Thank you for sharing this! I wasn't aware Prazi Pro is not available in the UK...I'm going to pin this so any folks watching from the UK can read it easily. Appreciate it!
Im in the UK and I order my prazi pro online from america, can take 2-3 weeks to come so just make sure you have a small bottle ready to go at all times.
@@BlatentlyFakeName hii I am from India my goldfish have these same disease and these medicines are also not available here so pleasee suggest me how to treet my fish
@@yourdestruction50 Hi, For tapeworms Albendazole is an alternative to praziquantel, It is available in India I have heard from many Indians. You can check with your local chemist.
Folks, Monkey Nut made a great point below - What I didn’t mention is this “flashing” had been going on for 2 days prior to treatment. If a fish does it a few times, it might not mean flukes. However, if you notice it and the fish continues to flash repeatedly, treatment is needed 👍. Thanks Monkey Nut for pointing that out!
dmichaels fish den ....just one more thing... flashing can also be caused by environment, food and supplements .. my mollys do not like it when I add in bacteria ae, which is a super fine shrimp supplement for bio film. That causes flashing. Probably not seen much as it’s fish dependant. They also weirdly enough don’t like fine pollen. Pollen is used as shrimp food.. But after treating multiple times for flashing and it still happened I figured it out. Some times an itch is an itch !! Fish don’t have hands.
Monkey Nut you are right, these can all cause flashing. 👍. In my case here, the environment is great and it’s an established tank, but I knew it was flukes since it was a new fish and flashing went on for 2 days. And you are right, sometimes and itch IS an itch! Once or twice, no big deal. 😊Unfortunately though I’ve heard from a lot of people who have lost fish after seeing flashing, (and quickly) so I’ve gone more toward the conservative side with flashing. PraziPro is harmless (except to flukes 😉) so it’s a nice treatment and can be preventative for those in doubt. My established fish never flash, but anytime a brand new fish does, I always use it for a treatment 👍 just to be sure...😉
Monkey Nut but you are absolutely right - after treating if a fish still flashes....that’s something else entirely. Glad you figured out the pollen issue! 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden I have been loosing fish at a fast rate .. Signs flashing Redness To body, ...Still eating Highly stressed Rapid breathing.., I've treated with Fluke and worm reds......I've scrubbed the tank...then close to a crash., first I thought maybe Planaria worms...then Sceptecemia...I am at a loss...I am down to 9 fish left 😔 and close to calling it a day..😔 My fish Are suffering and I don't know why..my water Was Ok..now I've lost Some Good friendly bacteria I still Add Bacteria when Cleaning tank...But Cus of Worms of it was that gave me a massive Ammonia spike which traps u..as u need to Scrub the tank..my tank is 4 years old...I had a African cichlid tank then Slowly turned into a community tank .All kinds of Barbs from Tigers to Cherry to golden to green..and 1 spanner barb and 1 Bala ..he's a bit Slow and soft 🙂 but no Fighting all get on....But can't Find out what's going on
Fish can also scratch from ammonia in the water or overall bad water conditions. I watched this video while i tested my water and concluded i had some ammonia readings i dosed prime and everyone chilled out. Be patient and vigilant because ive dosed so much medicine when it wasnt necessary freaking out
Great point!! In my case here, the water conditions were pristine, so I knew it was flukes, but, you make a great point to test the water first and not jump to conclusions 👍
This can be a very common sight in our aquariums, and often with newer fish recently introduced. It clearly indicates a level of discomfort for the "flashing" fish, with treatment for parasites being an easy and prudent step to take. Another great aquarium tip from the Den. Thx Mike :)
Monkey Nut you are absolutely right and that’s a great point. What I should have mentioned in this video was that this had been going on for 2 days prior to treatment. Excellent point 👍. Appreciate the comment very much and thanks for checking out the video!
I feel bad... I only knew of Ick so I thought maybe my fish was just acting wierd... It's gotten worse so now I'll buy some of this. Hopefully it helps.
Don't feel bad - we all learn by experience....Several years ago I had no idea what this was either, until I did a lot of research and trial and error. Definitely pick up the Prazi Pro. I've used it 3 times for gill flukes, one time for skin flukes, and it has worked every time. I've also only had to dose once (the dose is good for 7 days). Should do the trick for you! (it is also safe for all fish, inverts, plants, ec...)
@@dmichaelsfishden update- I don't believe it's skin flukes. I don't regret treating for it but he's still rubbing and looks distressed. Now I'm treating for general bacteria infections. :( Still a helpful video though!
So I know this video is fairly old. However, I was wondering if you knew if this is safe to use around fish without scales? I have a couple peacock eels in my community tank, and don't want to kill them. TIA
Anthony - thank you for the very kind words and continued support! I thought this might be a good topic as it's a fairly common occurrence for hobbyists. Hopefully it's helpful to some folks! Hope you are well and staying cool in this heat, my friend.
Enzo - I'm glad it was helpful! I hope your betta is doing better - I definitely understand what it means to have an expensive Betta you really care about :)
Thank you for this video! I just bought 3 new fish, which are all flashing against things in the tank. Now my previous fish are flashing. I watched this video. Just received my prazipro today.
My crowntail betta has been flashing for 3 or 4 days now and its getting worse and she was very lethargic today. I did a quick Google search the first day I noticed and didn't get the answer to my question as to WHY Finley has been doing this. It wasn't until I did a second Google search today and watched your video. Thanks for posting. You probably saved my fish's life, because I wouldn't know what to do otherwise.
@@dmichaelsfishden she is very lethargic and ignores food but I have her in a hospital tank and am paying close attention to her, treating as directed... I hope she improves soon, I'm so worried about her.
Patriot's scene cracked me up. "Nailed it!"Also, thanks for the helpful info - helped me clear up an infestation in my cory shoal. They are very grateful!
Rod - my pleasure and thank you for the continued support! Very glad to hear these videos are helpful and thankful to share the experience. I'm "blessed???" to have gone through several illnesses/issues over the last 7 years with the critters. :)
Jadren Aquatics appreciate the kind words! Glad it was helpful. Prazi is one of those things that really helps to have in the arsenal, especially when getting new fish 👍
My goldfish has this problem, i took her in separate aquarium and put some medicine for bacterias and parasites , its medicine for white spots but they wrote it can be used for any kind of bacterias and parasites, hopefully it will help...thanks to you i'm sure its not some swim bladder problem 🙏 thank you
Camp - sorry to hear about your goldfish - these issues can be pretty common though. Give that med a try and be patient...about a week. If you don't see any improvement, I would try PraziPro if you can get it. Prazi has always done the trick for me, and I've only had to dose it one time for it to get everything. If you can't get Prazi Pro, you can also try API General Cure, designed to get these parasitic infections. Hope that helps a little!
Michael, I need your help! I have a community tank with platys, swords, corys, and one angel fish (29 gallon). Problem: I have reaccuring flukes! I’ll get rid of them for a month or so, but when I vacuum the gravel, they come back. I treat them with PraziPro. They go away. I vacuum the gravel. They come back!! I’ve read that I may need to treat the whole tank for up to four weeks. But that’s unhealthy for fish. Any suggestions? Have you had consistent/reoccurring flukes? Back story: A few months back, I made the mistake of putting a plant in my tank that I thought I had properly sanitized, with Ruby Reef’s Hydroplex. Well that plant had snails in it, the snails were a carrier for the flukes, and my tank came down with them, and I can’t seem to stop the cycle. Last time this happened, I treated my tank for two weeks straight. I realize that the flukes are likely laying dormant in the substrate, which is pretty thick. But shouldn’t the Prazi penetrate the substrate? Suggestions welcome🙏🏼
Hi Heather - thanks for the comment and for checking out the video! First, I think you are absolutely right as to the origin of the flukes, that they very well could have hitchhiked on the plant - I also think you are right that some eggs may be dormant in the substrate, even though they usually lay eggs in the fish's gills (gross to think about...). Second, unfortunately, I don't believe this situation is that uncommon. I've read articles by fish vets that they can sometimes battle flukes for several weeks before they get them all, especially if it is a bad infestation. I haven't had them recurring - when/if they appear in the tank, it is usually a year apart - or - when I introduce a new plant, etc...What kind of substrate do you have? If it is sand or a very fine substrate, it's possible that flukes can get really down in it, and although the Prazi should penetrate, it may not get all the way through if it is really thick. A few things that might be helpful - if some of the flukes built an immunity to Prazi, I know fish vets will often first start with Prazi - they do a second treatment of formalin, then a 3rd treatment of Prazi - it might be helpful to switch to formalin so you have a broader spectrum treatment, using both Prazi and formalin...Prazi will get rid of some of them, formalin, the rest (hopefully). Prior to treating again - whether Prazi or formalin, I would do it right after vacuuming the substrate - try to stir it up a bit to get those critters up and out, then treat. If it were me in this situation, I might switch to a formalin treatment to start. Once that treatment is over, I would follow up with another Prazi treatment. Hopefull that helps a little? :) Though I haven't had it personally, I definitely have heard of fluke treatments lasting 4 weeks or longer if it is a larger infestation....
dmichaels fish den Michael, you are awesome! Thank you! That was so helpful and informative. I appreciate the time you took to write such a thorough reply! To answer your question, my substrate is medium grade gravel, nothing too fine. It is about 5-6 inches thick in the back of the tank and about 2 in the front. May I get your opinion on two more things? I think Formalin is off the market now. From what I can see, I have two respective options. First, I can use a Formalin blend. There are a few medications that blend Malachite green with Formalin, but I don’t think that is a good option for me, because I have a number of Corydoras. Secondly, there is Ruby Reef’s RALLY. It is a blend of acriflavine, aminoacridine, and formalin. It is not rated really well, but those reviews pertain mostly to marine tanks. Any thoughts?? Lastly, I am thinking that I may have to completely break down my tank. It is heavily planted with the added complication of rocks and drift wood. I thought about treating the plants and fish in a spare tank, and bleaching the rocks, tank, and equipment. It is beautifully aquascaped, and a crying shame to dismantle, but I’m afraid that the medication will not saturate the areas under the decor; unless I move everything around and stir up the gravel, which at that point, I’ve already tore the tank up. Also, I have an underground filter, which may be part of the problem; I think the little boogers are chilling out underneath it. Well, I am willing to do whatever it takes, if it will mean eradicating these flukes, once and for all! At your convenience, I would greatly appreciate your wisdom. Thank you, again! Heather (:
Hi Heather - sorry for the very late reply. Yes, I think the underground filter is part of the problem - those little guys may be chilling out underneath that - breeding in the underground filter.....Shoot - is formalin off the market? I totally get your opinion on the formalin, especially with Corys...even if you have a Formalin blend, it's still formalin....I've never heard of RALLY....has any research been done as to its safety with fish? I would say what about moving the fish to a QT tank and treating the tank with the Formalin blend....BUT - You may hate me for this and you are right about it....to really treat the tank you'll have to get the gravel stirred up well...and that means a dismantle. I know how big of a project that is, but I think you are already on the right track....treat the fish and plants in a spare tank, then use a bleach solution for everything else....I think the biggest thing here is to get in the substrate and under the undergravel filter....the flukes and little parasites may be breeding down there. My fear is yours - you'll use the Formalin blend in the tank, but it won't get all the way down the substrate and into the undergravel filter area....then we've spent money on medication, medicated again, and get the same results with these little guys still being there...Honestly, if this were me, I'd probably dismantle and treat everything, and I know that sucks short-term, but it might save you a lot of frustration (and money) in the long term. Before doing that, one last option might be to put the Corys in a QT and try to treat the tank with the RALLY blend to see if that works - I don't know anything personally about RALLY, but it might be a last ditch effort before dismantling and treating...hope that helps a little? I still know a lot of people that use undergravel filters and love them....this is one of the disadvantages. Have you thought about perhaps moving to different filtration? HOB or Canister?
Even my fish rubs itself against the tank , but according to what I have found over the net , it’s Ick which has stuck to its body , what should I do , should I do a 100 percent water change or something else ?
Hi Nandini - the good news is they ich is easy to get rid of. You won’t need to do a 100% water change. I would recommend ICH-X you can find it online. You will need to use medication to get rid of ich. If you follow the directions on the ICH-x bottle, it will take care of things for you. You’ll need to do smaller water changes during the process. But I’ve used it before exactly following the instructions and it’s worked every time. Hope that helps!
My Red Devil has been rubbing against a pirate ship that I have in the tank for two days now. He's not eating as much and he's highly temperamental when I go to clean the tank. I'm assuming Gill Flukes based on your description. I want to treat it right away, but my local pet store doesn't have PraziPro. Is there a next best option, such as API General Cure? Or am I better off waiting the two days for Amazon to ship it?
Cody - sorry for the late reply here - has the Prazi come in yet? You'd be fine waiting the few days to get it. General Cure will also work as it targets parasitic issues. If the Prazi has come in, it should only take about one dose to get everything. I've had to use it several times over the years. I've never needed more than one dose to take care of the problem 👍
Aaliyah - My pleasure! Thank you for the kind words on the tank and thanks for watching. If my Betta is just like your other one, sounds like you have very good taste in selecting Bettas 😉😀
Did your Betta exhibit symptoms of gill flukes during treatment? Have you ever encountered Prazipro resistant gill flukes or used Fenbendazole to treat them? I'm having serious difficulties eradicating this parasite. 😕
my female blue ram recently died because of this, she was rubbing herself against objects, the sand, plants, etc. she was losing color and appeared smaller and smaller, her ''sail'' was never up. I have a male whom started rubbing from there and there, not constantly. should I worry? as you said it is very contagious, but i've only seen the male ram do it, non of the other fishes.
Hi there! I’m loving your video and your adorable betta fish! Thank you for your efforts. My guppies are flashing too. No sign of white spot or anything really, has been going on for one week plus. We cannot get Prazipro or API general cure in Canada. So I’m thinking of getting some ick treatment along with some other deworming medicine. What products would you recommend? Thank you so so much,.
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed the video! Yes, a few other suggestions (hopefully you can get them in Canada?) You can use Fritz ParaCleanse - This treats fish lice, and gill and skin flukes. Here is a link from their website:fritzaquatics.com/products/fritz-paracleanse Can you get Seachem products? If so, you can try Paraguard, which also targets parasitic infections, including gill and skill flukes. Are you able to get either of those 2?
Also from Canada having this same problem. My betta is flashing and rubbing on plants, but General Cure and Prazipro are both unavailable here due to new restrictions. The store you listed doesn't seem to have an online shop, sadly.
dmichaels fish den thanks for reply. unfortunately neither of these two products are available in Canada. I tried with aquarium salt 0.88 percent concentration. One of my fish got better but the parasite quickly came back and he passed away. Another one got rid of the parasite but after two weeks in salt bath, he has bent spine and appears lethargic. It’s really difficult in the hobby in Canada right now without access to these medicine.
