[shhh]

I have a 50 gallon tank that is cycled with a large goldfish and a few snails (mystery and nerite) and shrimp (amano and neocardina). My goldfish has very persistent gill flukes and treating her in her tank with prazipro hasn't been successful, so I'm going to move her to a quarantine tank and continue treatment. How do I keep my tank cycled without the main waste producer? Should I add some ammonia to feed the nitrifying bacteria? Will this affect the shrimp and snails? And if anyone has tips for treating flukes that seem resistant to prazipro, I'm happy to hear them. Thanks in advance.

 

[thedood]

I would look into Paraguard for the gill flukes. From what I am reading it will take up to two weeks for effective treatment. Also You probably need to treat the main tank as well would be my guess or leave the main tank empty of all fish for a minimum of seven days. After a week the larvae are dead without a host. You might also look at cupramine.

And the cycle issue if it was me I would just add fishfood as if you are feeding fish. It will decay and create ammonia.

 

[shhh]

Thanks!

 

[thedood]

@shhh I was wondering if you looked at the meds and think they will work.

 

[shhh]

I looked at the medicine. Seachem says it treats flukes. I read through reviews that said it wasn't effective for gill flukes. Prazipro is supposed to be highly effective and easy on the fish, but it's really not working for my goldfish. I know gill flukes on goldfish can be especially annoying because they have thick slime coats. I think I'm going to try a peroxide dip, which is supposed to knock them off and then put her in the quarantine tank and do even more doses of prazi. I ordered some paraguard and may try that if there is no improvement. I also have some potassium permanganate which some people use for flukes, but it seems most people don't use it anymore because prazi is much gentler on fish. Ugh gill flukes suck.

 

[thedood]

I hope it works out. Sick fish suck.

 

[Diana]

Good to treat in a quarantine tank, safer for the shrimp and snails, but what about any parasites remaining in the main tank? I think you should also remove the shrimp and snails and treat the main tank to kill the parasites. Maybe with salt???

To maintain the nitrifying bacteria I would approach it several ways.
1) put the filter media in the hospital tank with the goldfish. This will kill the parasites eggs ( if any) in the filter. Might kill the beneficial bacteria, depends on the dose, duration and active ingredient.
2) add Nitrospira species of bacteria to the system when you are ready to put the fish back in the main tank.

Alternate method:
Put new media in a bucket and do the fish less cycle in the bucket while the fish is being treated. If you start with no bacteria this will take 3 weeks.

 

[shhh]

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely pick up more safestart for when I put the fish back. I'm still planning on treating the main tank while I keep the goldfish in quarantine for two months, so hopefully all the flukes in the main tank will hatch and die by then bc they won't have a host. Unfortunately, salt isn't supposed to have an effect on flukes from what I've read.