Medication Query

[discus4u]

New to this excellent forum. I have a question in the treatment of gill flukes.

I have a 1200 liter tank with plants, substrate, discus & many tetras. The tank has a large sump. I currently use Kusuri (monthly), water changes at 50% per week, and gravel syphoning. Fish eat very well, water is good, poo is black, however the discus flash more than I would like.

My query regards the correct meds:
Trichlorfon label notes ‘temp must be below 27 degrees’ - improbable in Qld this time of year - rules this out!
Praziquantel label notes ‘cannot be used with tetras’ - rules this out!

How do I get around this? Will reduced doses work, when & how often, and will this work better than Kusuri? Or am I being over the top?

I have a few thousand dollars’ worth of fish and do not want to risk a catastrophe.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mattgoanna]

Don't use trichlorfon, it will mess with your discus bad.
Prazi - I have never had a problem with tetras or other fish.
If you can get it - use AZOO freshwater anti-protozoa 3 day treatment. It is dirt cheap, works and does not kill anything.

[discus4u]

Thanks for the info mattgoanna it is much appreciated.

[discus4u]

Any Idea where I can get 'AZOO freshwater anti-protozoa 3 day treatment' on line or LFS outlet in Australia?

[Decapper]

I find wormer plus to be a good product for worms and gill fluke.(ph drop will not help with hex, only external parasites)

I find the most effective is lowering PH to 5.5. Note this will crash any tank within a heart beat, but using worming plus and PH 5.5 will get rid of any fluke. Now this is from my years of exp. with discus and everyone has there own effective way. This is mine. Yes I've had to crash a tank before. With prime and daily water changes that is not an issue so much these days. Make sure you have some freeze dried blood worms on hand and your fish get excited about them before you try this. Good way to keep them eating through tank cycle. You will also need a pen ph meter to read 5.5 . I only drop tank to 5.5 for 3 days as treatment of wormer plus is 2x 4 days. That way you treat with ph and wormer plus and second time is just wormer plus. I lower the ph over 1 day and raise it over another(and no this has not stressed my fish)

Of course as always the best cure is prevention. I also use wormer plus and lower PH to 5.5 on quarantine tank on any new discus just to be sure.

Now the disclaimer. Even thou I have used this method for sometime with no ill effect except having to cycle a tank again, I take no responsibility for any damage to your fish. This is my method and I have fat healthy fish with no problem at all. I did have a lot of problem with hex yrs ago but that's another story ;)

I have preformed this in a display tank with l66, rummy nose, bristle nose and discus with not one death.

Why do I drop to 5.5 . I had a lot of problems with gill fluke before I found wormer plus. Nothing would remove gill fluke for long. Then I thought maybe gill fluke could not handle ph drop like a large fish could so I lowered ph as far as I would dare. After 4 days of 5.5 I noticed gill fluke side effects have disappeared. So maybe try if you have resistance to meds fluke

P.S
Note only try this if you know how to get through a tank cycle as this is a long process and if you don't know what your doing you could have more deaths than with fluke. Good Luck!

[mattgoanna]

AZOO I available at New Life Aquarium or Aquatico Aquarium in Melbourne