gill fluke eradication

[aquanow]

Hi hollowman

thank you for sharing your experience and yes having a fluke free display tank is everyone's dream I think. =) so for now I'm after a more cost effective way to treat 6ft tank and hopefully it doesn't take too much effort either then we could just repeat every 6month to keep the number down, but if using above treatment protocol as described by sayid would get rid of it then I would like to give that a try so let's hope sayid is still around to tell us the outcome.
and yes I think you are right, those fussy eater will no doubt spit the medicated food out.

btw I just found something called kusuri wormer plus which looks like a pretty cost effective product to control fluke and it sounds pretty safe for display tank. just wondering if we can still source this in australia?

Regards
George

[sayid]

Hi George;
I have sent you PM regarding the fluke ,i basically have followed Andrew soh method and so far it has been a success but as Steve mentioned it is difficult to eradicate but you can control , regarding Kusuri ,i have used it but again it is expensive and for successful treatment you need to break the cycle of the fluke but having said that it is available in Australia .

[Sug]

June 1 at 11:40 PM ·
My fish has had a really bad case of flukes that has been hard to fight. A friend helped me perform an experiment under the microscope and thought I'd share the results. Now i understand why they have been so hard, basically impossible, to kick. Here is what we did:
On 4 separate slides we put a sample with flukes and eggs. None of the treatment was watered down, straight product to each slide, obviously a much stronger solution than would be used in any aquarium or even dip. Here are the results:

1. BLEACH. Does not kill these things or their eggs. It does stun them. Yes im talking straight bleach. This is what I've been using and thought was sanitizing my equipment. Guess not.

2. PRAZIPRO. This did not kill the flukes or their eggs.

3. FRITZ COPPERSAFE This does kill the flukes. But not their eggs.

4. SEACHEM PARAGUARD. Killed the flukes and their eggs immediatly.

then i put some in the "hospital tank" with my fish and the flukes/ eggs as directed, waited 2 mins and put under the scope, they were all dead within 5 mins or less.

If you ever catch a bad case of flukes, try Paraguard. These are microscopic parasites. I'm no fish expert, by the time i figured out what was going on, admittedly it was probably too late.

I've been fighting these things off for a year now. I've been to the point of thinking they were gone and continuing to medicate to be sure more than once. Very had to fight off. I've been contemplating euthanizing my fish on several occasions and each time my fish bounces back to the point where i think she has a chance,then the cycle begins again.

It may be to the point where they are in her, and there is no chance of fighting them because of that. Its been a year. This is no kind of life, but she keeps fighting. I've tried so many things. Spent way too much money. I've never changed so much water -- its really exhausting. I've been at my wits end so many times and kept trying.

Any thoughts? I don't want to euthanize her. But i don't want her to suffer anymore. I'm also wary that anything could help cure her at this point.
Any thoughts?

I want to clean everything i have with paraguard, do the dips, and give her another shot. Yes again. I know
I've said it a few times. The reason is mainly because she is still hanging in there and i just bought the paraguard.

[bellason]

I'm still combating gill fluke 6 months down the line!
Are you 100% certain it's a gill fluke?
Have you taken a mucus scrape or done a gill biopsy?
I ran a course of sterazin with little to no improvement then after a month tried a double course one week apart again with little to no improvement.
I switched to fluke solve treated for 3 weeks and had good improvement but not complete loss of symptoms.
A month on I am treated with fluke solve again but for 4 weeks this time. I'm 2 weeks in and the fish are practically back to normal.
Flukes are notoriously hard to combat because of their life cycle and the eggs are not affected by meds until they hatch into larvae.
You could try giving your platy salt baths twice a day for a few days. I did this with my most affected fish and they appeared to get some relief from it.