Fluke Help

[Psy]

Has anyone here had to deal with Flukes on their loaches? If so, what did you do? I've done some more research on Flukes, and it seems the recommended meds are Formalin and Malachite Green, which I've read are toxic to scaleless fish.
I'm kind of at a loss what to do for my loaches as I suspect they've got flukes. (rubbing on objects, rapid breathing) Any advice would be appreciated, or recommended loach-safe meds.

 

[Lotus]

Apparently flukes are hard to diagnose. I have never treated for them. Are you sure it's not the first signs of ich?

I have sucessfully treated clown (and other) loaches with Coppesafe several times. You probably know how easily loaches can get ich.

Here is how I do it: add 1/4 dose of CopperSafe every 4 hours, checking on the fish regularly to make sure they're OK, until I'm up to full dose. As you say, some meds can kill loaches very quickly. I find the slow method of adding the meds has worked. Of course, you can do it over a few days if you're at work, start adding it in the evening, then add some more the next day. I like to make sure I'm there in case they start looking like the meds are affecting them. CopperSafe is only removed through water changes, so remember that when it comes time to remove it from the tank.

I think I've only ever been really sucessful with CopperSafe, and have never lost a loach to ich (or the treatment).

I hope this helps

 

[Psy]

Many thanks for your reply. Flukes were my guess after reading the symptoms and so on. Their actions haven't slowed down, but I noticed most of my yoyos and clowns are breathing rather rapidly(rarely any pause) and are rubbing on things. I just noticed the clowns doing this recently, too.. though for the yoyos it's been going on for a few weeks. I've not noticed anything unusual with the top feeders though.. then again they're spazzy danios. They don't stay still long enough for me to notice anything.
I've had one outbreak of ich in my tank a few months ago and successfully beat it, using aqua-sol & temp raising, with no loach losses. I've not seen any white spots appear on anyone since this started, though I'd rather deal with ich than flukes if anything x.x
Thanks for the advice on Coppersafe. I was recently given a bottle. For the time period, would you keep adding the meds for a month(the bottle I was given says to continue treatment for a month)?

 

[Lotus]

CopperSafe doen't have to be readded unless you do water changes. Our new loaches came with ich, and it was gone within a week with the Coppersafe.

I would keep CopperSafe in the tank for the least time I could, just because I don't like meds in there, but I would probably just let it go away with water changes, so that you have maybe 3/4 dose for a week, then 1/2 dose.

Especially as it's onlty suspected flukes, I would try to remove some of the Coppersafe a few days after symptoms disappear.

 

[Psy]

I realized I misread the bottle. It's actually treats for one month, not treat . Whoops.

Anyway, I started the treatment tonight. 1/4 at 9pm and watched them for about half an hour. I noticed more glancing from a few individuals, but I'm not sure if this got worse today, or was a med effect.
I'm doing the med adding per day.. should I keep up with the 1/4 dose for the next few days, or add 1/2 tomorrow.. one in the early afternoon and one at 9 again?

Anyway, here's hoping that 1) I suffer no loach losses. 2) Whatever's troubling my loaches goes away by the time the meds are gone from the water. I shall report back in a few days to say how things are going

 

[Lotus]

Yes, only add up to the full dose, then don't add any more unless you do a water change (to replace the meds removed in the water change).

It doesn't really matter how slowly you add it, as long as you can watch them for a couple of hours after you add it, just to make sure and be there if an emergency water change is needed. I have heard stories of loaches keeling over dead within 20 mins of adding meds (it wasn't CopperSafe).

Of course, your loaches sound like they're not too sick with the flukes, so hopefully the treatment shouldn't be too rough on them. Obviously very sick fish are more suceptible to a bad reaction to meds.

Yes, once you're up to full dose, the meds will stay in the tank unless you do water changes. I usually only keep full dose in the tank for about a week or 10 days (until symptoms have cleared), then let it go away with slightly larger-than-normal weekly water changes.

 

[Psy]

Reporting back, finally. ^^ Tomorrow I'll be doing my second water change since the start of the meds(third, I guess, if one counts the one I did before adding the Coppersafe). Everything went pretty smoothly. I added the meds over a five day period, due to a booboo in dosage calculations. After day four, I realized I still had about a teaspoon and 1/4 to add to be at full dose. I blame the sandwich bagged teaspoon I was using. (I need to buy some measuring spoons for fish use, I think ).
I did lose one Clown on the first day. The day before I started the meds, I was watching the tank and I saw something shoot up from the corner, flip out at the surface for a good moment, then watched as it shot back down into the gravel. I was horrified to see this spazzing fish was one of my clowns. The next day I thought he had died and been consumed when the usual crowd of six was only five at feeding time. I'm not sure why he died, though I don't really suspect the meds had anything to do with it, but they probably didn't help much either. Before it was time for the lights to go out, I did finally see him out in the open, and decided to fish him into a breeder net for the night. He looked like he had been picked on by the others at some point. Unfortunately, he died during the night. I was sad . I'm not sure why, but it breaks my heart to see sickly loaches.
I did lose one of my rams, too, and a danio. The Danio had been looking pretty worn out for a while now, and I figured it was only a matter of time. The ram went like all my others.. some sort of fungus that sprouted out of the pits/holes they have in their heads..and I'm not sure, but it looked like its eyes were bulging a little, too. (I suspected Popeye, but I've never seen it kill a fish, yet.) Whatever it was, the Coppersafe did nothing to keep it away as it 'bloomed' after the meds were added.
In conclusion, everyone's breathing normally again. I missed seeing those breathing pauses of my resting loaches. There's still the occasional scratching/glancing, but it's not as frequent as it was at the start. I'm hoping the glancing will go away by the time the last water change is done.
Once again, thanks for the advice, Lotus ^_^