Just an FYI there is a petition on change.org to try to get these medications re-allowed in Canada. Don't know how helpful it will be, but it's extremely frustrating not being able to just go buy these anymore and instead just watching your fish die or spending ridiculous amount of money trying to get it to a vet just to get the medication we know we need.
Magpie thank you for this information. Let’s all try our best to change this. It’s so painful to watch them suffer at the same time thinking magic could happen. I feel really bad trying different kinds of unproven treatments with them.
Thanks for the kind words Vanessa! Glad it was helpful! Yes, you can do another treatment. I would do a 25/30% water change, then you can treat again. After using this several times, though, I’ve never had to do a second dose for the same fluke outbreak. It usually gets it the first time, but if not, you are definitely ok doing a second dose 👍😀
@@dmichaelsfishden good morning! Today is day seven and after coming home after one and a half days of being gone my betta's fins are clamped and he was just in the corner not doing anything, which is rare because anytime he sees me he swims straight up to the tank and is super excited but when he didn't react this way it scared me. I'm doing a 25% water change now and using another dose of Prazi pro. Any thoughts? Just before I left but day and a half ago he was his usual self super excited and swimming around, etc.
So my betta unfortunately has this but I cant find the Pazipro in Canada(Ontario) any alternatives that I could use? Ive had this boy for almost a year and really want to see him live his best life.
Bianca - I'm sorry to hear your betta may have some flukes. They can be fairly common though and there are some easy fixes. Anything with praziquantel in it should work. Do you have access to API products? You can try API General Cure. It has the praziquantel in it :)
API general cure is also not available here, praziquantel is now not available at all. I have a white betta and I can't tell if he has velvet or flukes. I tried an inch and velvet medication with the temperature increase, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I found a website called Angelfins that carries Cloverleaf brand anti-wormer, all I've been able to find in Ontario. It's flubendazole and calcium carbonate. Not sure if it will work, but at this point I'm trying what I can. I have plecos and to catfish and I don't have a quarantine tank, so it's a bit of a fight trying to figure out how to treat my betta without killing the other guys since we can't access the medication we need anymore.
So my office fish Pumpkin has been doing the flashing since we got him last October? (Now July) We thought it was a quirk of his but I finally decided to do some research and this has me concerned enough I might as well buy some! Otherwise he’s been healthy
Um, can somebody help me? My Fish are doing that for a couple of weeks now. Not all Day, Just a couple of Times per Day or sometimes not even once. Where I live there is nothing available that works for that. What Can I do? They don't have any symphtons that you said. Only one does lay on the bottom of the tank but he did that from the Day that I got him.
Stephany - is your Betta getting older? How long have you had him? A few of the characteristics of older bettas is that they can lose eyesight gradually and they do get more lethargic. If he is younger, then more to talk about there.....
My mollies does this, I got them just 4 days ago from a local pet store and the rub in the aquarium plants, but am not able to see and type of worms like which are shown in this video, and it is not possible for me to by these aquarium medicine in the place I live, what to do now? Pls do help
Can you get API general cure? That is also a good overall parasitic medication for the fish. It takes care of quite a few of these little worms, parasites, and critters. General cure also has praziquantel in it, which is also the active ingredient in Prazi Pro. Are you able to quarantine your fish in a separate tank? If you can't get that, can you get any Seachem products? If so, I would try Seachem Cupramine. It is a safe copper based medication that treats external parasites and is much easier to remove from the tank with carbon in the filter vs. other copper based medications where it is near impossible to remove the copper. Hope that helps a little 😀
I think one or two of my platies might have gill flukes. I think think this is the third week I've had them, and the redtail dalmatian platy have had red gills during this time. I haven't been able to figure out if it's because they're pale/coloring or illness. Now one redtail platy and one green lantern platy have been not acting normally, resting somewhere all the time, and not very interested in food. Then yesterday I noticed the redtail swimming weirdly, and it looks like that flashing behavior, although not against objects that I've seen. The green lantern hasn't, but might be breathing a bit harder than the other fish. The redtail has a round belly, and today I looked up "clamped fins" and that's what she looks like. Yesterday I put in a dosage of API General Cure since it says it treats gill flukes among other things. Today, I fed the tank some peas and that got her attention. Then I cleaned the filter intake tube, added a pre-filter sponge, and noticed she seems livelier and actually pecking at floating plants. I don't know which of my actions improved her mood, but it's nice to see her up and about. Four other platies show no signs of illness, and I have four platy fry growing nicely in there, too. Sigh. I've no idea what's going on. I can't continue to do whatever helped if I don't know what helped in the first place! Then my new male betta, in a 7 gallon that's had two nerites for a few months, had a gray film-like thing going on in one of his eyes. It didn't look like it was protruding like Popeye, so I've treated with ParaGuard for now four days, and on the second, his eye had already improved. It looks much better now, but still a little off. Hard to tell though when he doesn't quit moving! But I'm guessing he just injured it exploring his environment, and maybe it became infected when he was following the gravel vac around. 🤷🏻♀️ I removed the lava rock because it was by the glass he swims against and I'd already been concerned with his fins tearing on the course surface.
Wow! Love the message! That's a lot to digest. Regarding flukes......forget about API. Buy Hikari's Prazi Pro...works amazing. Not that API is bad...just with flukes, Hikari has it dialed in. 😀And yes, Bettas are mischievous. 😀 Sounds like you have it all under control! Keep up the great work!
OMG i almost missed your video,,,, you came in at the right moment my diskus are scratching with the plants,,,,,THANK YOU SO MUCH MY FRIEND,,, AND AGAIN AWESOME VIDEO 👍👍💯💯🙏
Discus Whisperer - good to see you! And of course, my pleasure. So glad this was timely and helpful to you! 😀As long as it helps a few folks, that's whats important to me. Hopefully this helps with your discus! 👍
Susan - thanks for the kind words. he is a sweetheart and a softie 😌 Yep, got the gill flukes with that treatment, though we are currently battling some fin rot right now....hasn't had that ever before, but we are working on it 😀
I just did a weekly water change for my guppies (30%) and I noticed that one of my guppy started to flick himself to the plants. This has happened several times today. No signs of Ich or anything abnormal. Some say that I shouldn't worry so much cause the guppy is probably acclimatizing to water change. But what do you think? Should I wait and see until tomorrow? I haven't had the chance to clean my gravel. Latest water test that nitrite is about 20ppm and nitrate is also about 0.2ppm. I don't have ammonia test in hand cause I'm still waiting for it to ship from Amaazon. Should I do another water change tomorrow?
Yes, definitely see if your guppy is still doing it tomorrow. If he still is, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try Prazi, just in case. It's perfectly safe. And yes, definitely do a water change....
So I bought 2 fish,and one died yesterday, and he didn't eat,nor the other one.They didn't eat yesterday.And the one I have left didn't eat at all today.He was just moving around really quickly and "hitting" Himself on the walls of the tank.Is it normal for him to have uneven red spots on his tummy thing and tail?? I really need help because I don't want this one to die as well...
Rallou - I'm really sorry to hear about your fish. It certainly isn't a good sign that he isn't eating and is hitting himself on the walls of the tank. The uneven red spots also aren't always that normal. Is he hitting himself in different parts of his body? Or is he rubbing his gills on things in the tank? If it isn't specific to his gills and he is just ramming into things....the uneven spots could be injuries from that, or ulcers or sores. It's hard to tell what it might be without seeing him, but it certainly sounds like he may need to be medicated. When I don't have any idea what a fish might have I use the most broad spectrum antibiotic I can...one of those is Seachem Polyguard. Gets fungual and bacterial issues as well as septicemia - with septicemia you see red spots or streaks on the fish. If it was me, I would probably try that. Don't feel bad, though...it very well could be that the fish were sick when you picked them up and you just didn't know....happens sometimes. If your fish is flashing against objects around his gills, then I would definitely treat with Prazi Pro as that is very indicative of flukes. Hope that helps a little. Let me know if I can help further 😀 Again, really sorry to hear about your guys
Hi, so I think my fish may have the flukes. I’m nervous because I just put my hand in the aquarium to rearrange some decorations and I’m concerned.. can humans get the flukes?!
i only see one of my fish doing this is my community tank with other fish. i also have 2 nerites and amano shrimps. should i quarantine him and treat him alone or can i treat the whole tank just in case the others have it. thanks:)
My bomivian rams have been rubbing the substate so much man its got me super worried for the community tank i hope it could possibly be ammonia creeping up on me, but ive been up-to-date on the water changes; i feel like i gotta dig my hands in the substrate to get every inch of detritus. So a dose with that stuff is really gonna be it? What about their eggs (ive heard theyre bullet-proof). Is there a point of no return? Ive been using general cure and it only seems to get worse, and spreading. I have no room for a quarentine tank so i need this to be the a-bomb for those suckers.
Thank you for the informative video my angelfish and tetras were rubbing on an amazon sword, I treated the tank with prazipro twice now but I still see them scratching somtimes, could this be something other than gill flukes?
Hey I'm back, not quite as dramatic this time. I'm currently treating melafix on my new chili rasboras as I recently discovered a few days back one of them appears to be developing fin for as the tips of his ribs are white, it's just on the one of them and I'm almost 100% sure it is stress related as they were glass surfing for nearly a week when the light was on, I'm treating the whole tank just in case. I just started treating with melafix as I didn't know what was wrong with him and thought it was just a characteristic of the fish, once I'm done treating for the seven days it says and if the issue still remains what other medication would you recommend? Thanks for the help.
Arenos - welcome back! Hope the school work went great! Congrats on getting the fish! If you think these are little scrapes from glass surfing, Melafix can be the right move as it is like neosporin for humans (I recently did a video on Melafix, Pimafix, Bettafix)....It can be a good preventative solution and it's designed to help with small scrapes, scratches, etc...At this point, I think it's ok to play out the Melafix, then go from there. Let me know if anything gets worse. I only use serious meds as a last resort, so let's see what happens after the 7 days first 😀BTW - keep an eye on that white area...if it starts to look like a white cottony growth, you'll have to use some real meds...
I tried for months to figure out why my betta would randomly start flashing. I tried aquarium salt, prazi, ich treatment, but nothing helped. No other symptoms. I ran out of aquarium fertilizer for a month and the flashing stopped. As soon as I added it back in, he was flashing again within hours. So bizarre. I only used 7 drops of Easy Green (it's a 7-gallon tank) and it should not have bothered him. The anubias and java fern are fine without ferts but I guess the poor water lettuce is doomed.
I am trying to find out what my goldfish could possibly have. I think he might have gill flukes but there isn’t much I can do to confirm this because I have no access to a microscope. When he swims there is times he jerks or shakes his head out of nowhere. He doesn’t scratch on the decor I have in the aquarium but I have noticed that he goes up and down on the aquarium glass but mostly only the point of his nose and sometimes his body. He occasionally gulps water on the surface but is more prominent after I feed him goldfish sinking pellets ( when I feed him veggies, he doesn’t gulp on the surface [I spoke to my local petco and they told me it was probably because I was over feeding]). He’s always very enthusiastic about feeding and does that “give me food goldfish dance” like crazy. I do have 2 other goldfish but the biggest one is my biggest concern. I won them in the fair at the same time from the same vendor, I’ve had them for about 3 months and I didn’t really spot an issue with any of them until about a few days to a week ago. I haven’t added any new fish, plants or used decorations that could have been infected. Is it possible that a parasite/flukes became an issue out of the blue? I hope someone much more knowledgeable than me can help me. Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated! If anyone can let me know about any forum/website(s) or anywhere that could help me solve my situation, I would be very thankful! If your reading this, thank you for taking the time to read everything and hopefully you can help enlighten me in any way possible!
I’m pretty sure my baby angels I raised from eggs got flukes and are all dying . I ordered the prazi. But won’t be here for 5 days ! What can I do to help these guys till it comes ? A bath dip ? Anything ? Please help . Ty
I'm back, again. Issue seems to be clearing up on the fish but I have another problem. Nitrates are at 20ppm and I need help lowering them. I know what's caused this, overfeeding. I'm honestly struggling with feeding the chili rasboras I don't know how much to be feeding them I thought I was doing well for a while but obviously not, it's incredibly difficult to feed these small fish. Help would greatly, greatly be appreciated as I'm not ready to lose any more fish as I'll certainly be taking a break from the hobby if anything bad does happen as it is just too much money for me.
Arenos - first nitrates at 20ppm do not need to be lowered. 20ppm is fine, really anything from 20 - 40ppm are fine and won't harm your fish. The nitrate thing is really overrated. Because of my water, my nitrates run at 80ppm, 40ppm right out of the tap, and I've never had a problem. So...deep breath and relax. No issues there. What I would feed them, if you can get them are the Hikari Micro Pellets. I feed this to my Celestial Pearl Danios as their staple food. Very small little pellets. 👍 Just remember, it's the nitrites and ammonia we don't want in the water. Nitrates at 20ppm is just perfect 😀
Canada has now banned praziquantel and I can't get Prazipro or API General Cure. The only thing I've been able to find is Cloverleaf Absolute Wormer +, which has flubendazole and calcium carbonate. I have no idea how effective it will be.
Magpie - I've heard Canada has banned a lot of meds. That is unfortunate. The dewormer might work! I've never used it, so I can't speak to how effective it might be, but a lot of the dewormers out there, I believe, do try to target flukes as well. Hope it does work for you! You could also try aquarium salt at a ratio of 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons - The salt should help dehydrate the worms, killing them off...
Thanks, Deb! 😀 Appreciate the kind words and support as always. Patriot is the best fish I've bought on impulse in awhile 😊 Are you ok up in Canada? I heard there is a HUGE heat wave moving through up there...
I have a question and I really hope you can help me. I have a betta (his name is Milo, and though I didn’t pick him out I love him with my whole heart) and he has some plants in his tank. He’s started to wind through one and kinda rub against that one. But it’s only that one. Is that something I need to be concerned about and treat or does it just mean he really likes the plant?
Hi Molly - I wouldn't worry about it. He probably just likes the plant :) Are they real plants, silk, or plastic? If they are silk they won't harm him at all. If they are plastic, you just want to make sure there aren't any sharp edges on the plant. I would keep an eye on him, just in case....just make sure you don't see any small wounds or missing scales. If you aren't seeing that, he should be just fine - probably just scratching his back :)
I have a question....my Platy is flashing like this. I have had her for about 7 months now, she is in a 10 gallon tank all by herself. Wouldn't she have shown symptoms of this long before now?
