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Tropical Aquariums
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Water and Health
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Could it be gill / body flukes ?
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Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Could it be gill / body flukes ?
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Red Empress (Red Empress)
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22 May 2007 01:53 #1
by Red Empress (Red Empress)
I need a little advice here guys please.
My water peramiters are spot on.
Ammonia ~ 0
Gh ~ 180
Kh ~ 240
pH ~ 8.5 - 9
No 2 ~ 0
No3 ~ 20
The thing is my malawis are still flashing & flicking against rocks & substrate.
I have tried everything I can think of.
I have now been told that malawis are particularly suseptable to Gill & body flukes.
I have been and got some Waterlife sterazin. But I don't want to use it unless I am sure that is what could be causing the fish to flick and flash.
I can't see anything on the gills or the bodies of the fish at all.
There still well coloured up too. I have even had my first bit of courting behaviour in my tank over the last few days
Any ideas or advice would be great guys.
Thanks
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22 May 2007 02:01 #2
by arabesque (Mick Veale)
how often are they flashing/scratching?
No matter whos tank you look at.. malawis seem to
do this often.
Any signs on gill plate or externally of anything unusual?
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Red Empress (Red Empress)
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22 May 2007 02:14 #3
by Red Empress (Red Empress)
There is always at least one flashing / flicking but it isn't always the same fish. :?
There is no external marks, patches or anything. The fish seem totally clean and healthy.
It is just worrying me about this behaviour because I have never had fish act this way before.
I always took this behaviour as a sign of trouble somewhere.
I just can't put my finger on what is causing it.
My last water change was on Thursday ( 20 % )
The declorinator I use is Aqua Plus
The only other thing I add to the water is Tropic Marin Pro Cichlid Minaral malawi salt.
The fish are fed twice per day. Pellets ( New life spectrum cichlid formula ) first thing in the morning.
They then get a frozen food treat 2 hours before lights out.
Thats all the info. I can give you.
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apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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22 May 2007 02:54 #4
by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Has their breathing rate increased? generally a sign of gill flukes but it could also be a range of other ectoparasites. JBL Punktol is a broadband medication. I'd give it a try since it won't kill your filterbacteria.
Holger
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Red Empress (Red Empress)
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22 May 2007 02:57 #5
by Red Empress (Red Empress)
No mate.
Other than this flicking and flashing there is no other signs of problems.
There all eating normally and there is no laboured gasping at all.
I am one of these sad people who watch my fish instead of the TV most of the time.
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apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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22 May 2007 03:20 #6
by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Jill,
I would imagine that it could be some ectoparasite that you can't see with the naked eye, try using a magnifying glass and see if you can spot something but you might need a microscope. Try a dose of EsHA 2000 or JBL Punktol and see if that makes any change. I wouldn't worry too much if they are still feeding normally.
Holger
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Red Empress (Red Empress)
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22 May 2007 03:29 #7
by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Cheers mate will pop out and get some Punktol.
Will let you know.
Thanks again.
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Anthony (Anthony)
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22 May 2007 09:17 #8
by Anthony (Anthony)
You posted your pH as 8.5-9. Is it fluctuating or did you give it a guess.
A sudden pH drop can give the impression of Gill Flukes.
8.5 is a little high too.
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Red Empress (Red Empress)
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22 May 2007 09:57 #9
by Red Empress (Red Empress)
You posted your pH as 8.5-9. Is it fluctuating or did you give it a guess.
A sudden pH drop can give the impression of Gill Flukes.
8.5 is a little high too.
It was a strip test Anthony.
The result was between colours on the bottle.
I have just been and got a liquid tester for a more acurate test.
This is what it was.
pH ~ 7.5
Don't know why I am getting 2 different results though. :?
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apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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23 May 2007 01:10 #10
by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Test strips are very inaccurate. A digital pH Tester is best. The just have to calibrate it every once in a while. They are quite cheap this days and calibration fluid doesn't cost the world either. In the long run they are probably cheaper than either test strips or drop tests. I got my digital pH tester for less than 20€ on ebay and have it for some time now. Compare this to your ordinary drop test for around 10€ that will give you 20 tests or so.
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23 May 2007 06:16 #11
by Sean (Fr. Jack)
How often is any given fish scratching? if you follow a fish around with your eagle eye is the same fish scratching more than every 2 minutes. In early stages/light infestations the respiratory rate will be normal, in latter stages the fish will "pant" sort of an aquatic version of out of breath, (90 pants per minute+)at this late stage you have about 3 days to start gill fluke treatment (formalin based) other wise it may be too late. By the way you cant see the fluke unless you put a gill filament under a scope.
To summarise if the fish continue to scratch but dont start panting, you can rule out flukes by Saturday, then the problem is a bio chemical problem, (environment) probally the high pH is an irritant.
That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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Red Empress (Red Empress)
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23 May 2007 06:26 #12
by Red Empress (Red Empress)
@ apistodiscus. Thanks mate will pick one up next week can't get one before then.
@ Fr Jack.
I have started treating with sterazin. I couldn't get anything else as that was all they had in. I put some in last night and the flicking has reduced already. With this treatment it will take 10 days to see if it has worked.
Thankyou all of you guys for your imput. You have been most helpful.
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Could it be gill / body flukes ?
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