Moina and Prazipro - safe?

[Comradovich]

So, I'm noticing my juvenile LDA 25s (Parotocinclus Jumbo) are starting to flash. They're young enough that it could just be zoomies, but I'm keeping an eye on them anyway. Should just be a simple Prazi-pro treatment if gill flukes, right?

Except... this is also the tank that I keep as natural as possible. It has detritus worms, it has moina, it also has some greenwater and a fair few paramecium that I've been seeding into it. (There may also be some walter worms or banana worms that haven't drowned or been eaten yet).  I'm trying to provide food for a pair of Tiger Teddies that I want to start a colony. There's also a growing colony of shrimp, but I'm less worried about them, since they're breeding like crazy. Tiger Teddy fry are tiny enough that they'll need the live stuff in the tank. The Pitbull Pleco juveniles are just keeping the place algae free while they grow out.

Does anyone have experience treating prazipro in a tank with other microfauna that you'd rather keep alive? Worst case, I can always move the juveniles back into the main tank with their parents while I treat them, it'd just be a real pain to get them back out of there when I'm ready to sell. The pair of Tiger Teddies are completely calm, I don't think whatever agitated the plecos is getting to them.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/17/2023 at 5:52 PM, Comradovich said:

Does anyone have experience treating prazipro in a tank with other microfauna that you'd rather keep alive?

Currently using PraziPro for Neocaridina shrimp. Malaysian trumpet snails are ok with the treatment so far (I’m on the second course now) and copepods are as well. I believe it killed my hydra and limpets. I have a few detritus worms but I am not sure if they made it or not. It’s so rare that I see them anyway. I have sand, and the tank does not get overfed so they have remained sparse. PraziPro kills worms so I assume they are gone.. Unconfirmed as to if/how my ostracods were affected.

I removed my nerite before treatment as a precaution. It’s my understanding that Malaysian trumpet snails can survive atomic warfare so I wouldn’t rely on their well-being as meaning PraziPro is snail-safe. Worm and parasite treatments in general are not snail safe. Hence no more limpets. 😞

Edited June 19, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Comradovich]

I uh... need to make a small Mea Culpa here. Seems I have not been following the "be the fish" advice nearly closely enough. I don't even think I was even following "watch the fish" advice. I spent a little time observing my tank and managed to catch the actual start of the behavior I was worried over.

As it turns out, my attempts to make the tank Tiger Teddy friendly worked a bit too well. I have instead made a neocaridina paradise. They can graze on pretty much everything in here, and have been dropping Pumpkin Spice shrimplets all over. It also turns out that baby pitbull plecos don't like to be touched. I guess the pitbull plecos have spent enough time down in the mulm chowing down that they've picked up a bit of algae, which the shrimplets are super happy to help clean off of them. I remember @Cory saying in a livestream that neocaridina shrimplets are "the tacos of the aquarium". So my actual issue with this tank was not gill flukes, but "taco attacks". 🤣

 

...Yeah. So anyway, I've checked the plecos and their little bellies are nice and plump. Their fins also look good. I'm noticing they're spazzing out a lot less over time. I guess I'll just assume they're getting used to being cleaned by "tacos". I feel pretty stupid now. Thanks for the help anyway.