Hi Laura - great question. Flukes are actually almost always present in tanks...very common in aquariums. Most of the time, your fish's immune system and slime coat are strong enough so they aren't affected. And, usually the number of flukes is pretty low. Occasionally, flukes can multiply to the extent where they can affect your fish, or, if anything happened to your fish (Stress, etc...) that caused its immune system to be compromised, flukes can infect the fish. Generally a drop in water quality, over-feeding, or an increase in organic waste in the tank can cause fluke populations to spike. I've heard colder water can as well, but I don't have any personal experience there. So it isn't uncommon for fish to exhibit fluke like symptoms once in awhile, even if they are by themselves. Any time I have had a fish infected, in was usually either because I wasn't maintaining my tanks as well as I usually do, or - the fish was stressed for some reason, compromising its immune system. This is why it isn't a bad idea to keep some Prazi Pro in the "fish cabinet," because you never know when you might need it....Hope that helps a little!
I was thinking about your post, this tank is not fully cycled (I don't think?), I just cannot get it to get there. I test the water with my API Masters Kit weekly. The ammonia this week is 0.25 and nitrates are 5.0, PH is 7.6, Nitrites 0, GH 3. Not testing for KH because I am using SeaChems Alkaline Regulator to keep the PH in check. I use Prime daily to bind the ammonia while I wait for it to cycle, and I also use SeaChems Stability bacteria. On average I have been doing a 30% partial weekly. I have some of those ugly brown diatoms forming and am constantly cleaning those up. I know they feed on the nitrates...I added a Green Machine to keep them from forming but the darn stuff is growing on it! I dropped feeding to only once a day instead of twice. Its only a 10 gallon tank with 1 little platy in it. I also decreased the light to 8 hours a day. I have had this fish for about 8 months now. Any suggestions?
Laura - are you using municipal water in the tank? Some tap water from municipalities has ammonia in it...so that may be why you keep reading ammonia. Have you done a test just on your tap water? My guess is that you could have some trace ammonia in the tap water, or there could be some food breaking down in the gravel...The breakdown of excess, uneaten food - that gets in the cracks of gravel, can also create ammonia in the water. What type of substrate do you have? If gravel, have you gravel vacuumed it recently? (Sorry if I ask a bunch of questions, but trying to learn more so I can help....). Is your tank planted at all? If you are getting brown diatom algae, that is a sign that your tank is cycled....and after several months, especially since you have added Stability, I don't think cycling is the issue, in my opinion. And your nitrites at 0 also hints that it is cycled...Nitrates at 5 is great. The diatom growth could also be from overfeeding - food has phosphates in it and that can lead to algae growth, especially if you don't have a large plant load to compete with the algae, so good move feeding once a day instead of 2. You can even scale back to once every other day, or a smaller amount once a day (I only feed all my guys once a day, with one day a week as a fast day with no feeding). Also - very good move on decreasing the lighting to 8 hours a day. Even with heavily planted tanks, 8 hours is the max I would go at full light. You may even want to decrease the lighting to 6 hours a day. Otocinclus and Nerite snails are great in dealing with brown algae. Here is a video that might help: th-cam.com/video/B-jZ578WRHs/w-d-xo.html After a lot of the algae is gone, you can supplement their diets with green beans, zucchini, algae wafers, etc... Sorry that is a lot in the comment - let me know when you have a chance to test your tap water...we can keep working on things :)
@@dmichaelsfishden Yes, I have tested the tap water, there was no ammonia in it, but our PH varies like crazy....anywhere from 6.0 to 8.2 which is why I use the Alkaline regulator. I vacuum the gravel every week when I partial the tank. The substrate is a standard black aquarium gravel and I change out the filter pad every couple of weeks. One live plant, (which I removed when i medicated the water), the rest are silk. I got some medication for flukes....the only brand I could find was by API. Those ugly brown diatoms keep forming, but I know that's common in new tanks, I keep cleaning it off things as it forms. I installed one of those Green Machines hoping it would stop that stuff from taking hold, but ironically the brown algae literally grows on the green machine. My platy is acting more normal today, and I have not seen anymore flashing. She hid inside her log for 2 days and didn't even come out to eat....I thought for sure I'd find her dead.... Fingers crossed. Her tank sits on our kitchen counter and she is such a bright spot in my days, I'd sure hate to lose her. I have one other larger tank with nothing but African Dwarf Frogs in it.....both tanks were set up at the same time and I have had no issues with brown algae in that one.
Is this similar to velvet? My betta flashes and rubs against objects in the tank :/ We thought it was ich, did several treatments and water changes but still flashes and itches. I shined the light on his head and it seems a bit gold in color and a little on his fin as well. After doing more research I realized it was velvet! I added 1 tsp of sea salt for now (he's in a 3 gallon tank by himself), but I wonder if he needs medication like Prazipro as well? Any help? Thank you
Genevieve (love your name - my grandmother had the same name 😀), yes, the "gold dust" you can see is a dead giveaway for velvet. Velvet, like Ich, is parasitic, so I would use a good parasitic medication. The parasite, Oodinium, is more aggressive than Ich, so I would treat right away. HIkari's Ich-X (Which also treats Velvet) should help get it.....Paraguard is another newer product by Seachem that is also meant to treat velvet and is a little more "gentle" but I don't have any personal experience with Paraguard. If it were me, I would treat with Ich-X first and see if that 1. handles the velvet (it should get it) and 2. stops the flashing and itching - the flashing and itching are likely due to Oodinium moving into the fish's gills, so this is a similar situation to gill flukes. If the Ich-X gets the velvet and your betta stops flashing, you are likely in the clear. If your betta continues to flash after the velvet is gone, then I would do a second treatment with PraziPro - but you'll definitely need something stronger than just the salt to get rid of the velvet - hope that helps! 😀
@@dmichaelsfishden Thank you so much for your help! So far I am trying a little bit of a salt, increased temp, and blacking out his tank to inhibit the parasite from growing (since I read they are photosynthesizers). Going to do a water change today and a little bit more of aq. salt. And repeat with for several days. If no effect then I will treat with chemicals. *crossing fingers*. Thank you again, love your channel! Very imformative and straight to the point.
@@dmichaelsfishden Actually, I have read from several sources that this thing is aggressive. Would it be too much to treat with a salt + a chemical (in smaller doses)?
Absolutely right! I forgot to mention that...they are photosynthetic, so blacking out the tank will certainly help. And thank you for the kind words on the channel - glad you are enjoying it! 😊
I would fully dose the medication and still add a little salt - I know a lot of us get nervous adding chemicals in the water, but the medications these days are formulated well and for the most part if the instructions are followed they are perfectly safe for your fish (we also want to be good about removing residual medication after dosing is finished 😀). The problem is if we dose medication but don't use a strong enough dose (and especially true with bacterial infections) we don't want the parasite/bacteria to build up an immunity to it, rendering it ineffective completely. This is often why the same medication won't work twice for the exact same bacterial strain - the bacteria can build up an immunity to it if exposed for a long enough period of time at a dose that isn't strong enough to kill it all. It's best to fully dose per the instructions and just get it the first time so it won't come back. What I'm worried about with your betta's velvet is that because it is so aggressive a smaller dose might not get it all, and it could come back even stronger....salt can sometimes help with parasites, but with velvet it may not be enough - if it were me, and again because velvet is so aggressive, I would dose with meds (full dosing) and maybe add a little salt to try to help. You'll also want to make sure you take out any activated carbon in your filter as the carbon will soak up the meds. Carbon IS great to add to your filter after dosing as it will soak up residual medication - but if you don't see any improvement in a day or two using just the salt treatment, I would definitely full dose Ich-X or Paraguard - or API's General Cure...that should get it as well. Hope that helps! 😀
I just got some white cloud minnows last night from my lfs. About 10 or so minutes after introducing the group of 4 to my 10g, I saw one of them start to flash like your betta did. But after half an hour it stopped flashing and hasn't since. I just looked at it (around 18 hours later) and I can't see any parasites or fungus or anything that could be wrong with it, so could it have been flashing from stress or should I be worried?
FishKeeper Cole - It definitely could have been from the stress. You are monitoring them well, and I would just keep an eye on them for a few days. You may have nothing to worry about. If you do start to see that same fish flashing consistently, or if you see multiple fish doing it, that is another story. But at this point, I would jump to any conclusion yet. Keep a good eye on them and see how it goes for the next few days. BTW - really glad you picked up white clouds! I'm setting up a new tank and will be putting white clouds in it. I've never kept them before but heard they are fantastic fish to have
@@dmichaelsfishden Im glad I got them too. TBH they were kind of an impulse buy since when I went to go pick out the black neon tetras that I had planned on getting, I saw that one of them had ick. So the next best thing were the two otocinclus that I had planned on and some white clouds. I think they look better anyways. I can't wait to see that tank you talked about too If you'd like too see mine I just posted a video of their tank on my channel.
Just checked out the video! Man - those are some beautiful white clouds!!! You got great stock. Well done. 👏👏I'll be doing some videos on the new tank build process and progress, absolutely. Stay tuned for those. 👍
Hi i treated my betta but two weeks later hes still flashing idk what to do and hes just staying on the filter intake have any advice ?? please thankyou
dmichaels fish den much appreciated for the reply ! I been puzzled if they had ich but my tank is hot and no spots so I was very confused till I saw this video was like BINGO ! Thanks man .
Does anyone know if this is safe to use with aquatic turtles also in the same pond? My Koi are doing this and I also have Painted Turtles and Red Eared Sliders
Sarah - I haven't used it with turtles, but it is safe with shrimp, snails, and most other inverts, so while I can't share any personal experience, I would imagine it is perfectly safe to use with turtles 👍
There is, which is the one I buy - Yeah, that $35 price tag is for the 16oz bottle, and unless you really have a big tank and a big fluke or worm outbreak, that is just too much. I buy the 4 oz bottle for $16:www.amazon.com/Hikari-Usa-AHK73254-Prazipro-Aquarium/dp/B004LOBGYA/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=prazi+pro&qid=1595180739&sr=8-4 Hope that link works and hope that helped! 😀
My fish has been doing this for the last 3 hours but it’s midnight here not much I can do until I’m out from work tomorrow, I was wondering if he will be fine by later tomorrow or can they die right away???
Carol Baggins not to worry. No, they wouldn’t die right away. You would see a progression first, ending with the fish at the bottom of the tank, not moving much, with very labored breathing as the gill flukes take a toll. That can take some time. Just treat when you can. 😀. Once I see flashing I usually wait a day to see if the flashing is consistent and constant anyway before treating. 👍
Do you think another symptom would be purposefully crashing against the bottom of the tank? I got a beta fish about two weeks ago and he was rubbing himself against a plant so I removed it thinking it might be a little sharp. he stopped doing that behaviour for about a week but then he started crashing against the bottom of the tank on purpose like swimming down rapidly and flashing around a little bit, the water is fine I test it every time I do a water change but I can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong I’m so worried for him I don’t want him to hurt himself. What would anyone suggest? The nearest vet is about an hour away, would this medication hurt him if flukes weren’t the issue?
Would they be flashing for any other reason? I have guppies that I have successfully bred and my mama guppy seems to flash every few days, so I treat the tank with lifeguard by tetra and all the baby fry and snails do well with it if anyone wondered how it went. But I don't want to keep treating it with the same medication if the job isn't getting done. I have also tried api general cure which treats the same as tetra lifeguard, it's just more expensive so that's why I stuck with tetra. Any help or feedback would be appreciated
Hi Tiffanie - sorry for the late response here - catching up on comments. Hope you are staying safe and healthy! I've seen fish flash occasionally, absolutely. I don't really know why they do that, but I do notice it from time to time and it seems to be a somewhat normal behavior with some species. What I usually do is watch the tank first if I see a fish flash. If it is a one-off, I don't medicate. But if I notice that same fish doing it continually, or if more than one fish are doing it, then I usually medicate the whole tank. You used great stuff with General Cure (personally I don't have any experience with Tetra Lifeguard) and most medications designed to get parasites usually get gill/skin flukes as well. General Cure has Praziquantel in it as well, which is the main ingredient in Prazi Pro. I would say if you treated the tank already, just watch it to make sure the flashing has stopped. You may have gotten everything. I've used Prazi Pro several times for flukes (with different fish, in different situations), and I've never needed to dose twice for the same situation. One dose, left to do its work for 7 days, and that took care of the issue for me. If you DO notice more flashing, in that case, I would switch to a different solution - if you have to do that, I would recommend Prazi Pro, only because in my experience it has been 100% effective for me. Hope that helps a little?
So, I just put some live plants in my 10 gallon tank for my betta. He always hides behind these fluffy ones ( can’t remember the name). But, I noticed after a couple of days that he goes to a particular spot where the fluffy plant meets the gravel, and swims through it in circles. He’l kind of wiggle and turn. Other than that though, he eats and is pretty active. Does anybody have an idea on what’s wrong with him? He doesn’t seem to have any gill, fin, or skin damage.
Bettas are curious, fun little guys. My guess is he is probably playing around with the plant. Mine does the same, especially around plants. My guess is he is trying to entertain himself. 😀Unless he is flashing his gills against it or scratching against it. If he is flashing his gills, that could be flukes...maybe. If he is rubbing his body against it, it could be body "flukes" - they are like fleas to a dog. Then you'd want to use the Prazi Pro. But if he is just swimming around it, you just have a playful Betta 😀He is just loving the new setup. Keep us posted! But it doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about at this point 😀 Just sharing my experience....
dmichaels fish den Awesome thank you!! I have noticed that he flares at the outside of the tank a lot, so maybe that could be causing it?? I’m not sure, but I’m going to get some black paper as a background for the back and sides of his tank just in case.
How quickly do I need to treat this? My fish have been flashing mildly for about 3 days, just ordered on PraziPro on Amazon but the soonest it can get here is 4 days from now, so that'll be a week of flashing total. Is that too late to treat?
Shane - you should be fine - if your fish is still just flashing but isn't breathing heavily and labored and otherwise acts normal, plenty of time to treat. And if your fish is only mildly flashing right now, you'll have plenty of time. I would just make sure to dose right when the PraziPro gets there. You should only need one dose of it - it lasts for 7 days. I've treated it 4 or 5 times, and in my experience, I've never needed more than one dose to solve the issue 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden Hey I just want to follow up, still waiting on the meds, but seems like all my Platies have stopped flashing except for 1, who has now spent the past 2 days in a dark top corner of the tank breathing heavily, and on the rare occasion she does come out she swims super spaztically and flashes very quickly and intensely. Still safe to assume it's flukes?
