black spots and slightly bloated

[dpetit]

well i did a quick search for a topic like this and came up with nothing realting to my problem. so here it goes
I have a few blue diamonds in my 55gal and one snakeskin. lately i have noticed small sores on the snakeskin and the black dots getting worse on the blue diamonds. i have the tank on a drip system with RO water changing about 8 gallons a day. and all of the water parameters are vitually zero. PH is at a steady 6.9 and temp is at a steady 83.
one other thing i noticed is that the bellies on one snakeskin and one of the blue diamonds is larger than normal.
i have been trying to source out some prazi but to no avail. i can get metro easily. and most of the fungal stuff. where do you usually get prazi in tablet form from?
any help would be greatly appreciated, as i am leaving for mexico on march 4 and would like the tank to be treated before then.
ill try and post pics

[fishgeek]

black spots make me think of neascus metacercaria
this is a fluke , lifestage encysted in the skin
it is less likely to be seen in captive bred fish because it has a complex(ie intermediate hosts involved) life cycle and so shouldnt spread rapidly in a tank situation

if the fish are wild caught then it is a possibilty and prazi is an appropriate choice of medication
otherwise i'm probably off the mark

i believe australian droncit tablets are still praziquantel only
drontal on the otherhand contain other medications in combination

andrew

[Merrilyn]

If you replace your water with pure RO water, what are you using to replace the minerals in the water.

Pure RO water cannot support life. All the essential salts and minerals have been removed.

What are the parameters of your tap water. You maybe able to use some of tap water, and some RO water in your tank. That will eliminate the need to add mineral salts.

Your temperature is a bit low for discus. They seem to do better with a temp of 86 to 88 degrees.

You ask about prazi; do you think your fish may have tapeworm? If your fish have a slightly swollen belly, that may be possible, but I'm inclined to think they are more likely to have roundworm or threadworm . For that you need levamisole, not prazi. Go to your local aquarium shop and ask for the appropriate worm medication. If they don't have it, they should be able to tell you where it's available.

[dpetit]

well I have searched around for levamisole a lot, LFS's, vets, poultry feed places. everywhere any anywhere i could think of but came up with nothing. no one even knew what iw as talking about. the only way i can get it is order off the internet. which i am going to have to do. i have heard a lot of different things about levamisole being hard on the fish. is this true?

[dpetit]

bought a new camera today, not the best at taking closeup pictures but ill try em. the picture is of the blue diamond. he has the most promenant black spots that sometimes look fuzzy/fury and i noticed today that he has a sore on the top of his head. i noticed today that they were passing abnormally large faeces, yesterday i noticed when i put the other blue diamond in the salt dip(this one had the really bulged stomach), it was passing some thin clear worms.
i have done salt dips on a few of the fish that seemed a little more sick. i have yet to dip this fish and two others. but i plan on doing it as none of the fish i have done so far seem to be worse off than they were.
if anyone has anymore ideas that would be great.

[Pauluk]

where are you? if you could add your location in your profile it would help us suggest a med hopfully

[dpetit]

sorry about that never noticed that it wasnt there.
i am in saskatchewan canada

[Pauluk]

Levamisole and is species specific, so I wouldnt bother with it in this case.
I would suggest you start with metro and then get some flubenol 15 from off the net/ebay and try that at the same time, that will kill anything thats inside your fish parasite wise.
See how you do with that to start with.
My old blue diamonds used to go blotchy and have marks on them, I put it down to stress and maybe the occasional lost scale from knocks on tank decorations

[fishgeek]

i believe levamisol is traded as tramisol in canada

i have heard that safe guard (containing fenbendazol) is available at farm stores in canada

i think big als in america and jehmco do mail order medications though i have also heard canadian cutoms are like australian and you may not recieve anything

andrew

[Pauluk]

As far as I am aware, sending flubenol 15 to australia shouldnt be a problem if its for personal use, reselling it on might be. The same applies to Canada a far as I know, the quetion has been asked.
Of course, if cutoms dont stop it, there is no problem.....