Flashing Fancy Goldfish, Prazipro ineffective?

[Mark303]

I imported a fancy goldfish and did a two week quarantine with the med trio and everything looked good. However after moving the fish to my display tank I noticed the new fish, as well as an existing fish, flashing a couple times (several days apart.) 

 

Reading online I suspected flukes so I treated the whole tank with Prazipro once a week during my 50% water changes for two weeks. I did not see any other flashing during this time, waited two weeks and then repeated the two week treatment again.  After that I noticed another different fish flash, so repeated this process again with the 2nd treatment lasting 3 weeks. I had not seen any signs of flashing once again for the majority of this time. 

 

I monitor water conditions with an API master kit weekly, and last week found the Nitrites rising to ~.5ppm. in response to this I did water changes every 1-2 days adding Fritzzyme 7 after changes. My cycle seems to have been restored the last couple of days. 

 

Today I saw another fish that had not previously exhibited flashing, flash pretty severely. Should I continue to once again treat with Prazipro? 

 

Could it be due to something else? I don't see any physical signs of flukes, Ich or any real behavioral changes besides the fairly rare (but severe) flashing. 

 

The tank is pretty bare with sand only. Only other products used in the tank is purigen in the HOB filter (which was removed during treatment) and Prime for water changes and to neutralize the spikes when I was trying to restore the cycle. 

 

Thanks for the help!

[Miska]

Do you happen to have any photos of the fish and their issues? Or videos?

[Mark303]

no I dont. the flashing has been rare, but is usually pretty severe, bouncing off their their sides off the bottom of the tank several times.

[DaveO]

This intermittent severe flashing reminds me of my own situation. I had very similar problems in more than one tank for a long time. I tried remedies like you have with no results. I never saw disease or flukes, but used all those meds anyway with no results. Finally I found what seems to be the problem. Micro bubbles in the water! Especially this time of year when the water comes in the house cold and then is warmed up to to match the tank temp. Once in the tank, the water starts to release all the extra gas trapped in the cold water. The result is your fish absorb the gasses into their body. I now gas off all my water-change water for at least 24 hours before doing a water change. The end result has been no flashing and much happier fish.

[Mark303]

On 3/27/2023 at 5:35 PM, DaveO said:

This intermittent severe flashing reminds me of my own situation. I had very similar problems in more than one tank for a long time. I tried remedies like you have with no results. I never saw disease or flukes, but used all those meds anyway with no results. Finally I found what seems to be the problem. Micro bubbles in the water! Especially this time of year when the water comes in the house cold and then is warmed up to to match the tank temp. Once in the tank, the water starts to release all the extra gas trapped in the cold water. The result is your fish absorb the gasses into their body. I now gas off all my water-change water for at least 24 hours before doing a water change. The end result has been no flashing and much happier fish.

Thanks DaveO! Now that you say that it feels like the flashing might always occur within 24 hours of a water change. The last incident of flashing definitely did. 

 

[Mmiller2001]

Any change in your situation?

[Mark303]

yes, I didn't witness any more flashing however the flashing fish became lethargic and bottom sitting, so I quarantined and treated with Maracyn and Paraclense and he shed a massive amount of his slime coat and then died a few days later. Currently back to treating display tank with Prazipro again. So far the remaining fish seem fine.  

[Mark303]

If it is flukes, I have debated removing the sand substrate to try to remove potential eggs. But I am unsure if it is unnecessary, would risk crashing the cycle, or how to even go about properly cleaning. 

[Mmiller2001]

I wouldn't remove the sand. I've had flashing for a while, same kind of scenario. Flashing will decrease and eventually come back. 

I'm currently trying a shotgun med combo, I'll keep you posted if it works.