Description

Symptoms: the fish scrapes itself against objects, rapid gill movement, mucus covering the gills or body, the gills or fins may be eaten away, the skin may become reddened.

There are many species of flukes, which are flatworms about 1 mm long, and several symptoms that are visible. They infest gills and skin much like ich, but the difference can be seen with a hand lens. You should be able to see movement and possibly eye spots, which is not found in ich. Gill flukes will eventually destroy the gills thus killing the fish. Symptoms of a heavy infestations are pale fish with drooping fins, rapid respiration, glancing off aquarium decor, and/or hollow bellies.

The worms are live bearing, (with the exception of the species of the Dactylogyrus genus, which are egg-laying and primarily parasitize on the gills of the fish), with the larvae having to find a host fish within 48 hours. The chances of the larvae not finding a host fish are greater in a planted aquarium, because they swim towards shadows, which are often produced by the plants. Skin flukes desert a dying fish very quickly, so that they can no longer be identified on the dead fish. Worms that have fallen off of a fish can survive without a host for up to 10 days, depending on temperatures.

Treatment

Please remove any activated carbon from the filter for the duration of the medication use. UV-C appliances and CO₂ fertilizing appliances also need to be switched off. Please also ensure that skimmers and ozonisers in saltwater are switched off. Change 50 % of the water prior to application of any medication. Aerate the aquarium using a diaphragm pump with airstone during the treatment. Feed the fish sparingly during the treatment.

Treatment can best be done with a 10 to 30 minute bath in 10 mg per liter of potassium permanganate. Or treat the whole tank with 2 mg per liter, but this method is messy and dyes the water.

After treatment

After the treatment, please filter the aquarium water for 24 hours using activated carbon to remove the residues of medication. Afterwards the activated carbon should be duly discarded. The addition of a bacterial starter to the aquarium water helps to replace any purifying bacteria which may have been affected.