Joshua14 Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Nitrates: 40ppm Nitrites: 0ppm GH: 300ppm KH: 0ppm PH: 6.3 This is a 55 gallon setup with around 100 zebra Danios. It's been setup for over a year. The other day while doing a water change I noticed 3 Danios with bloody red gills and labored breathing. I watched closely for 24 hours and lost one. At that point I started a round of salt medication. 3tbs per gal. The following day I lost another. Any recommendations or experience with gill flukes? I have read up a little bit on the flukes and not quite sure how my zebras came down with it. I have seen that praziquantel is a popular treatment for such an issue. Being that I don't have any on hand, I was thinking of using another antiparasitic med such as levamisol. I just happen to have a ton of it on hand. Would you keep up with the salt treatment or switch to anti parasite meds, and has anyone had experience getting rid of flukes with levamisol? I would love as many opinions as possible so I can weigh my options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua14 Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 Day 2. I've tried so hard to get a good photo and have failed. Danios don't like to stay still, who knew? But I've lost one this morning. Pull it out, and promptly did a 25% water change. I did not add any more salt. I am currently at work until tomorrow afternoon now. I think my plan is to do another 25% tomorrow followed by a heavier salt treatment. I'm still curious if anyone has used levamisol for gill flukes? Again, this is all I have available at the moment. Or the salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alesha Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Aw, so sorry for your loss @Joshua14. I can sense your frustration & concern as you are struggling to understand what is happening in your tank. I'm sorry I'm not knowledgeable enough to help you out. I'm hoping @Cory or @Brandy or someone else will pop in & give you some advice. Just hang in there, we'll try to help you figure it out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua14 Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 Thank you @Alesha I've put a lot of work into this tank over the past few years. I also raised every Danio in it so yeah it's sad to see my babies struggling. Thank you for your concern. I'm not freaking out yet. There are only maybe 4 or 5 more with red gills and gasping for air. So I'm hoping that I am able to correct this before something drastic happens. Thank you again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 (edited) I have seen those symptoms, though less obvious pink on the gills, more just gasping, followed by death. I used Paraclense, which is Praziquantel and metronidazole. I think flukes can be silent a while and then multiply during stress--but really I am guessing about that. I don't have personal experience with Levamisole, but I found this site suggesting dosing and it seems like levamisole would be faster than salt. Diseases Summary WWW.FISHBASE.SE Edited November 17, 2020 by Brandy 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua14 Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 Thank you so much @Brandy this is the sort of reference I was looking for! It made sense to me but I wanted another opinion. I'll start a levamisol treatment tomorrow after work. I agree that the flukes are almost a silent killer. I only have maybe 3 fish with red gills, and about 6 of them that seem to be actually gasping. If I didn't watch them as close as I do I wouldn't have even noticed. Besides the 2 dead. 🤪 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Cory Posted November 18, 2020 Administrators Share Posted November 18, 2020 I would start with raising the pH. A ph off 7.0 would probably do wonders for them. 6.3 is quite low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua14 Posted November 18, 2020 Author Share Posted November 18, 2020 (edited) Thank you @Cory, do you happen to have any suggestions how by chance? Edited November 18, 2020 by Joshua14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua14 Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) Incase anyone is curious. Last night I was destroyed from work and not thinking about fish keeping at that moment. When I woke up I said to myself oh I have a whole bag of crushed coral actually and of course that will raise the ph.😅 So this afternoon I added 2.5lbs in a mason jar to the tank. I'm still gonna dose the levamisol here in a few minutes, just in case. Thank you people for the advice and concern. And @Cory I wasn't going to tag you in this. For some reason when I went to respond to this thread you were already tagged and it seemed to save as a draft. I tried to delete your name several times and in different ways. So I'm utilizing the fact that it won't go away, to let you know that it won't go away.🤪 Edited November 19, 2020 by Joshua14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua14 Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 I added the photo.👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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