Gill Flukes

[Rosko_22]

I think my black neon tetras may have gill flukes. Their gills look a little red and swollen. I'm planning on going to my LFS tomorrow to see if I can find something to treat them with. My question is this: Does anyone know of any products that will treat gill flukes effectively and not harm the other fish or plants? There are two black neons, one penguin tetra, four zebra danios, and one CAE. The plants include hornwort, green hygro, bacopa caroliniana, and cabomba caroliniana.
Also, is this disease/disorder caused by stress, intro of new fish/plants, or a combination? My water was tested a couple weeks ago and everything was fine.
The only thing I can think of that could have caused this is stress stemming from the introduction of the zebra danios. All of the other fish are perfectly fine and happy (looking).
I've been checking out some products by mardel, "tetracycline" and "maroxy", as well as aquarium products "anti fluke treatment". Any experience with these products?

Sorry for the novel of a post.

[anonapersona]

I suggest steppping up the water changes, it may help the fish recover.

New fish, no quarantine. That is the likely source. All the tank inhabitants had grown accustomed to the territory. Now some big new fast guys have moved in and that is stressful. Try rearranging the tank, it may help.

As for meds, I don't know.

[Momotaro]

Take a look at this:

http://www.aquatronicsonline.com/hobbyist/hobbyist3.htm


Let me know if it helps and how you make out.

Mike

[Rosko_22]

well the zebra danios are actually all smaller, but are quite a bit faster swimmers. The black neons are very calm, generally slow moving...stress.
As for that chart, it suggested tetracycline, so I might go for that tomorrow.

[GDominy]

Originally Posted by Rosko_22

My water was tested a couple weeks ago and everything was fine.

Were your tetra's gills swollen a few weeks ago? WHy did you have your water tested?

Swollen enflamed gills like you are describing is often an indication of a water quality problem... What does your water look like now? Any ammonia? Any Nitrite? Maybe a Ph Crash?

When anything like this happens one of the first things you should do is test your water. Now, I'm not saying that this is definately the case.. but this is something you absolutely need to rule out before you think about dropping medications into the tank. If it is indeed an ammonia spike, or a nitrite spike and you dose something that damages the biological filter you could end up making the problem FAR worse then it is now.. Despite your obvious good intentions!

Good luck, and let us know whats going on

[Momotaro]

When anything like this happens one of the first things you should do is test your water. Now, I'm not saying that this is definately the case.. but this is something you absolutely need to rule out before you think about dropping medications into the tank. If it is indeed an ammonia spike, or a nitrite spike and you dose something that damages the biological filter you could end up making the problem FAR worse then it is now.. Despite your obvious good intentions!

Agreed!

Mike

[Rosko_22]

Well, I just tested a few weeks ago 'cause I hadn't tested it in a long time, and was curious. There weren't any problems that caused me to test it.
The tetras were fine up until a couple days ago. I noticed their gill plates looked like they were sticking out a bit when looked at head on. The next day, I thought they looked a little better so I figured I'd wait and see. Then today, their gills looked a bit red, and they were acting somewhat sluggish.
They've been perfectly fine for about a year so I'm thinking this has something to do with the addition of either the danios, the plants, or the master gro, for the plants.
I'm not sure whether plants or their ferts affect nitrate, ammonia, or ph, but my parameters have been pretty constant since the tank was cycled two years ago.

[Georgiadawgger]

As the guys mentioned it sounds to me like its ammonia burn rather than flukes. Are the fish shimmying or scratching? That is usually a sign of parasites while I've seen ammonia and nitrite burn to be sluggishness and lack of appetite. (Of course this is just what I've seen)

[Rosko_22]

The fish aren't flashing or scratching or anything. They still go bonkers when I feed them, although I'm not sure how much food they actually get. It looks like once they get a piece of food in their mouth, they spit it back up. I don't know if this is because they can't swallow, because of the enlarged gills or if they're just trying to break it up a bit first. Because of the faster danios though, they don't really get a second chance if they spit it back out.

The thing I find odd about this is that it's only the black neons showing any kind of symptoms. The other fish are looking and acting perfectly normal. Both neons started showing the same signs at the same time aswell.

[Rosko_22]

What could have caused an ammonia or nitrate spike?
There are live plants in their now, and I thought they would have helped absord any ammonia or nitrates.
I'm also using a penguin bio-wheel filter that has been running for the whole two years. So I should have a good bacterial colony on the filtration system, shouldn't I?

I'll test my water again tomorrow, before I do anything else.
Thanks for all of your imput.