Chromis losing scales fast after fw dip

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 03:23 PM

So I look in my tank today and one of my chromis is not looking well, hiding, breathing fast, dark in color. Off and on over the past few weeks I have noticed some fish breathing hard. But was unable to catch them to do a dip to check for flukes. Well I matched the temp and ph of the fw perfectly and got the chromis and put him in for 3-4 minutes. I thought I might have seen a few flukes on the bottom but I have no idea what they look like and can't find a picture or video on here and did not notice any coming off the fish directly. He also lost a scale during the dip. I put him back in and I just saw him and he is loosing all the scales on his back! The skin is really red and looks to be melting off!! What did I do!! I feel so horrible. I had a valentini puffer die last week for an unknown reason. I need help ASAP. I have prazi pro and chloroquine on hand. Please help!!!

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 03:29 PM

Ammon 0 ite 0 ate 20ish maybe a little higher alk 13* cal 420. I do not have corals, I was going to start getting ready for some soon but don't have any yet. I do not have a qt large enough for all the fish so I will have to treat the main display which is 69 gallons. Tank has been setup since October

Sk8r · 05/20/2015, 03:37 PM

Oh, my. I don't personally do freshwater dips: they're awfully hard on a marine fish. I think the best thing might be to pull him to a quarantine tank and give him a dose of broadspectrum antibiotic to prevent infection until the scales can grow back. YOu'll need an ato on that tank to keep the medication level steady: failing that, draw a fill line on the tank outside and keep it topped off several times daily. I'm not sure he'll make it, but that's the best treatment I can think of. At this point, the big issue will be preventing infection.

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 03:46 PM

Yeah I will never do a fw dip ever again. They are talked about so frequently that I didn't think it would be a big deal.

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 03:47 PM

I'm not even sure that I will be able to catch him again after the torture I just put him through. I feel so horrible about it

oldbones · 05/20/2015, 03:49 PM

How closely did you match Ph before the dip?

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 03:52 PM

Within .1., if not exactly. According to api test kit

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 03:55 PM

Does anyone have a picture or video of what flukes look like when they come off? Should I treat the main tank?

Sk8r · 05/20/2015, 04:21 PM

They can look almost like anything, ranging in size down to pinheads. Prazi might be your only safe treatment for the tank as a whole, but just observe for a bit and be sure of this diagnosis. As a side note I do not know how many disaster reports I have read in the last two weeks where an API result was involved. The margin of error for those kits seems quite high at the moment.

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 04:40 PM

What I saw was not round, it was tiny, probably 3 mm at absolute max. I am even more ****ed at the movers for breaking my microscope
Because I could easily Id if I still had it. I went ahead and dosed the entire tank with 12 ml of prazi. I won't risk the rest of the fish since I have been on alert for a few weeks. Both blennies were breathing rapidly, the puffer died last week, gramma keeps yawning. I'm not taking any chances. And everyone can't fit into 2 10 gallon qt. if I lose the chromis I can deal with it, even though he was my first fish. Even if I end up losing a couple of them I can deal with that. But a complete wipeout would be really really hard. And prazi is very safe in other animal species and have read it is safe in this situation as well. I don't have bristle worms, or anything like that.

Sk8r · 05/20/2015, 04:50 PM

You will need the worms, ultimately, or at least find them a good idea, but if the other fish are symptomatic, probably Prazi is the most helpful and benign thing you can do.

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 05:07 PM

Yeah I just don't have any currently. I started with almost all dry rock due to price so I have just never had them. At some point I'm sure I will get some though, I just don't have to worry about a major die off due to prazi

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 05:12 PM

If it were another parasite, I would have seen some sort of physical sign at some point correct? I have never seen any spots, dots, patches, nothing. At one point I thought that I saw small white dots on my long nose hawkfish, but they were in the tip of his fins and after closer examination determined it was just when the light hit them at a particlusr spot and not anything actually there. There has been some occasional flashing, never consistent. At this point I'm at a loss for whatever else it could be

Martini5788 · 05/20/2015, 08:11 PM

The chromis seems a little better, skin is definitely less red than before. Is 12 ml of prazi sufficient? I am trying to take into account dispersion from rocks and sand.