Shane, it could be still, yes. I would still dose a round of the PraziPro. It sounds like the Platy in the corner (sorry to hear about that one) has an advanced case of flukes - I say that because the fish is flashing quickly and breathing heavily. Those two symptoms are indicative of flukes. Definitely dose the PraziPro when it arrives. Flukes can infect in stages and while some of your other fish may not be as affected right now, the one in the corner sound like a worse case. You want to dose both to help them and as a preventative measure to stop any other flukes from breeding. You should be fine with one dose, but just watch the fish after 7 days. If you need to dose once more, it certainly won't hurt anything 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden Great, thanks again! PraziPro arrived and dosed 2 days ago. Still not looking good for my fish Ghost though, hoping she pulls through (hasn't come out to eat for 3 days now)
When applying Pazi pro do I add it to aquarium once or for 5-7 days every single day or every 3 days I don’t really understand the instructions .... after the treatment everything should be good ? Do I have to put carbon in the filter to remove it all or can I just wait and do regular weekly water changes ? And will the parasites be dead ?
Shah - yeah, they can be a little misleading. Just one dose. That will last up to 7 days. That's it - one dose for every 7 days. After that, you should be good. I've used Prazi for flukes on three separate occasions, and each time one dose was all I needed. If after the first dose you still see some flashing, you can do a water change (25% or so) then dose one more time. You'll want to keep the carbon out of the filter while you dose. Once you take care of the flukes and all is good, you can put new carbon back into the filter - it will help remove the residual medication. Hope that helps!
Nope, you sure don't. I don't use carbon in my filters either and when I dosed the Prazi, it was just removed after a few of my weekly regular water changes 👍 Don't feel like you have to use carbon at all. The only time I use carbon is if I have to ever use really potent antibiotics - then I'll throw some carbon in....but you certainly don't have to with the Prazi
ive had 2 of my oldest fish die suddenly, about a week apart. now I noticed my third fish out of the trio flashing and im here! I know its safe for invertebrates, but would my Amano shrimp and the plants in my tank be okay? also, is this safe to use with fry? the fry are in a separate tank but im worried about cross contamination
Hi Mariella - In that case, I would dose again. Though I've never personally had to dose the Prazi Pro more than once, that doesn't mean you might not have to. It's also helpful when you dose to do it with a small plastic pippette or something that will help uniformly spread the medicine around the tank well. However, that being said, fish do flash like this from time to time, though I'm really not sure why. If you see them do it as a one-off, that seems to be normal behavior (scratching an itch, so to speak). I do see my fish do this every once in awhile and don't worry about it unless they are doing it over and over again each day, or if I see more than one fish doing it. The only thing I know of so far, if the flashing is consistent and bad, that causes it is gill flukes. Otherwise if it is just a one off, it seems like that is normal behavior for some fish. Does that help a little?
dmichaels fish den yes I determined after I had rid my discus of Ich they had full flukes as well. I have started them today on Womer Plus. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Theo - a great question. What I can say here is that they can be dangerous and the risk is there that the fish won't survive if left untreated. Flukes attack the gills and many fish suffocate as a result. When the infestation gets more advanced, you'll see the fish on the bottom of the tank with heavy, labored breathing. Years ago when I first started in the hobby, I lost several fish to flukes that were left untreated. I didn't know how to treat them and certainly didn't know Praziquantel existed for treatment. So it can be dangerous, yes. In my past experience, it was about 50 / 50 whether the entire tank got infected. Sometimes it was just one fish, other times, 3 or 4 fish were infected. These days, when I even get the slightest cue that a fish has flukes, I immediately treat the whole tank with Prazi Pro, which has happened twice in the last two years with 2 different tanks. Flukes can hitchhike into your tank from fish at the store, etc....Each time, it only took one dose of Prazi Pro to get the flukes. My best advice, and the advice I believe will be safest for your fish, is to treat immediately when you suspect flukes. Better to err on the side of caution, as the saying goes. Hope that helps!
Could this be used in scaless fishe as well ? Would it still be flukes if the fishes remain active and with huge appetites But scratches once or twice every now and then ?
dmichaels fish den, a big thank you for the very informative video. I have Brad, a male betta living with 3 female bettas (still establishing hierarchy), a guppy couple and 20 young mollies ( a gift from a friend so can’t turn away) all in a100 litre tank. Brad the male betta has been seen flaring for a few times during the night and rubs himself off any object in the tank. I might need to treat him now but worried that another fish might be contaminated too... :(
My pleasure! Glad the video was helpful! (And hi, Brad 😉) In this situation, it wouldn't be a bad idea to treat the whole tank...that way, you'll know you are taking care of any flukes that might be in there, and if you are worried other fish are contaminated, the treatment will help them too. Always nice to be safe and have the peace of mind. If you use PraziPro it's perfectly safe for all other fish in the tank. 👍If I were in the same situation, I would definitely treat the whole tank. In my experience, one treatment is all I've ever needed. It lasts about 5-7 days, but I've never had to treat twice with the Prazi.
I can’t find PraziPro here in UK but will definitely look for praziquantel treatment for fishies. I’ve added API stress coat for now. I have an external filter with UV light in the filtration layer. Is it safe to keep it running while I treat the whole tank? Thank you so much!!! I’m a beginner and still learning. I love the video with the talking Patriot part btw!
Yep, any Praziquantel treatment will work...doesn't have to be Hikari's brand. :) And yep, safe to keep the filter going, just make sure you remove any active carbon in the filter if you have any there. And my pleasure! Thanks for the kind words on Patriot! He is definitely a talker... ;) Very glad to hear you are in the hobby!
They all got along? That sounds like a lot of fish for what the converter says is about 26 gallons. How'd the bettas do? It's always recommended not to have males and females together blah blah blah, so I'm curious to know if they were fine together :)
I saw that no one responded, but no it has absolutely no affect on the nitrogen cycle. Just be sure to remove any carbon from your filter before treatment as the carbon can remove the medication from the water. :)
Priscilla - thank you for the kind words! Btw - I am loving your art! I am a monthly Patreon with Jadren Aquatics and got my discus picture the other day. Very impressive! I'm going to try to show them off each month and point people over to your channel 👍 You are very talented!
Tryhardninja7 - One last treatment should do it - what's important with the Prazi Pro - make sure when you put it in the tank you are distributing it evenly around all the sides and the middle of the tank. Do you have any carbon in your filter? If so, you need to take the carbon out, as that will suck up all the Prazi Pro and it won't get to the fish
Ok so I’ve witnessed at least 3 of my fish flashing against some ornaments in the tank at one point or another I’ve only seen them do it once or twice they don’t do it very often. My clownfish does it too but only on the sand. Ive read that behavior can be normal for clownfish so I wasn’t too worried about him. Anyway I’ve dosed the water 2 different times with prazi pro but today I noticed 2 of them do it again. I thought maybe it’s not flukes maybe its ich but I checked and none of my fish have any white spots. Anyone know what else it can be? Can it just be them scratching an itch/normal ?
Sweet Science - is it just the clowns that continue to do it? You're right, that can be normal behavior for them. It's definitely not Ich if you don't see any white spots. Personally, every time I've used Prazi Pro it has gotten rid of any flukes, etc....so if that was used just recently and you are still seeing your fish scratch occasionally, it very well could just be normal behavior. In my experience, I've not know flashing/scratching to be anything but either normal behavior or flukes. However, if they are doing it to excess and/or you think the behavior is getting worse, which will be the tell tale sign, the flukes may still be there. You can use formalin to further treat them. Often times fish vets will begin with Praziquantel (active ingredient in Prazi Pro) to treat flukes, finish that treatment, then treat with formalin as a way to provide a broader spectrum of medication. Hope that helps 😀I would just keep a close eye on them for awhile - if you see flashing getting worse, or especially if you see any labored breathing, loss of appetite, or the fish lying on the bottom, I might consider a formalin treatment
dmichaels fish den no I’ve seen my royal gramma do it and my coral beauty. Most of my fish are constantly presenting themselves to my lazy ass cleaner shrimp who hardly ever cleans them. I will try to treat them with prazi pro again & this time I will add more after 5 days. The bottle says to do it with a big water change but It can still work without the water change right? I just did one a few days ago and the salt isint cheap.
I just noticed my Sailfin tang rubbing his sides against the sand now I’m %100 sure there’s a parasite of some sort because he never used to do that. I dosed prazi pro without doing a water change hopefully it will still work. I will apply a second dose in 5 days & if that doesn’t stop the flashing I might just give up on this hobby it’s so frustrating not knowing what’s wrong I’m starting to get over this.
Sweet Science - I know things get frustrating...don't give up! I promise we have all been there, one way or another...as we learn, it gets better. Definitely fine to dose the Prazi Pro without a water change. Especially since there is an immediate need right now. There is another option to stop the flashing if the Praziquantel doesn't work and that is with Formalin. Many fish vets with start with Prazi, then do a follow up treatment with Formalin. Let's see how the Prazi does this time...give it 5 days or so. If that still doesn't work, I would switch to a formalin treatment. That should do it if the Prazi doesn't. Hang in there. I've been there many times with all kinds of situations that frustrated me to no end....we are all human and can't help but get frustrated...as things go on, though, as we learn from all these experiences, the hobby gets easier, and better...Keep me posted on how they are doing!
dmichaels fish den thanks yea I will keep trying things until they either die or I figure it out. It’s been 3 days since I dozed prazipro and they are still flashing I’d say it’s actually gotten worse. I will doze again in 2 more days. In the meantime I’ve been feeding garlic with their food although some people say that doesn’t work. I want to try the formalin but I’m waiting for my QT to finish cycling because I have shrimp in my display tank. Hopefully my fish can hold up till then.
my betta will do this with one specific plant in the tank. i’ve personally only seen him do it once or twice, should i remove the plant? does he have this parasite?
Cody - how weird...only on one plant? What kind of plant is it? It could be that the plant has thicker leaves and allows him to "scratch" or "flash" more effectively. Fish do this from time to time, so I wouldn't worry about it if you've only seen him do it once or twice. When they have the parasite, you'll tend to see flashing a lot more often and it can be pretty aggressive. If you start to see that, I would definitely treat. If not....if this is a sometime or occasional thing, I wouldn't worry about it - Hope that helps!
@@dmichaelsfishden thank you! it was on a plastic plant, and i didn't want him hurting his fins on them so i removed all plastic plants and replaced them with live plants - haven't seen him do it since. thank you so much for the help though, and i will keep a look out for more flashing!
Cody - ahhh..yeah, I would have removed the plastic plant as well. Silk plants are ok, but remember those betta fins are like tissue paper, so in the future the plastic plant may have ripped a fin as well - nice move, man. I would have done exactly the same thing! And....If you haven't seen him flash since, sounds like you are in the clear for now!
Ophelie - though I've never used General Cure for flukes, General Cure is a parasitic medication, and it should be just as good for getting the flukes. If it was me and I didn't have Prazi Pro, I would go with the General Cure. I can also say I've used it in the past in a tank with snails and clown loaches (scaleless fish) and never had an issue, so you should be just fine. A little other advice- make sure you remove any activated carbon from the tank prior to medicating. After medicating, its great to put active carbon back in the tank to soak up any residual medication. Hope that helps!
@@dmichaelsfishden I see, thank you ! I have general cure on hand, hence my question. I have Otos and Corydoras (+ tetras and gourami), and worry about them the most. No carbon in my 55 planted tank ;) but I will put some for a brief time after medication sessions just to make sure everything is out! Thanks for the reply!! 🐠🌿
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You can't buy this stuff in the UK. But "Fluke-Solve" has similar ingredients.
Thank you for sharing this! I wasn't aware Prazi Pro is not available in the UK...I'm going to pin this so any folks watching from the UK can read it easily. Appreciate it!
Yep, is just a powder instead of a liquid. It's also 50% praziquantel so pretty strong and doses are tiny for aquariums.
Im in the UK and I order my prazi pro online from america, can take 2-3 weeks to come so just make sure you have a small bottle ready to go at all times.
@@BlatentlyFakeName hii I am from India my goldfish have these same disease and these medicines are also not available here so pleasee suggest me how to treet my fish
@@yourdestruction50 Hi, For tapeworms Albendazole is an alternative to praziquantel, It is available in India I have heard from many Indians. You can check with your local chemist.
Folks, Monkey Nut made a great point below - What I didn’t mention is this “flashing” had been going on for 2 days prior to treatment. If a fish does it a few times, it might not mean flukes. However, if you notice it and the fish continues to flash repeatedly, treatment is needed 👍. Thanks Monkey Nut for pointing that out!
dmichaels fish den ....just one more thing... flashing can also be caused by environment, food and supplements .. my mollys do not like it when I add in bacteria ae, which is a super fine shrimp supplement for bio film. That causes flashing. Probably not seen much as it’s fish dependant. They also weirdly enough don’t like fine pollen. Pollen is used as shrimp food..
But after treating multiple times for flashing and it still happened I figured it out.
Some times an itch is an itch !! Fish don’t have hands.
Monkey Nut you are right, these can all cause flashing. 👍. In my case here, the environment is great and it’s an established tank, but I knew it was flukes since it was a new fish and flashing went on for 2 days. And you are right, sometimes and itch IS an itch! Once or twice, no big deal. 😊Unfortunately though I’ve heard from a lot of people who have lost fish after seeing flashing, (and quickly) so I’ve gone more toward the conservative side with flashing. PraziPro is harmless (except to flukes 😉) so it’s a nice treatment and can be preventative for those in doubt. My established fish never flash, but anytime a brand new fish does, I always use it for a treatment 👍 just to be sure...😉
Monkey Nut but you are absolutely right - after treating if a fish still flashes....that’s something else entirely. Glad you figured out the pollen issue! 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden I have been loosing fish at a fast rate .. Signs flashing Redness To body, ...Still eating Highly stressed Rapid breathing.., I've treated with Fluke and worm reds......I've scrubbed the tank...then close to a crash., first I thought maybe Planaria worms...then Sceptecemia...I am at a loss...I am down to 9 fish left 😔 and close to calling it a day..😔 My fish Are suffering and I don't know why..my water Was Ok..now I've lost Some Good friendly bacteria I still Add Bacteria when Cleaning tank...But Cus of Worms of it was that gave me a massive Ammonia spike which traps u..as u need to Scrub the tank..my tank is 4 years old...I had a African cichlid tank then Slowly turned into a community tank .All kinds of Barbs from Tigers to Cherry to golden to green..and 1 spanner barb and 1 Bala ..he's a bit Slow and soft 🙂 but no Fighting all get on....But can't Find out what's going on
Fish can also scratch from ammonia in the water or overall bad water conditions. I watched this video while i tested my water and concluded i had some ammonia readings i dosed prime and everyone chilled out. Be patient and vigilant because ive dosed so much medicine when it wasnt necessary freaking out
Great point!! In my case here, the water conditions were pristine, so I knew it was flukes, but, you make a great point to test the water first and not jump to conclusions 👍
After dosing plenty of medicine did u do any water change?.......Cause mines similar case too😅
Great vid! But can I also add that you should test your nitrite level as well as high nitrite readings can also cause flashing.
