I Think My Guppies Have Flukes Not Ich

Hi all. My fish have been scratching for a week or two...Ive done water changes, all water chems have been perfect..nitrite, amonia, ph 7.2, all good although temps were high, at 31 degrees. Now at 27. I have added salt and that didnt seem to help..perhaps the temps were too high at the time.. so I treated with a product called Methylene Blue..treats White spot and superficial fungal infections. Also prevents fungal infection on fish eggs, so should be perfectly safe for the fry. ..After treatment I lost about 7 -9 fish including my teenage guppy fry, some developed fungas on mouth and tails gills etc...tails were becoming limp from the body and curving downwards, one has developed fungas or something over its eye. Basically since I treated the tank seems to have gone worse. The only fish that seem to be doing ok is the corries, suckerfish and guppy fry only 1 week old and some at only 3 days old. The fry are netted and Im wondering if it is Flukes in my tank perhaps thats why the fry are ok...they are away from other fish...as I read earlier that flukes is transmitted when fish touch. Does anyone know about that?

My main question is... If I have treated my tank 3 days ago...with above mentioned meds, I did a 50% water change today adding similar temp water so as not to stress fish further, I have taken all floating plants and plants that are not longlasting...Ive basically kept all javaferns and longlasting plants only. Hoping this might take away any bad bad bad bacteria. The Last i checked my water stats were great, so I think my water temps being risen helped the flukes to develope alot faster..or what ever bacteria is festering in my tank. BTW My tank is a 73 litre I have gravel filter and submerged filter, plus an air pump..well a canon. Temps are 27, ph is 7.2 I find the gups like this best. It was all perfect last week now devistation. Tomorrow Im taking some water to my lfs to test amonia and nitrite etc etc...See what stats that brings.

THE BIG QUESTION IS>......... When can I use flukes treatment after treating with Methylene Blue 3 days ago?

Can you believe I always had the correct medication called Sterazin and didnt think it was flukes...Grrrrrrr!!! Oh well, Im young at this hobby. It still might not be flukes too. But the more I read about Flukes the more it sounds familiar. S.O.S.

My Tank before treatment 3 days ago. Its so so so so sad now!

I would not think it's flukes of any sort as their usually a sign of very bad water.

Mouth fungus dose happen and but what's causing it in your tank is not clear it's usually a secondary infection and has had something cause a small wound which has got infected.

As soon as u see some fungus get the fish out and put it a 3% salt dip, (30g per litre i think)for 60-90 seconds. The fish don't like it but it works and using methalone blue will also help. in the tank.

It should be ok know as u left it a few days and done a large water change.

Again Flukes is quite rare the in aquaria but yes it's possible, give them a good dose sterazin, I'm not sure what the active ingredient is but i would guess it Formalin, which is good for flushing the gills.

helterskelter said:

It should be ok know as u left it a few days and done a large water change.

Again Flukes is quite rare the in aquaria but yes it's possible, give them a good dose sterazin, I'm not sure what the active ingredient is but i would guess it Formalin, which is good for flushing the gills.

Click to expand...

Hi there! Thanks for the reply...I will now go ahead with treatment..would you advise doing a 25% water change before dosing with sterazin? Or just go ahead now? Also it says lessen the dose if fry are present....My week old fry seem to be doing ok so I dont want to stress them. They say dose 5ml for 75 litres...I have 73 litres. I was thinking about 3.5ml dosing as they say less for fry is best. But I want to make sure I do enough as to treat infected fish. What would you do?

Cheers, Cathy