05/20/2015, 03:23 PM	#1
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	Chromis losing scales fast after fw dip So I look in my tank today and one of my chromis is not looking well, hiding, breathing fast, dark in color. Off and on over the past few weeks I have noticed some fish breathing hard. But was unable to catch them to do a dip to check for flukes. Well I matched the temp and ph of the fw perfectly and got the chromis and put him in for 3-4 minutes. I thought I might have seen a few flukes on the bottom but I have no idea what they look like and can't find a picture or video on here and did not notice any coming off the fish directly. He also lost a scale during the dip. I put him back in and I just saw him and he is loosing all the scales on his back! The skin is really red and looks to be melting off!! What did I do!! I feel so horrible. I had a valentini puffer die last week for an unknown reason. I need help ASAP. I have prazi pro and chloroquine on hand. Please help!!!

05/20/2015, 03:37 PM	#3
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Oh, my. I don't personally do freshwater dips: they're awfully hard on a marine fish. I think the best thing might be to pull him to a quarantine tank and give him a dose of broadspectrum antibiotic to prevent infection until the scales can grow back. YOu'll need an ato on that tank to keep the medication level steady: failing that, draw a fill line on the tank outside and keep it topped off several times daily. I'm not sure he'll make it, but that's the best treatment I can think of. At this point, the big issue will be preventing infection. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

05/20/2015, 03:52 PM	#7
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	Chromis losing scales fast after fw dip Within .1., if not exactly. According to api test kit

05/20/2015, 04:21 PM	#9
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	They can look almost like anything, ranging in size down to pinheads. Prazi might be your only safe treatment for the tank as a whole, but just observe for a bit and be sure of this diagnosis. As a side note I do not know how many disaster reports I have read in the last two weeks where an API result was involved. The margin of error for those kits seems quite high at the moment. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

05/20/2015, 04:50 PM	#11
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	You will need the worms, ultimately, or at least find them a good idea, but if the other fish are symptomatic, probably Prazi is the most helpful and benign thing you can do. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

05/20/2015, 03:29 PM	#2
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	Ammon 0 ite 0 ate 20ish maybe a little higher alk 13* cal 420. I do not have corals, I was going to start getting ready for some soon but don't have any yet. I do not have a qt large enough for all the fish so I will have to treat the main display which is 69 gallons. Tank has been setup since October

05/20/2015, 03:46 PM	#4
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	Yeah I will never do a fw dip ever again. They are talked about so frequently that I didn't think it would be a big deal.

05/20/2015, 03:47 PM	#5
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	I'm not even sure that I will be able to catch him again after the torture I just put him through. I feel so horrible about it

05/20/2015, 03:49 PM	#6
oldbones Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 940	How closely did you match Ph before the dip?

05/20/2015, 03:55 PM	#8
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	Does anyone have a picture or video of what flukes look like when they come off? Should I treat the main tank?

05/20/2015, 04:40 PM	#10
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	What I saw was not round, it was tiny, probably 3 mm at absolute max. I am even more ****ed at the movers for breaking my microscope Because I could easily Id if I still had it. I went ahead and dosed the entire tank with 12 ml of prazi. I won't risk the rest of the fish since I have been on alert for a few weeks. Both blennies were breathing rapidly, the puffer died last week, gramma keeps yawning. I'm not taking any chances. And everyone can't fit into 2 10 gallon qt. if I lose the chromis I can deal with it, even though he was my first fish. Even if I end up losing a couple of them I can deal with that. But a complete wipeout would be really really hard. And prazi is very safe in other animal species and have read it is safe in this situation as well. I don't have bristle worms, or anything like that.

05/20/2015, 05:07 PM	#12
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	Yeah I just don't have any currently. I started with almost all dry rock due to price so I have just never had them. At some point I'm sure I will get some though, I just don't have to worry about a major die off due to prazi

05/20/2015, 05:12 PM	#13
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	If it were another parasite, I would have seen some sort of physical sign at some point correct? I have never seen any spots, dots, patches, nothing. At one point I thought that I saw small white dots on my long nose hawkfish, but they were in the tip of his fins and after closer examination determined it was just when the light hit them at a particlusr spot and not anything actually there. There has been some occasional flashing, never consistent. At this point I'm at a loss for whatever else it could be

05/20/2015, 08:11 PM	#14
Martini5788 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Beaufort, SC Posts: 2,303	The chromis seems a little better, skin is definitely less red than before. Is 12 ml of prazi sufficient? I am trying to take into account dispersion from rocks and sand.