Your voice sounds super professional, very pleasant. Good enough to do VoiceOver work or work on the radio, really!
This can be a very common sight in our aquariums, and often with newer fish recently introduced. It clearly indicates a level of discomfort for the "flashing" fish, with treatment for parasites being an easy and prudent step to take. Another great aquarium tip from the Den. Thx Mike :)
Always a prudent first step 😀 Thank you, as always, for the kind words and continued support Collin!
I only think you need to treat if fish constantly flash. Once or twice is fine. It’s when it’s more constant
Monkey Nut you are absolutely right and that’s a great point. What I should have mentioned in this video was that this had been going on for 2 days prior to treatment. Excellent point 👍. Appreciate the comment very much and thanks for checking out the video!
@@dmichaelsfishden thanks will do
How do I know like how constant does flashing have to be ?
Mine has been shaking just for like 5 minutes straight and she does it randomly sometimes
I feel bad... I only knew of Ick so I thought maybe my fish was just acting wierd... It's gotten worse so now I'll buy some of this. Hopefully it helps.
Don't feel bad - we all learn by experience....Several years ago I had no idea what this was either, until I did a lot of research and trial and error. Definitely pick up the Prazi Pro. I've used it 3 times for gill flukes, one time for skin flukes, and it has worked every time. I've also only had to dose once (the dose is good for 7 days). Should do the trick for you! (it is also safe for all fish, inverts, plants, ec...)
@@dmichaelsfishden update- I don't believe it's skin flukes. I don't regret treating for it but he's still rubbing and looks distressed. Now I'm treating for general bacteria infections. :( Still a helpful video though!
@@thisisawesome4532 hello! In a year late but my betta is acting weird as well. Erractic swimming and scratching. Did your fish make a full recovery?
So I know this video is fairly old. However, I was wondering if you knew if this is safe to use around fish without scales? I have a couple peacock eels in my community tank, and don't want to kill them. TIA
Good video, good explanation, and good advice. You hit a home run with this one. :)
Anthony - thank you for the very kind words and continued support! I thought this might be a good topic as it's a fairly common occurrence for hobbyists. Hopefully it's helpful to some folks! Hope you are well and staying cool in this heat, my friend.
Thank you, u may have just saved my twenty dollar betta’s life he is a platinum and he is absolutely Gorgeous, thank you again
Enzo - I'm glad it was helpful! I hope your betta is doing better - I definitely understand what it means to have an expensive Betta you really care about :)
what a cute way to share info! Kudos to you! :)
Thanks for watching, Jo, and for the kind words!! 😀
Thank you for this video! I just bought 3 new fish, which are all flashing against things in the tank. Now my previous fish are flashing. I watched this video. Just received my prazipro today.
My crowntail betta has been flashing for 3 or 4 days now and its getting worse and she was very lethargic today. I did a quick Google search the first day I noticed and didn't get the answer to my question as to WHY Finley has been doing this. It wasn't until I did a second Google search today and watched your video. Thanks for posting. You probably saved my fish's life, because I wouldn't know what to do otherwise.
I'm glad the video was helpful, Sarah June! How is he doing now?
@@dmichaelsfishden she is very lethargic and ignores food but I have her in a hospital tank and am paying close attention to her, treating as directed... I hope she improves soon, I'm so worried about her.
Patriot's scene cracked me up. "Nailed it!"Also, thanks for the helpful info - helped me clear up an infestation in my cory shoal. They are very grateful!
Katie - my pleasure! PraziPro is great stuff. Patriot says hi, thanks for watching, and that you "nailed it" on your comment ;)
I always come back here when I need to research some fish illness. Thanks for this video.
Rod - my pleasure and thank you for the continued support! Very glad to hear these videos are helpful and thankful to share the experience. I'm "blessed???" to have gone through several illnesses/issues over the last 7 years with the critters. :)
Great video extremely informative. Just ordered some Prazipro to have on hand. Thanks!
Jadren Aquatics appreciate the kind words! Glad it was helpful. Prazi is one of those things that really helps to have in the arsenal, especially when getting new fish 👍
dmichaels fish den do you have to treat twice with Prazi pro ? Or is once good enough
Your videos are both informative and exceedingly cute! Thanks
Thanks for the kind words, Rebecca! Thank you for watching! :)
Great video...love the style..and the info is top notch. Many thanks
Luc - My pleasure! Thank you for the very kind words. Glad the video was helpful!
My goldfish has this problem, i took her in separate aquarium and put some medicine for bacterias and parasites , its medicine for white spots but they wrote it can be used for any kind of bacterias and parasites, hopefully it will help...thanks to you i'm sure its not some swim bladder problem 🙏 thank you
Camp - sorry to hear about your goldfish - these issues can be pretty common though. Give that med a try and be patient...about a week. If you don't see any improvement, I would try PraziPro if you can get it. Prazi has always done the trick for me, and I've only had to dose it one time for it to get everything. If you can't get Prazi Pro, you can also try API General Cure, designed to get these parasitic infections. Hope that helps a little!
Michael, I need your help! I have a community tank with platys, swords, corys, and one angel fish (29 gallon).
Problem: I have reaccuring flukes! I’ll get rid of them for a month or so, but when I vacuum the gravel, they come back. I treat them with PraziPro. They go away. I vacuum the gravel. They come back!! I’ve read that I may need to treat the whole tank for up to four weeks. But that’s unhealthy for fish. Any suggestions? Have you had consistent/reoccurring flukes?
Back story:
A few months back, I made the mistake of putting a plant in my tank that I thought I had properly sanitized, with Ruby Reef’s Hydroplex. Well that plant had snails in it, the snails were a carrier for the flukes, and my tank came down with them, and I can’t seem to stop the cycle. Last time this happened, I treated my tank for two weeks straight. I realize that the flukes are likely laying dormant in the substrate, which is pretty thick. But shouldn’t the Prazi penetrate the substrate? Suggestions welcome🙏🏼
Hi Heather - thanks for the comment and for checking out the video! First, I think you are absolutely right as to the origin of the flukes, that they very well could have hitchhiked on the plant - I also think you are right that some eggs may be dormant in the substrate, even though they usually lay eggs in the fish's gills (gross to think about...). Second, unfortunately, I don't believe this situation is that uncommon. I've read articles by fish vets that they can sometimes battle flukes for several weeks before they get them all, especially if it is a bad infestation. I haven't had them recurring - when/if they appear in the tank, it is usually a year apart - or - when I introduce a new plant, etc...What kind of substrate do you have? If it is sand or a very fine substrate, it's possible that flukes can get really down in it, and although the Prazi should penetrate, it may not get all the way through if it is really thick. A few things that might be helpful - if some of the flukes built an immunity to Prazi, I know fish vets will often first start with Prazi - they do a second treatment of formalin, then a 3rd treatment of Prazi - it might be helpful to switch to formalin so you have a broader spectrum treatment, using both Prazi and formalin...Prazi will get rid of some of them, formalin, the rest (hopefully).
Prior to treating again - whether Prazi or formalin, I would do it right after vacuuming the substrate - try to stir it up a bit to get those critters up and out, then treat. If it were me in this situation, I might switch to a formalin treatment to start. Once that treatment is over, I would follow up with another Prazi treatment. Hopefull that helps a little? :) Though I haven't had it personally, I definitely have heard of fluke treatments lasting 4 weeks or longer if it is a larger infestation....
dmichaels fish den
Michael, you are awesome! Thank you! That was so helpful and informative. I appreciate the time you took to write such a thorough reply!
To answer your question, my substrate is medium grade gravel, nothing too fine. It is about 5-6 inches thick in the back of the tank and about 2 in the front.
May I get your opinion on two more things?
I think Formalin is off the market now. From what I can see, I have two respective options. First, I can use a Formalin blend. There are a few medications that blend Malachite green with Formalin, but I don’t think that is a good option for me, because I have a number of Corydoras. Secondly, there is Ruby Reef’s RALLY. It is a blend of acriflavine, aminoacridine, and formalin. It is not rated really well, but those reviews pertain mostly to marine tanks. Any thoughts??
Lastly, I am thinking that I may have to completely break down my tank. It is heavily planted with the added complication of rocks and drift wood. I thought about treating the plants and fish in a spare tank, and bleaching the rocks, tank, and equipment. It is beautifully aquascaped, and a crying shame to dismantle, but I’m afraid that the medication will not saturate the areas under the decor; unless I move everything around and stir up the gravel, which at that point, I’ve already tore the tank up. Also, I have an underground filter, which may be part of the problem; I think the little boogers are chilling out underneath it. Well, I am willing to do whatever it takes, if it will mean eradicating these flukes, once and for all!
At your convenience, I would greatly appreciate your wisdom. Thank you, again!
Heather (:
Hi Heather - sorry for the very late reply. Yes, I think the underground filter is part of the problem - those little guys may be chilling out underneath that - breeding in the underground filter.....Shoot - is formalin off the market? I totally get your opinion on the formalin, especially with Corys...even if you have a Formalin blend, it's still formalin....I've never heard of RALLY....has any research been done as to its safety with fish? I would say what about moving the fish to a QT tank and treating the tank with the Formalin blend....BUT - You may hate me for this and you are right about it....to really treat the tank you'll have to get the gravel stirred up well...and that means a dismantle. I know how big of a project that is, but I think you are already on the right track....treat the fish and plants in a spare tank, then use a bleach solution for everything else....I think the biggest thing here is to get in the substrate and under the undergravel filter....the flukes and little parasites may be breeding down there. My fear is yours - you'll use the Formalin blend in the tank, but it won't get all the way down the substrate and into the undergravel filter area....then we've spent money on medication, medicated again, and get the same results with these little guys still being there...Honestly, if this were me, I'd probably dismantle and treat everything, and I know that sucks short-term, but it might save you a lot of frustration (and money) in the long term. Before doing that, one last option might be to put the Corys in a QT and try to treat the tank with the RALLY blend to see if that works - I don't know anything personally about RALLY, but it might be a last ditch effort before dismantling and treating...hope that helps a little?
I still know a lot of people that use undergravel filters and love them....this is one of the disadvantages. Have you thought about perhaps moving to different filtration? HOB or Canister?
Even my fish rubs itself against the tank , but according to what I have found over the net , it’s Ick which has stuck to its body , what should I do , should I do a 100 percent water change or something else ?
Hi Nandini - the good news is they ich is easy to get rid of. You won’t need to do a 100% water change. I would recommend ICH-X you can find it online. You will need to use medication to get rid of ich. If you follow the directions on the ICH-x bottle, it will take care of things for you. You’ll need to do smaller water changes during the process. But I’ve used it before exactly following the instructions and it’s worked every time. Hope that helps!
My Red Devil has been rubbing against a pirate ship that I have in the tank for two days now. He's not eating as much and he's highly temperamental when I go to clean the tank. I'm assuming Gill Flukes based on your description. I want to treat it right away, but my local pet store doesn't have PraziPro. Is there a next best option, such as API General Cure? Or am I better off waiting the two days for Amazon to ship it?
Cody - sorry for the late reply here - has the Prazi come in yet? You'd be fine waiting the few days to get it. General Cure will also work as it targets parasitic issues. If the Prazi has come in, it should only take about one dose to get everything. I've had to use it several times over the years. I've never needed more than one dose to take care of the problem 👍
Thank you so much for your help I love your tank it's so beautiful and so is your Betta just like my other one ❤
Aaliyah - My pleasure! Thank you for the kind words on the tank and thanks for watching. If my Betta is just like your other one, sounds like you have very good taste in selecting Bettas 😉😀
Did your Betta exhibit symptoms of gill flukes during treatment? Have you ever encountered Prazipro resistant gill flukes or used Fenbendazole to treat them?
I'm having serious difficulties eradicating this parasite. 😕
my female blue ram recently died because of this, she was rubbing herself against objects, the sand, plants, etc. she was losing color and appeared smaller and smaller, her ''sail'' was never up. I have a male whom started rubbing from there and there, not constantly. should I worry? as you said it is very contagious, but i've only seen the male ram do it, non of the other fishes.
Hi there! I’m loving your video and your adorable betta fish! Thank you for your efforts. My guppies are flashing too. No sign of white spot or anything really, has been going on for one week plus. We cannot get Prazipro or API general cure in Canada. So I’m thinking of getting some ick treatment along with some other deworming medicine. What products would you recommend? Thank you so so much,.
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed the video! Yes, a few other suggestions (hopefully you can get them in Canada?) You can use Fritz ParaCleanse - This treats fish lice, and gill and skin flukes. Here is a link from their website:fritzaquatics.com/products/fritz-paracleanse Can you get Seachem products? If so, you can try Paraguard, which also targets parasitic infections, including gill and skill flukes. Are you able to get either of those 2?
Also from Canada having this same problem. My betta is flashing and rubbing on plants, but General Cure and Prazipro are both unavailable here due to new restrictions. The store you listed doesn't seem to have an online shop, sadly.
dmichaels fish den thanks for reply. unfortunately neither of these two products are available in Canada. I tried with aquarium salt 0.88 percent concentration. One of my fish got better but the parasite quickly came back and he passed away. Another one got rid of the parasite but after two weeks in salt bath, he has bent spine and appears lethargic. It’s really difficult in the hobby in Canada right now without access to these medicine.
Just an FYI there is a petition on change.org to try to get these medications re-allowed in Canada. Don't know how helpful it will be, but it's extremely frustrating not being able to just go buy these anymore and instead just watching your fish die or spending ridiculous amount of money trying to get it to a vet just to get the medication we know we need.
Magpie thank you for this information. Let’s all try our best to change this. It’s so painful to watch them suffer at the same time thinking magic could happen. I feel really bad trying different kinds of unproven treatments with them.
Great video!
Question:
* After treatment and 5-7 days has passed, should I do another water treatment or just leave as is until a water change is due?
Thanks for the kind words Vanessa! Glad it was helpful! Yes, you can do another treatment. I would do a 25/30% water change, then you can treat again. After using this several times, though, I’ve never had to do a second dose for the same fluke outbreak. It usually gets it the first time, but if not, you are definitely ok doing a second dose 👍😀
@@dmichaelsfishden good morning! Today is day seven and after coming home after one and a half days of being gone my betta's fins are clamped and he was just in the corner not doing anything, which is rare because anytime he sees me he swims straight up to the tank and is super excited but when he didn't react this way it scared me. I'm doing a 25% water change now and using another dose of Prazi pro. Any thoughts? Just before I left but day and a half ago he was his usual self super excited and swimming around, etc.
