HELP Flukes? Nightmare Situation

[underthereef]

Hi, I have a potential nightmare situation unfolding:

after being unsure that my DT may have been contaminated with ich or velvet despite doing medicated QT, (because I thought I saw white spots on my blenny come and go and then appear on my white tail tang along with scratching) I decided to pull all my fish and do TTM for velvet/ich and also dosed prazi and metro just in case.

Fast forward to approx 50 days fallow and fish in QT, I am noticing rapid breathing and unusual behavior like lethargy (less swimming). Appetite is still good. One other weird thing that happened just before this started was 1 clownfish developed what looked like Popeye for a few days and recovered.

It’s a 20g long (17g water) with big filter and air stone. No ammonia and 10ppm nitrates. Still reading high nitrites and doing 5g water changes weekly.
-sailfin tang, white tail tang, 2 clowns, blenny, and dwarf flame angelfish

Fearing that TTM didn’t work or that I have prazi resistant flukes this whole time. I did fresh water dips on my sailfin and white tail and at first glance looked like nothing but after stirring the water this gathered to the center:

is this flukes? Or something else?

Another question: even though nitrite aren’t harmful, can they still deplete fishes ability to take in oxygen? I don’t know what else could be causing this.

 

[underthereef]

Another key symptom I forgot to mention: the two tangs are flexing their gills open, almost like holding them extremely wide open for periods of about 5 seconds or so randomly. Something I never seen them do before.

 

[Tanglover]

Another key symptom I forgot to mention: the two tangs are flexing their gills open, almost like holding them extremely wide open for periods of about 5 seconds or so randomly. Something I never seen them do before.

Can u post a vedio under white lights? Are your tangs iching? I hv seen my selfin tang opening it's gills wide and it was also having trouble in eating and was iching from rocks. U may hv to see under microscope for flukes. But I doubt that those r flukes in your pics. But let's confirm from expert
@Humblefish

 

[underthereef]

 

[underthereef]

Got a good one of the white tail:

 

[Big G]

Bodies of flukes after a FW dip look like "white-ish" little sesame seeds. Usually the dark colored materials left over from a dip are poo.

 

[underthereef]

The white tail tang is now experiencing degradation of his fins after the FWD. does that give any clues to anything?
1 clownfish is now mostly resting on the floor. Not sure what to do… I did another water change earlier.

 

[Big G]

When the clown was experiencing "Popeye" were both eyes effected?

 

[Humblefish]

Could be gill flukes, which are more difficult to see following a FW dip.

@underthereef Do you have access to a microscope? If so, you can take samples from the bottom of the FW dip and look for gill flukes under a scope.

Most gill flukes are Dactylogyrids or sometimes Gyrodactylids. Dactylogyrids are easy to ID as they have two pairs of anchors which are used to latch onto the gills of a host.

There are pics and a video of Dactylogyrus here: http://www.pond-life.me.uk/fishhealth/gyrodactylus

(SW Dactylogyrids look exactly the same as the FW version.)

 

[Humblefish]

Also look here: Identifying small invaders: DNA Barcoding Gill Flukes

 

[underthereef]

Unfortunately I don’t have a microscope.

But about the clownfish, it was only 1 eye that looked like pop eye. I had pulled him and treated with kanaplex in fresh SW and it looked better after about 4 days. Then put him back in.

I added an additional air stone now on the opposite side as the other just in case. I am suspecting possible poor water quality now? The tank was not fully cycled when I added the fish but ammonia was processing. While 1 test kit was reading high nitrites and low nitrates, I cross checked with my other test kit and that one is saying 80ppm nitrates... Is that enough to be causing these symptoms? Preparing another large water change now.

 

[Humblefish]

@underthereef I doubt 80ppm nitrates would cause any issues (for fish). However, high nitrites means there is a delay occurring with the nitrogen cycle… so I suspect your fish were exposed to ammonia at some point.

 

[underthereef]

@underthereef I doubt 80ppm nitrates would cause any issues (for fish). However, high nitrites means there is a delay occurring with the nitrogen cycle… so I suspect your fish were exposed to ammonia at some point.

Interesting. I have the ammonia badge and test kit and never saw anything alarming. But I suppose it’s possible. Would you recommend dosing prime and seeing if that alleviates symptoms? Or in your opinion is prazi/metro resistant flukes or ich/velvet a higher possibility still after TTM and past treatments?

 

[underthereef]

When the clown was experiencing "Popeye" were both eyes effected?

It actually looks like it might be starting to come back now.

 

[Big G]

It actually looks like it might be starting to come back now.

Well, heck. A "Popeye" condition, degrading fins can be indicative of bacterial infection. Here's HF's info on identifying and treating bacterial infections:

Bacterial Infections

Why fish get bacterial infections (updated 1-10-23) What You Need To Know: * Harmful bacteria is likely ever-present in most aquariums. However, a fish's strong natural immune system + excellent water quality will usually keep it at bay. * Infections can be caused by either Gram‐positive or...

humble.fish

 

[Tanglover]

It actually looks like it might be starting to come back now.

Humble fish is right. It may hv gill flukes. Something is causing irritation in gills of tangs. Black poo may be indicative of dead intestinal worms. I don't think it hv ich or velvet. Tangs sometime when stressed do harsh iching so keep an eye on that. By the way u hv beautiful fish

 

[Breadman03]

Unfortunately I don’t have a microscope.

But about the clownfish, it was only 1 eye that looked like pop eye. I had pulled him and treated with kanaplex in fresh SW and it looked better after about 4 days. Then put him back in.

I added an additional air stone now on the opposite side as the other just in case. I am suspecting possible poor water quality now? The tank was not fully cycled when I added the fish but ammonia was processing. While 1 test kit was reading high nitrites and low nitrates, I cross checked with my other test kit and that one is saying 80ppm nitrates... Is that enough to be causing these symptoms? Preparing another large water change now.

The Amscope was recommended to me and worth every bit of about $85, IMO.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AM5XB5O/?tag=humblefish-20

 

[underthereef]

Well, over the past 24 hours I had been seeing some improvements in all the fish. I added an additional air stone and also did a series of large water changes. However, just in the last few hours this showed up on my white tail tang. Any idea what it is? It looks kind of like a “blister under the skin.” And I noticed sometimes the gill on that side wasn’t moving while the other side was. But then sometimes it was moving the same as the opposite side.

 

[Humblefish]

Well, over the past 24 hours I had been seeing some improvements in all the fish. I added an additional air stone and also did a series of large water changes. However, just in the last few hours this showed up on my white tail tang. Any idea what it is? It looks kind of like a “blister under the skin.” And I noticed sometimes the gill on that side wasn’t moving while the other side was. But then sometimes it was moving the same as the opposite side.View attachment 93649

Looks like physical damage of some sort. However, sometimes a bacterial infection can start out looking like that: Bacterial Infections

 

[underthereef]

Looks like physical damage of some sort. However, sometimes a bacterial infection can start out looking like that: Bacterial Infections

if it gets worse, what are your go to treatments for bacterial problems in a tank?