.

Expel p treats different types of parasites to general cure that why I recommended treating with general cure then following up with Expel p treatment wise if you only treat with general cure week 2 you could do a course of maracyn week 3 and week 5 repeat general cure 

[anewbie]

On 12/12/2022 at 7:20 AM, Colu said:

 

Expel p treats different types of parasites to general cure that why I recommended treating with general cure then following up with Expel p treatment wise if you only treat with general cure week 2 you could do a course of maracyn week 3 and week 5 repeat general cure 

I'm confused; use maracyn? use marcyn 2? or use Fritz Expel p with general cure ? You've mentioned 4 different medicens.

Edited December 12, 2022 by anewbie

[Colu]

On 12/12/2022 at 1:48 PM, anewbie said:

I'm confused; use maracyn? use marcyn 2? or use Fritz Expel p with general cure ? You've mentioned 4 different medicens.

There's two treatment options use general cure and Expel p to provide broad spectrum antiparasitic treatment or use a combination of general cure and maracyn if you think theirs a bacterial component then use treatment option two general cure and maracyn  the food recipe I provided can be used with maracyn or maracyn2 I wasn't recommending to use both 

[anewbie]

On 12/12/2022 at 7:59 AM, Colu said:

There's two treatment options use general cure and Expel p to provide broad spectrum antiparasitic treatment or use a combination of general cure and maracyn if you think theirs a bacterial component then use treatment option two general cure and maracyn  the food recipe I provided can be used with maracyn or maracyn2 I wasn't recommending to use both 

Is can maracyn be used without mixing with food?

Also would i be able to identify any of the parasite that would be treated by expel p; i mean would there be obvious indications that these parasites exist in hte tank? I've not seen any obvious symptons other than those described in the first post.

[Colu]

Yes you can use maracyn without mixing it into food the symptoms of the parasites Expel p treats is in more severe cases you will see  sunken belly spitting food out  nodules or masses in the skin or muscles abnormal swimming listlessness rapid breathing hanging near the surface in some cases stunted growth if a small number of nematode worms are present in your fish you won't see significant symptoms you can get random deaths spread out over the course of months @anewbie 

[anewbie]

Ok. So it sounds like you recommend maracyn over expel p. If i understand you recommend: general cure followed by maracyn followed by general cure - is this correct ? Pity maracyn 2 isn't as good as maracyn as i have that on my shelf 😉

 

Is maracyn oxy the same as maracyn? Reading the label i don't think i have any of these symptons.

Edited December 12, 2022 by anewbie

[Colu]

Yes week 1 general cure week 2 treat with maracyn week 3 treat with general cure week 5 treat with general you can use maracyn2 instead of maracyn 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Colu

[anewbie]

On 12/12/2022 at 8:51 AM, Colu said:

Yes week 1 general cure week 2 treat with maracyn week 3 treat with general cure week 5 treat with general you can use maracyn2 instead of maracyn 

What do i do week 4 ?

 

[Colu]

On 12/12/2022 at 2:55 PM, anewbie said:

What do i do week 4 ?

 

You don't have to add any medication week 4 if you think they need second course of maracyn2 you could do that on week 4 that really depends on how your fish are doing 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Colu

[anewbie]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:26 AM, Colu said:

You don't have to add any medication week 4 if you think they need second course of maracyn2 you could do that on week 4 that really depends on how your fish are doing 

Ok. i probably won't know till week 10 or so; the deaths are very scattered.

[RennjiDK]

If it is gill flukes, the most effective treatment is Praziquantel, which you can find under the name PraziPro by Hikari.