So my betta unfortunately has this but I cant find the Pazipro in Canada(Ontario) any alternatives that I could use? Ive had this boy for almost a year and really want to see him live his best life.
Bianca - I'm sorry to hear your betta may have some flukes. They can be fairly common though and there are some easy fixes. Anything with praziquantel in it should work. Do you have access to API products? You can try API General Cure. It has the praziquantel in it :)
API general cure is also not available here, praziquantel is now not available at all. I have a white betta and I can't tell if he has velvet or flukes. I tried an inch and velvet medication with the temperature increase, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I found a website called Angelfins that carries Cloverleaf brand anti-wormer, all I've been able to find in Ontario. It's flubendazole and calcium carbonate. Not sure if it will work, but at this point I'm trying what I can. I have plecos and to catfish and I don't have a quarantine tank, so it's a bit of a fight trying to figure out how to treat my betta without killing the other guys since we can't access the medication we need anymore.
So my office fish Pumpkin has been doing the flashing since we got him last October? (Now July) We thought it was a quirk of his but I finally decided to do some research and this has me concerned enough I might as well buy some! Otherwise he’s been healthy
Um, can somebody help me? My Fish are doing that for a couple of weeks now. Not all Day, Just a couple of Times per Day or sometimes not even once. Where I live there is nothing available that works for that. What Can I do? They don't have any symphtons that you said. Only one does lay on the bottom of the tank but he did that from the Day that I got him.
I have a beta that is lethargic and he bumps into stuff and keeps hiding in really tight spaces I'm not sure what to do... Answers please?
Stephany - is your Betta getting older? How long have you had him? A few of the characteristics of older bettas is that they can lose eyesight gradually and they do get more lethargic. If he is younger, then more to talk about there.....
Love the video! Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks for the kind words, DJ! Thanks for checking out the video!
My mollies does this, I got them just 4 days ago from a local pet store and the rub in the aquarium plants, but am not able to see and type of worms like which are shown in this video, and it is not possible for me to by these aquarium medicine in the place I live, what to do now? Pls do help
Can you get API general cure? That is also a good overall parasitic medication for the fish. It takes care of quite a few of these little worms, parasites, and critters. General cure also has praziquantel in it, which is also the active ingredient in Prazi Pro. Are you able to quarantine your fish in a separate tank? If you can't get that, can you get any Seachem products? If so, I would try Seachem Cupramine. It is a safe copper based medication that treats external parasites and is much easier to remove from the tank with carbon in the filter vs. other copper based medications where it is near impossible to remove the copper. Hope that helps a little 😀
I think one or two of my platies might have gill flukes. I think think this is the third week I've had them, and the redtail dalmatian platy have had red gills during this time. I haven't been able to figure out if it's because they're pale/coloring or illness. Now one redtail platy and one green lantern platy have been not acting normally, resting somewhere all the time, and not very interested in food. Then yesterday I noticed the redtail swimming weirdly, and it looks like that flashing behavior, although not against objects that I've seen. The green lantern hasn't, but might be breathing a bit harder than the other fish. The redtail has a round belly, and today I looked up "clamped fins" and that's what she looks like. Yesterday I put in a dosage of API General Cure since it says it treats gill flukes among other things.
Today, I fed the tank some peas and that got her attention. Then I cleaned the filter intake tube, added a pre-filter sponge, and noticed she seems livelier and actually pecking at floating plants. I don't know which of my actions improved her mood, but it's nice to see her up and about.
Four other platies show no signs of illness, and I have four platy fry growing nicely in there, too. Sigh. I've no idea what's going on. I can't continue to do whatever helped if I don't know what helped in the first place!
Then my new male betta, in a 7 gallon that's had two nerites for a few months, had a gray film-like thing going on in one of his eyes. It didn't look like it was protruding like Popeye, so I've treated with ParaGuard for now four days, and on the second, his eye had already improved. It looks much better now, but still a little off. Hard to tell though when he doesn't quit moving! But I'm guessing he just injured it exploring his environment, and maybe it became infected when he was following the gravel vac around. 🤷🏻♀️ I removed the lava rock because it was by the glass he swims against and I'd already been concerned with his fins tearing on the course surface.
Wow! Love the message! That's a lot to digest. Regarding flukes......forget about API. Buy Hikari's Prazi Pro...works amazing. Not that API is bad...just with flukes, Hikari has it dialed in. 😀And yes, Bettas are mischievous. 😀 Sounds like you have it all under control! Keep up the great work!
OMG i almost missed your video,,,, you came in at the right moment my diskus are scratching with the plants,,,,,THANK YOU SO MUCH MY FRIEND,,, AND AGAIN AWESOME VIDEO 👍👍💯💯🙏
Discus Whisperer - good to see you! And of course, my pleasure. So glad this was timely and helpful to you! 😀As long as it helps a few folks, that's whats important to me. Hopefully this helps with your discus! 👍
Such a sweet fish. Hope he gets over his Gill flukes AND his swollen head soon!
Susan - thanks for the kind words. he is a sweetheart and a softie 😌 Yep, got the gill flukes with that treatment, though we are currently battling some fin rot right now....hasn't had that ever before, but we are working on it 😀
I just did a weekly water change for my guppies (30%) and I noticed that one of my guppy started to flick himself to the plants. This has happened several times today. No signs of Ich or anything abnormal. Some say that I shouldn't worry so much cause the guppy is probably acclimatizing to water change. But what do you think? Should I wait and see until tomorrow? I haven't had the chance to clean my gravel. Latest water test that nitrite is about 20ppm and nitrate is also about 0.2ppm. I don't have ammonia test in hand cause I'm still waiting for it to ship from Amaazon. Should I do another water change tomorrow?
Yes, definitely see if your guppy is still doing it tomorrow. If he still is, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try Prazi, just in case. It's perfectly safe. And yes, definitely do a water change....
Can i use rock salt for alternative?
So I bought 2 fish,and one died yesterday, and he didn't eat,nor the other one.They didn't eat yesterday.And the one I have left didn't eat at all today.He was just moving around really quickly and "hitting" Himself on the walls of the tank.Is it normal for him to have uneven red spots on his tummy thing and tail?? I really need help because I don't want this one to die as well...
Rallou - I'm really sorry to hear about your fish. It certainly isn't a good sign that he isn't eating and is hitting himself on the walls of the tank. The uneven red spots also aren't always that normal. Is he hitting himself in different parts of his body? Or is he rubbing his gills on things in the tank? If it isn't specific to his gills and he is just ramming into things....the uneven spots could be injuries from that, or ulcers or sores. It's hard to tell what it might be without seeing him, but it certainly sounds like he may need to be medicated. When I don't have any idea what a fish might have I use the most broad spectrum antibiotic I can...one of those is Seachem Polyguard. Gets fungual and bacterial issues as well as septicemia - with septicemia you see red spots or streaks on the fish. If it was me, I would probably try that. Don't feel bad, though...it very well could be that the fish were sick when you picked them up and you just didn't know....happens sometimes. If your fish is flashing against objects around his gills, then I would definitely treat with Prazi Pro as that is very indicative of flukes. Hope that helps a little. Let me know if I can help further 😀 Again, really sorry to hear about your guys
Hi, so I think my fish may have the flukes. I’m nervous because I just put my hand in the aquarium to rearrange some decorations and I’m concerned.. can humans get the flukes?!
Hi Alexa - so sorry for the late reply. I don’t think they can, no. I don’t think it is transferable to humans.
Thanks for the timely aid.
Hope it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
i only see one of my fish doing this is my community tank with other fish. i also have 2 nerites and amano shrimps. should i quarantine him and treat him alone or can i treat the whole tank just in case the others have it. thanks:)
My bomivian rams have been rubbing the substate so much man its got me super worried for the community tank i hope it could possibly be ammonia creeping up on me, but ive been up-to-date on the water changes; i feel like i gotta dig my hands in the substrate to get every inch of detritus. So a dose with that stuff is really gonna be it? What about their eggs (ive heard theyre bullet-proof). Is there a point of no return? Ive been using general cure and it only seems to get worse, and spreading. I have no room for a quarentine tank so i need this to be the a-bomb for those suckers.
Thank you for the informative video my angelfish and tetras were rubbing on an amazon sword, I treated the tank with prazipro twice now but I still see them scratching somtimes, could this be something other than gill flukes?
Hey I'm back, not quite as dramatic this time. I'm currently treating melafix on my new chili rasboras as I recently discovered a few days back one of them appears to be developing fin for as the tips of his ribs are white, it's just on the one of them and I'm almost 100% sure it is stress related as they were glass surfing for nearly a week when the light was on, I'm treating the whole tank just in case. I just started treating with melafix as I didn't know what was wrong with him and thought it was just a characteristic of the fish, once I'm done treating for the seven days it says and if the issue still remains what other medication would you recommend? Thanks for the help.
Arenos - welcome back! Hope the school work went great! Congrats on getting the fish! If you think these are little scrapes from glass surfing, Melafix can be the right move as it is like neosporin for humans (I recently did a video on Melafix, Pimafix, Bettafix)....It can be a good preventative solution and it's designed to help with small scrapes, scratches, etc...At this point, I think it's ok to play out the Melafix, then go from there. Let me know if anything gets worse. I only use serious meds as a last resort, so let's see what happens after the 7 days first 😀BTW - keep an eye on that white area...if it starts to look like a white cottony growth, you'll have to use some real meds...
Omg Patriot sounds like that lazy egg yolk Gudetama from Sanrio! 😂
;)
Your video helped me out your video basically saved my thousand-dollar cord
I tried for months to figure out why my betta would randomly start flashing. I tried aquarium salt, prazi, ich treatment, but nothing helped. No other symptoms. I ran out of aquarium fertilizer for a month and the flashing stopped. As soon as I added it back in, he was flashing again within hours. So bizarre. I only used 7 drops of Easy Green (it's a 7-gallon tank) and it should not have bothered him. The anubias and java fern are fine without ferts but I guess the poor water lettuce is doomed.
Nice video very informative! But what's the dosage? How much ml/tank?
Paul Schwarber ... Why not read the label on the bottle for instructions on how much to use...?
@@rosemarydudley9954 why don't you read it yourself?
I am trying to find out what my goldfish could possibly have. I think he might have gill flukes but there isn’t much I can do to confirm this because I have no access to a microscope. When he swims there is times he jerks or shakes his head out of nowhere. He doesn’t scratch on the decor I have in the aquarium but I have noticed that he goes up and down on the aquarium glass but mostly only the point of his nose and sometimes his body. He occasionally gulps water on the surface but is more prominent after I feed him goldfish sinking pellets ( when I feed him veggies, he doesn’t gulp on the surface [I spoke to my local petco and they told me it was probably because I was over feeding]). He’s always very enthusiastic about feeding and does that “give me food goldfish dance” like crazy. I do have 2 other goldfish but the biggest one is my biggest concern.
I won them in the fair at the same time from the same vendor, I’ve had them for about 3 months and I didn’t really spot an issue with any of them until about a few days to a week ago. I haven’t added any new fish, plants or used decorations that could have been infected. Is it possible that a parasite/flukes became an issue out of the blue? I hope someone much more knowledgeable than me can help me. Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated!
If anyone can let me know about any forum/website(s) or anywhere that could help me solve my situation, I would be very thankful! If your reading this, thank you for taking the time to read everything and hopefully you can help enlighten me in any way possible!
I’m pretty sure my baby angels I raised from eggs got flukes and are all dying . I ordered the prazi. But won’t be here for 5 days ! What can I do to help these guys till it comes ? A bath dip ? Anything ? Please help
. Ty
I'm back, again. Issue seems to be clearing up on the fish but I have another problem. Nitrates are at 20ppm and I need help lowering them. I know what's caused this, overfeeding. I'm honestly struggling with feeding the chili rasboras I don't know how much to be feeding them I thought I was doing well for a while but obviously not, it's incredibly difficult to feed these small fish. Help would greatly, greatly be appreciated as I'm not ready to lose any more fish as I'll certainly be taking a break from the hobby if anything bad does happen as it is just too much money for me.
Arenos - first nitrates at 20ppm do not need to be lowered. 20ppm is fine, really anything from 20 - 40ppm are fine and won't harm your fish. The nitrate thing is really overrated. Because of my water, my nitrates run at 80ppm, 40ppm right out of the tap, and I've never had a problem. So...deep breath and relax. No issues there. What I would feed them, if you can get them are the Hikari Micro Pellets. I feed this to my Celestial Pearl Danios as their staple food. Very small little pellets. 👍 Just remember, it's the nitrites and ammonia we don't want in the water. Nitrates at 20ppm is just perfect 😀
Another helpful video - thank you sir.
My pleasure, Christine! Glad it was helpful 😀
Hello, can these be tiny black dots?
Canada has now banned praziquantel and I can't get Prazipro or API General Cure. The only thing I've been able to find is Cloverleaf Absolute Wormer +, which has flubendazole and calcium carbonate. I have no idea how effective it will be.
Magpie - I've heard Canada has banned a lot of meds. That is unfortunate. The dewormer might work! I've never used it, so I can't speak to how effective it might be, but a lot of the dewormers out there, I believe, do try to target flukes as well. Hope it does work for you! You could also try aquarium salt at a ratio of 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons - The salt should help dehydrate the worms, killing them off...
Thanks! It helped me to figure out what is wrong with my newly bought guppies.
Hi D... great info! I really like Patriot!!💛😁
Thanks, Deb! 😀 Appreciate the kind words and support as always. Patriot is the best fish I've bought on impulse in awhile 😊 Are you ok up in Canada? I heard there is a HUGE heat wave moving through up there...
Oh it's been rough. I bought a pool and put it on my deck!! lol It's been impossible to sleep but I do love the heat so It's good. Keep cool!! ♥♥
I have a question and I really hope you can help me. I have a betta (his name is Milo, and though I didn’t pick him out I love him with my whole heart) and he has some plants in his tank. He’s started to wind through one and kinda rub against that one. But it’s only that one. Is that something I need to be concerned about and treat or does it just mean he really likes the plant?
Hi Molly - I wouldn't worry about it. He probably just likes the plant :) Are they real plants, silk, or plastic? If they are silk they won't harm him at all. If they are plastic, you just want to make sure there aren't any sharp edges on the plant. I would keep an eye on him, just in case....just make sure you don't see any small wounds or missing scales. If you aren't seeing that, he should be just fine - probably just scratching his back :)
dmichaels fish den thank you so much! It’s plastic but he doesn’t seem to get any scratches from it which is good
I have a question....my Platy is flashing like this. I have had her for about 7 months now, she is in a 10 gallon tank all by herself. Wouldn't she have shown symptoms of this long before now?
