Are these gill flukes?

[FishFriend0]

I have attached a picture o fine of my platys that keep staying near the surface in the same place most of the day. If I go up to the tank it still seems interested in food but it looks thinner than the others. In a different thread it was suggested that I use an anti fluke treatment. I used the NT labs treatment and also added some salt. A week later it has not changed. It has been like this for a while but does not seem to be getting much worse. If you could tell me if this picture looks like gill flukes, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[CassCats]

You cannot visibly see gill flukes. Skin flukes you may see, but gill flukes are smaller and inside the gills.

They also won't cause skinniness.

If the fish is eating but still losing body conditioning, then you may also be dealing with internal parasites, which fluke meds won't do much for. You need flubendazole dosed to water, fenbendozole dosed to food, or levamisole dosed to food for internal parasites.

 

[FishFriend0]

It says that the treatment I am using contains flubendazole.

 

[Colin_T]

Flubendazole will treat round and flat/ tape worms in the fish's digestive tract, as well as gill flukes (a type of flat worm) and skin flukes (another type of flat worm). So you can use the flubendazole to treat the fish for a wide range or parasitic worms.

 

[FishFriend0]

So should I try a different flubendazole medication or one of the options CassCats suggested?

 

[Colin_T]

Just use the flubendazole that you have. It's a good deworming medication and treats a huge range or parasitic worms.

 

[CassCats]

Do another round of flubendazole, dose every 2 weeks for 1 month and see if there's improvement then.

Many parasites have a life cycle and many meds don't work on the eggs of the parasites, so those will hatch and need to be treated again, which usually 2-3 week interval doses help because they then hit the 2nd generation of worms before they're mature enough to lay eggs themselves which finally breaks the cycle.

Make extra sure to clean your filter and gravel vacuum well while treating too.