Hi Laura - great question. Flukes are actually almost always present in tanks...very common in aquariums. Most of the time, your fish's immune system and slime coat are strong enough so they aren't affected. And, usually the number of flukes is pretty low. Occasionally, flukes can multiply to the extent where they can affect your fish, or, if anything happened to your fish (Stress, etc...) that caused its immune system to be compromised, flukes can infect the fish. Generally a drop in water quality, over-feeding, or an increase in organic waste in the tank can cause fluke populations to spike. I've heard colder water can as well, but I don't have any personal experience there. So it isn't uncommon for fish to exhibit fluke like symptoms once in awhile, even if they are by themselves. Any time I have had a fish infected, in was usually either because I wasn't maintaining my tanks as well as I usually do, or - the fish was stressed for some reason, compromising its immune system. This is why it isn't a bad idea to keep some Prazi Pro in the "fish cabinet," because you never know when you might need it....Hope that helps a little!
@@dmichaelsfishden That does help, am picking up medication today :)
I was thinking about your post, this tank is not fully cycled (I don't think?), I just cannot get it to get there. I test the water with my API Masters Kit weekly. The ammonia this week is 0.25 and nitrates are 5.0, PH is 7.6, Nitrites 0, GH 3. Not testing for KH because I am using SeaChems Alkaline Regulator to keep the PH in check. I use Prime daily to bind the ammonia while I wait for it to cycle, and I also use SeaChems Stability bacteria. On average I have been doing a 30% partial weekly. I have some of those ugly brown diatoms forming and am constantly cleaning those up. I know they feed on the nitrates...I added a Green Machine to keep them from forming but the darn stuff is growing on it! I dropped feeding to only once a day instead of twice. Its only a 10 gallon tank with 1 little platy in it. I also decreased the light to 8 hours a day. I have had this fish for about 8 months now. Any suggestions?
Laura - are you using municipal water in the tank? Some tap water from municipalities has ammonia in it...so that may be why you keep reading ammonia. Have you done a test just on your tap water? My guess is that you could have some trace ammonia in the tap water, or there could be some food breaking down in the gravel...The breakdown of excess, uneaten food - that gets in the cracks of gravel, can also create ammonia in the water. What type of substrate do you have? If gravel, have you gravel vacuumed it recently? (Sorry if I ask a bunch of questions, but trying to learn more so I can help....).
Is your tank planted at all? If you are getting brown diatom algae, that is a sign that your tank is cycled....and after several months, especially since you have added Stability, I don't think cycling is the issue, in my opinion. And your nitrites at 0 also hints that it is cycled...Nitrates at 5 is great. The diatom growth could also be from overfeeding - food has phosphates in it and that can lead to algae growth, especially if you don't have a large plant load to compete with the algae, so good move feeding once a day instead of 2. You can even scale back to once every other day, or a smaller amount once a day (I only feed all my guys once a day, with one day a week as a fast day with no feeding). Also - very good move on decreasing the lighting to 8 hours a day. Even with heavily planted tanks, 8 hours is the max I would go at full light. You may even want to decrease the lighting to 6 hours a day.
Otocinclus and Nerite snails are great in dealing with brown algae. Here is a video that might help: th-cam.com/video/B-jZ578WRHs/w-d-xo.html After a lot of the algae is gone, you can supplement their diets with green beans, zucchini, algae wafers, etc...
Sorry that is a lot in the comment - let me know when you have a chance to test your tap water...we can keep working on things :)
@@dmichaelsfishden Yes, I have tested the tap water, there was no ammonia in it, but our PH varies like crazy....anywhere from 6.0 to 8.2 which is why I use the Alkaline regulator. I vacuum the gravel every week when I partial the tank. The substrate is a standard black aquarium gravel and I change out the filter pad every couple of weeks. One live plant, (which I removed when i medicated the water), the rest are silk. I got some medication for flukes....the only brand I could find was by API. Those ugly brown diatoms keep forming, but I know that's common in new tanks, I keep cleaning it off things as it forms. I installed one of those Green Machines hoping it would stop that stuff from taking hold, but ironically the brown algae literally grows on the green machine. My platy is acting more normal today, and I have not seen anymore flashing. She hid inside her log for 2 days and didn't even come out to eat....I thought for sure I'd find her dead.... Fingers crossed. Her tank sits on our kitchen counter and she is such a bright spot in my days, I'd sure hate to lose her. I have one other larger tank with nothing but African Dwarf Frogs in it.....both tanks were set up at the same time and I have had no issues with brown algae in that one.
Instead of prazy pro any other products would work ????
Plz reaply ......
Which is easily avilable all kinds of stores
NP Gamers YT you can try general cure from API - takes care of parasites. Similar to Prazi pro and widely available 👍
Is this similar to velvet? My betta flashes and rubs against objects in the tank :/ We thought it was ich, did several treatments and water changes but still flashes and itches. I shined the light on his head and it seems a bit gold in color and a little on his fin as well. After doing more research I realized it was velvet! I added 1 tsp of sea salt for now (he's in a 3 gallon tank by himself), but I wonder if he needs medication like Prazipro as well? Any help? Thank you
Genevieve (love your name - my grandmother had the same name 😀), yes, the "gold dust" you can see is a dead giveaway for velvet. Velvet, like Ich, is parasitic, so I would use a good parasitic medication. The parasite, Oodinium, is more aggressive than Ich, so I would treat right away. HIkari's Ich-X (Which also treats Velvet) should help get it.....Paraguard is another newer product by Seachem that is also meant to treat velvet and is a little more "gentle" but I don't have any personal experience with Paraguard. If it were me, I would treat with Ich-X first and see if that 1. handles the velvet (it should get it) and 2. stops the flashing and itching - the flashing and itching are likely due to Oodinium moving into the fish's gills, so this is a similar situation to gill flukes. If the Ich-X gets the velvet and your betta stops flashing, you are likely in the clear. If your betta continues to flash after the velvet is gone, then I would do a second treatment with PraziPro - but you'll definitely need something stronger than just the salt to get rid of the velvet - hope that helps! 😀
@@dmichaelsfishden Thank you so much for your help!
So far I am trying a little bit of a salt, increased temp, and blacking out his tank to inhibit the parasite from growing (since I read they are photosynthesizers). Going to do a water change today and a little bit more of aq. salt. And repeat with for several days. If no effect then I will treat with chemicals. *crossing fingers*. Thank you again, love your channel! Very imformative and straight to the point.
@@dmichaelsfishden Actually, I have read from several sources that this thing is aggressive. Would it be too much to treat with a salt + a chemical (in smaller doses)?
Absolutely right! I forgot to mention that...they are photosynthetic, so blacking out the tank will certainly help. And thank you for the kind words on the channel - glad you are enjoying it! 😊
I would fully dose the medication and still add a little salt - I know a lot of us get nervous adding chemicals in the water, but the medications these days are formulated well and for the most part if the instructions are followed they are perfectly safe for your fish (we also want to be good about removing residual medication after dosing is finished 😀). The problem is if we dose medication but don't use a strong enough dose (and especially true with bacterial infections) we don't want the parasite/bacteria to build up an immunity to it, rendering it ineffective completely. This is often why the same medication won't work twice for the exact same bacterial strain - the bacteria can build up an immunity to it if exposed for a long enough period of time at a dose that isn't strong enough to kill it all.
It's best to fully dose per the instructions and just get it the first time so it won't come back. What I'm worried about with your betta's velvet is that because it is so aggressive a smaller dose might not get it all, and it could come back even stronger....salt can sometimes help with parasites, but with velvet it may not be enough - if it were me, and again because velvet is so aggressive, I would dose with meds (full dosing) and maybe add a little salt to try to help. You'll also want to make sure you take out any activated carbon in your filter as the carbon will soak up the meds. Carbon IS great to add to your filter after dosing as it will soak up residual medication - but if you don't see any improvement in a day or two using just the salt treatment, I would definitely full dose Ich-X or Paraguard - or API's General Cure...that should get it as well. Hope that helps! 😀
I just got some white cloud minnows last night from my lfs. About 10 or so minutes after introducing the group of 4 to my 10g, I saw one of them start to flash like your betta did. But after half an hour it stopped flashing and hasn't since. I just looked at it (around 18 hours later) and I can't see any parasites or fungus or anything that could be wrong with it, so could it have been flashing from stress or should I be worried?
FishKeeper Cole - It definitely could have been from the stress. You are monitoring them well, and I would just keep an eye on them for a few days. You may have nothing to worry about. If you do start to see that same fish flashing consistently, or if you see multiple fish doing it, that is another story. But at this point, I would jump to any conclusion yet. Keep a good eye on them and see how it goes for the next few days. BTW - really glad you picked up white clouds! I'm setting up a new tank and will be putting white clouds in it. I've never kept them before but heard they are fantastic fish to have
@@dmichaelsfishden Im glad I got them too. TBH they were kind of an impulse buy since when I went to go pick out the black neon tetras that I had planned on getting, I saw that one of them had ick. So the next best thing were the two otocinclus that I had planned on and some white clouds. I think they look better anyways. I can't wait to see that tank you talked about too If you'd like too see mine I just posted a video of their tank on my channel.
Just checked out the video! Man - those are some beautiful white clouds!!! You got great stock. Well done. 👏👏I'll be doing some videos on the new tank build process and progress, absolutely. Stay tuned for those. 👍
Oh wth!, parasite?!?!? I thought my fish just have a itchy belly, i need to quarantine my fish quick. Thanks by the way
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!! I used to think they were just scratching itches as well back in the day. Natural for us to think that...
Will this completely treat my fishes and kill all the parasite in the tank which can cause flukes ?
Hi i treated my betta but two weeks later hes still flashing idk what to do and hes just staying on the filter intake have any advice ?? please thankyou
Will it kill the beneficial bacteria in the bio filter?
Will this hurt healthy fish in a community tank?
great voice and hilarious comedy
Ever dealt with velvet parasite in Bettas?? Need help i think mine has it
Question, does it hurt Cory’s ?or no ?
Erik Clique good question. no problem with Corys 👍. They will be just fine.
dmichaels fish den much appreciated for the reply ! I been puzzled if they had ich but my tank is hot and no spots so I was very confused till I saw this video was like BINGO ! Thanks man .
Erik Clique my pleasure! Glad the video was helpful! 👍👍.
Does anyone know if this is safe to use with aquatic turtles also in the same pond? My Koi are doing this and I also have Painted Turtles and Red Eared Sliders
Sarah - I haven't used it with turtles, but it is safe with shrimp, snails, and most other inverts, so while I can't share any personal experience, I would imagine it is perfectly safe to use with turtles 👍
Okay, thank you so much for the response ❤️ @@dmichaelsfishden
Very helpful. Love the voice LoL
Is there a smaller version of PraziPro that I could use that’s less expensive? That bottle is $35 😬
There is, which is the one I buy - Yeah, that $35 price tag is for the 16oz bottle, and unless you really have a big tank and a big fluke or worm outbreak, that is just too much. I buy the 4 oz bottle for $16:www.amazon.com/Hikari-Usa-AHK73254-Prazipro-Aquarium/dp/B004LOBGYA/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=prazi+pro&qid=1595180739&sr=8-4 Hope that link works and hope that helped! 😀
dmichaels fish den Thank you so much!
My fish has been doing this for the last 3 hours but it’s midnight here not much I can do until I’m out from work tomorrow, I was wondering if he will be fine by later tomorrow or can they die right away???
Carol Baggins not to worry. No, they wouldn’t die right away. You would see a progression first, ending with the fish at the bottom of the tank, not moving much, with very labored breathing as the gill flukes take a toll. That can take some time. Just treat when you can. 😀. Once I see flashing I usually wait a day to see if the flashing is consistent and constant anyway before treating. 👍
Do you think another symptom would be purposefully crashing against the bottom of the tank? I got a beta fish about two weeks ago and he was rubbing himself against a plant so I removed it thinking it might be a little sharp. he stopped doing that behaviour for about a week but then he started crashing against the bottom of the tank on purpose like swimming down rapidly and flashing around a little bit, the water is fine I test it every time I do a water change but I can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong I’m so worried for him I don’t want him to hurt himself. What would anyone suggest? The nearest vet is about an hour away, would this medication hurt him if flukes weren’t the issue?
On bottle it stands that it’s safe as preventative 🙏🏻
Would they be flashing for any other reason? I have guppies that I have successfully bred and my mama guppy seems to flash every few days, so I treat the tank with lifeguard by tetra and all the baby fry and snails do well with it if anyone wondered how it went. But I don't want to keep treating it with the same medication if the job isn't getting done. I have also tried api general cure which treats the same as tetra lifeguard, it's just more expensive so that's why I stuck with tetra. Any help or feedback would be appreciated
Hi Tiffanie - sorry for the late response here - catching up on comments. Hope you are staying safe and healthy! I've seen fish flash occasionally, absolutely. I don't really know why they do that, but I do notice it from time to time and it seems to be a somewhat normal behavior with some species. What I usually do is watch the tank first if I see a fish flash. If it is a one-off, I don't medicate. But if I notice that same fish doing it continually, or if more than one fish are doing it, then I usually medicate the whole tank. You used great stuff with General Cure (personally I don't have any experience with Tetra Lifeguard) and most medications designed to get parasites usually get gill/skin flukes as well. General Cure has Praziquantel in it as well, which is the main ingredient in Prazi Pro. I would say if you treated the tank already, just watch it to make sure the flashing has stopped. You may have gotten everything. I've used Prazi Pro several times for flukes (with different fish, in different situations), and I've never needed to dose twice for the same situation. One dose, left to do its work for 7 days, and that took care of the issue for me. If you DO notice more flashing, in that case, I would switch to a different solution - if you have to do that, I would recommend Prazi Pro, only because in my experience it has been 100% effective for me. Hope that helps a little?
If your ammonia is high it will start doing the same thing,
So, I just put some live plants in my 10 gallon tank for my betta. He always hides behind these fluffy ones ( can’t remember the name). But, I noticed after a couple of days that he goes to a particular spot where the fluffy plant meets the gravel, and swims through it in circles. He’l kind of wiggle and turn. Other than that though, he eats and is pretty active. Does anybody have an idea on what’s wrong with him? He doesn’t seem to have any gill, fin, or skin damage.
Bettas are curious, fun little guys. My guess is he is probably playing around with the plant. Mine does the same, especially around plants. My guess is he is trying to entertain himself. 😀Unless he is flashing his gills against it or scratching against it. If he is flashing his gills, that could be flukes...maybe. If he is rubbing his body against it, it could be body "flukes" - they are like fleas to a dog. Then you'd want to use the Prazi Pro. But if he is just swimming around it, you just have a playful Betta 😀He is just loving the new setup. Keep us posted! But it doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about at this point 😀 Just sharing my experience....
dmichaels fish den Awesome thank you!! I have noticed that he flares at the outside of the tank a lot, so maybe that could be causing it?? I’m not sure, but I’m going to get some black paper as a background for the back and sides of his tank just in case.
How quickly do I need to treat this? My fish have been flashing mildly for about 3 days, just ordered on PraziPro on Amazon but the soonest it can get here is 4 days from now, so that'll be a week of flashing total. Is that too late to treat?
Shane - you should be fine - if your fish is still just flashing but isn't breathing heavily and labored and otherwise acts normal, plenty of time to treat. And if your fish is only mildly flashing right now, you'll have plenty of time. I would just make sure to dose right when the PraziPro gets there. You should only need one dose of it - it lasts for 7 days. I've treated it 4 or 5 times, and in my experience, I've never needed more than one dose to solve the issue 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden Great, thank you so much for responding!
@@dmichaelsfishden Hey I just want to follow up, still waiting on the meds, but seems like all my Platies have stopped flashing except for 1, who has now spent the past 2 days in a dark top corner of the tank breathing heavily, and on the rare occasion she does come out she swims super spaztically and flashes very quickly and intensely. Still safe to assume it's flukes?
Shane, it could be still, yes. I would still dose a round of the PraziPro. It sounds like the Platy in the corner (sorry to hear about that one) has an advanced case of flukes - I say that because the fish is flashing quickly and breathing heavily. Those two symptoms are indicative of flukes. Definitely dose the PraziPro when it arrives. Flukes can infect in stages and while some of your other fish may not be as affected right now, the one in the corner sound like a worse case. You want to dose both to help them and as a preventative measure to stop any other flukes from breeding. You should be fine with one dose, but just watch the fish after 7 days. If you need to dose once more, it certainly won't hurt anything 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden Great, thanks again! PraziPro arrived and dosed 2 days ago. Still not looking good for my fish Ghost though, hoping she pulls through (hasn't come out to eat for 3 days now)
When applying Pazi pro do I add it to aquarium once or for 5-7 days every single day or every 3 days I don’t really understand the instructions .... after the treatment everything should be good ? Do I have to put carbon in the filter to remove it all or can I just wait and do regular weekly water changes ? And will the parasites be dead ?
Shah - yeah, they can be a little misleading. Just one dose. That will last up to 7 days. That's it - one dose for every 7 days. After that, you should be good. I've used Prazi for flukes on three separate occasions, and each time one dose was all I needed. If after the first dose you still see some flashing, you can do a water change (25% or so) then dose one more time. You'll want to keep the carbon out of the filter while you dose. Once you take care of the flukes and all is good, you can put new carbon back into the filter - it will help remove the residual medication. Hope that helps!
dmichaels fish den but if I don’t normally have carbon in my filter anyways can I do without or is it necessary to put carbon to remove medication
Nope, you sure don't. I don't use carbon in my filters either and when I dosed the Prazi, it was just removed after a few of my weekly regular water changes 👍 Don't feel like you have to use carbon at all. The only time I use carbon is if I have to ever use really potent antibiotics - then I'll throw some carbon in....but you certainly don't have to with the Prazi
dmichaels fish den appreciate your responses ! Can I also use epsom salt with the medication ?
Shah -my pleasure! No need to use epsom salt, if it's just flukes you are dealing with. Just the Prazi on its own should do the trick!
ive had 2 of my oldest fish die suddenly, about a week apart. now I noticed my third fish out of the trio flashing and im here! I know its safe for invertebrates, but would my Amano shrimp and the plants in my tank be okay? also, is this safe to use with fry? the fry are in a separate tank but im worried about cross contamination
Thank you very much! My cichlids will be safe 😊
My pleasure!! Thank you for watching!
If it needs a second dose do you have to do a water change before that?
What if the flashing continues after one dose? What else would cause this behavior?
Hi Mariella - In that case, I would dose again. Though I've never personally had to dose the Prazi Pro more than once, that doesn't mean you might not have to. It's also helpful when you dose to do it with a small plastic pippette or something that will help uniformly spread the medicine around the tank well. However, that being said, fish do flash like this from time to time, though I'm really not sure why. If you see them do it as a one-off, that seems to be normal behavior (scratching an itch, so to speak). I do see my fish do this every once in awhile and don't worry about it unless they are doing it over and over again each day, or if I see more than one fish doing it. The only thing I know of so far, if the flashing is consistent and bad, that causes it is gill flukes. Otherwise if it is just a one off, it seems like that is normal behavior for some fish. Does that help a little?
dmichaels fish den yes I determined after I had rid my discus of Ich they had full flukes as well. I have started them today on Womer Plus. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
@@mariellamcroberts7613 finger and toes crossed! Hope it gets it for you - most parasitic medications should get them :)
Can your fish survive this left untreated? How dangerous is it, will it infect the whole tank?
Theo - a great question. What I can say here is that they can be dangerous and the risk is there that the fish won't survive if left untreated. Flukes attack the gills and many fish suffocate as a result. When the infestation gets more advanced, you'll see the fish on the bottom of the tank with heavy, labored breathing. Years ago when I first started in the hobby, I lost several fish to flukes that were left untreated. I didn't know how to treat them and certainly didn't know Praziquantel existed for treatment. So it can be dangerous, yes. In my past experience, it was about 50 / 50 whether the entire tank got infected. Sometimes it was just one fish, other times, 3 or 4 fish were infected. These days, when I even get the slightest cue that a fish has flukes, I immediately treat the whole tank with Prazi Pro, which has happened twice in the last two years with 2 different tanks. Flukes can hitchhike into your tank from fish at the store, etc....Each time, it only took one dose of Prazi Pro to get the flukes. My best advice, and the advice I believe will be safest for your fish, is to treat immediately when you suspect flukes. Better to err on the side of caution, as the saying goes. Hope that helps!
dmichaels fish den thanks
Do I have to shut off my fish light when I treat them like that
Could this be used in scaless fishe as well ?
Would it still be flukes if the fishes remain active and with huge appetites
But scratches once or twice every now and then ?
dmichaels fish den, a big thank you for the very informative video. I have Brad, a male betta living with 3 female bettas (still establishing hierarchy), a guppy couple and 20 young mollies ( a gift from a friend so can’t turn away) all in a100 litre tank. Brad the male betta has been seen flaring for a few times during the night and rubs himself off any object in the tank. I might need to treat him now but worried that another fish might be contaminated too... :(
My pleasure! Glad the video was helpful! (And hi, Brad 😉) In this situation, it wouldn't be a bad idea to treat the whole tank...that way, you'll know you are taking care of any flukes that might be in there, and if you are worried other fish are contaminated, the treatment will help them too. Always nice to be safe and have the peace of mind. If you use PraziPro it's perfectly safe for all other fish in the tank. 👍If I were in the same situation, I would definitely treat the whole tank. In my experience, one treatment is all I've ever needed. It lasts about 5-7 days, but I've never had to treat twice with the Prazi.
I can’t find PraziPro here in UK but will definitely look for praziquantel treatment for fishies. I’ve added API stress coat for now. I have an external filter with UV light in the filtration layer. Is it safe to keep it running while I treat the whole tank? Thank you so much!!! I’m a beginner and still learning. I love the video with the talking Patriot part btw!
Yep, any Praziquantel treatment will work...doesn't have to be Hikari's brand. :) And yep, safe to keep the filter going, just make sure you remove any active carbon in the filter if you have any there. And my pleasure! Thanks for the kind words on Patriot! He is definitely a talker... ;) Very glad to hear you are in the hobby!
They all got along? That sounds like a lot of fish for what the converter says is about 26 gallons. How'd the bettas do? It's always recommended not to have males and females together blah blah blah, so I'm curious to know if they were fine together :)
great video, thank you!
Does this med interfere with the nitrogen cycle
I saw that no one responded, but no it has absolutely no affect on the nitrogen cycle. Just be sure to remove any carbon from your filter before treatment as the carbon can remove the medication from the water. :)
Thats what I use for my Swordtails it's the only thing that works for me.👍🌿
I'm sure it does! It's great stuff, Eddy. Glad to hear you are using it. Thanks for checking out the video!
Perfect video. Patriot is cute!
Thanks for the kind words, Subpar Panda! (...Patriot saw your comment and replied..."I know. Very cute.") :)
Can you medicate the food an give them?
Great video.
Priscilla - thank you for the kind words! Btw - I am loving your art! I am a monthly Patreon with Jadren Aquatics and got my discus picture the other day. Very impressive! I'm going to try to show them off each month and point people over to your channel 👍 You are very talented!
@@dmichaelsfishden awesome thank you i appreciate the love.
Hey my first treatment finish but my fish are still flashing but not as much but how many treatment should I do
Tryhardninja7 - One last treatment should do it - what's important with the Prazi Pro - make sure when you put it in the tank you are distributing it evenly around all the sides and the middle of the tank. Do you have any carbon in your filter? If so, you need to take the carbon out, as that will suck up all the Prazi Pro and it won't get to the fish
Ok so I’ve witnessed at least 3 of my fish flashing against some ornaments in the tank at one point or another I’ve only seen them do it once or twice they don’t do it very often. My clownfish does it too but only on the sand. Ive read that behavior can be normal for clownfish so I wasn’t too worried about him. Anyway I’ve dosed the water 2 different times with prazi pro but today I noticed 2 of them do it again. I thought maybe it’s not flukes maybe its ich but I checked and none of my fish have any white spots. Anyone know what else it can be? Can it just be them scratching an itch/normal ?
Sweet Science - is it just the clowns that continue to do it? You're right, that can be normal behavior for them. It's definitely not Ich if you don't see any white spots. Personally, every time I've used Prazi Pro it has gotten rid of any flukes, etc....so if that was used just recently and you are still seeing your fish scratch occasionally, it very well could just be normal behavior. In my experience, I've not know flashing/scratching to be anything but either normal behavior or flukes. However, if they are doing it to excess and/or you think the behavior is getting worse, which will be the tell tale sign, the flukes may still be there. You can use formalin to further treat them. Often times fish vets will begin with Praziquantel (active ingredient in Prazi Pro) to treat flukes, finish that treatment, then treat with formalin as a way to provide a broader spectrum of medication. Hope that helps 😀I would just keep a close eye on them for awhile - if you see flashing getting worse, or especially if you see any labored breathing, loss of appetite, or the fish lying on the bottom, I might consider a formalin treatment
dmichaels fish den no I’ve seen my royal gramma do it and my coral beauty. Most of my fish are constantly presenting themselves to my lazy ass cleaner shrimp who hardly ever cleans them. I will try to treat them with prazi pro again & this time I will add more after 5 days. The bottle says to do it with a big water change but It can still work without the water change right? I just did one a few days ago and the salt isint cheap.
I just noticed my Sailfin tang rubbing his sides against the sand now I’m %100 sure there’s a parasite of some sort because he never used to do that. I dosed prazi pro without doing a water change hopefully it will still work. I will apply a second dose in 5 days & if that doesn’t stop the flashing I might just give up on this hobby it’s so frustrating not knowing what’s wrong I’m starting to get over this.
Sweet Science - I know things get frustrating...don't give up! I promise we have all been there, one way or another...as we learn, it gets better. Definitely fine to dose the Prazi Pro without a water change. Especially since there is an immediate need right now. There is another option to stop the flashing if the Praziquantel doesn't work and that is with Formalin. Many fish vets with start with Prazi, then do a follow up treatment with Formalin. Let's see how the Prazi does this time...give it 5 days or so. If that still doesn't work, I would switch to a formalin treatment. That should do it if the Prazi doesn't. Hang in there. I've been there many times with all kinds of situations that frustrated me to no end....we are all human and can't help but get frustrated...as things go on, though, as we learn from all these experiences, the hobby gets easier, and better...Keep me posted on how they are doing!
dmichaels fish den thanks yea I will keep trying things until they either die or I figure it out. It’s been 3 days since I dozed prazipro and they are still flashing I’d say it’s actually gotten worse. I will doze again in 2 more days. In the meantime I’ve been feeding garlic with their food although some people say that doesn’t work. I want to try the formalin but I’m waiting for my QT to finish cycling because I have shrimp in my display tank. Hopefully my fish can hold up till then.
my betta will do this with one specific plant in the tank. i’ve personally only seen him do it once or twice, should i remove the plant? does he have this parasite?
Cody - how weird...only on one plant? What kind of plant is it? It could be that the plant has thicker leaves and allows him to "scratch" or "flash" more effectively. Fish do this from time to time, so I wouldn't worry about it if you've only seen him do it once or twice. When they have the parasite, you'll tend to see flashing a lot more often and it can be pretty aggressive. If you start to see that, I would definitely treat. If not....if this is a sometime or occasional thing, I wouldn't worry about it - Hope that helps!
@@dmichaelsfishden thank you! it was on a plastic plant, and i didn't want him hurting his fins on them so i removed all plastic plants and replaced them with live plants - haven't seen him do it since. thank you so much for the help though, and i will keep a look out for more flashing!
Cody - ahhh..yeah, I would have removed the plastic plant as well. Silk plants are ok, but remember those betta fins are like tissue paper, so in the future the plastic plant may have ripped a fin as well - nice move, man. I would have done exactly the same thing! And....If you haven't seen him flash since, sounds like you are in the clear for now!
How to treat background musics?
*It is the most common annoying type of videobody flukes!*
Would general cure from API be just as good ?! And safe for snails and scaleless fish ?! Thank you very much
Ophelie - though I've never used General Cure for flukes, General Cure is a parasitic medication, and it should be just as good for getting the flukes. If it was me and I didn't have Prazi Pro, I would go with the General Cure. I can also say I've used it in the past in a tank with snails and clown loaches (scaleless fish) and never had an issue, so you should be just fine. A little other advice- make sure you remove any activated carbon from the tank prior to medicating. After medicating, its great to put active carbon back in the tank to soak up any residual medication. Hope that helps!
@@dmichaelsfishden I see, thank you ! I have general cure on hand, hence my question. I have Otos and Corydoras (+ tetras and gourami), and worry about them the most. No carbon in my 55 planted tank ;) but I will put some for a brief time after medication sessions just to make sure everything is out! Thanks for the reply!! 🐠🌿
My pleasure! You'll be just fine with Otos, Corys, Tetras and a Gourami :) Good luck!
This is GREAT!! Thank you so much!!! :) :)
My pleasure Bobbi K! Glad it was helpful!