Help! Mangrove Jack is sick

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J

jcon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2009
259
2
0
Australia
Hi everyone, I think my Mangrove Jack is sick. I have noticed for a couple of weeks now he has been scratching on the gravel alot. I ruled out ich as he doesnt have any white spots. I noticed today that his left gill is clamped shut and is not using it to breathe, his right gill is pumping away. I think he may have gill fluke. Here are some pics, can anyone confirm if it is gill fluke or not, and what I can do to heal him? Thanks

Josh

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pic2.jpg
 
Ich does not have to show up for your fish to exhibit scratching signs. It can attack even the gills while undetected from the naked eyes. In cases like this, microscopy would be useful by doing a gill scrape to see if flukes are indeed involved. Does it scratch the gills only? It's likely gill flukes is evident. It can also cause your fish to clamp its fins. I'd treat it with 0.3% salt solution and praziquantel. It doesn't matter which salt you use as long as it is sodium chloride.

Here are the basic steps to administering salt.
1. Add a 0.1% solution (equivalent to a teaspoon per gallon). Be sure you dissolve the salt thoroughly first in a cup of tank water or dechlorinated tap water.

2. After 12 hours if the fish is still doing well, repeat step 1.

3. After another 12 hours, repeat step 1.

If you wish to do water changes as necessary (and be sure to check your water parameters), you may do so but redose the salt again per the water volume you just replaced to keep the recommended saline solution steady and effective on possible ich and strains of gill flukes while the praziquantel attempts to destroy the flukes.

Recommended dosage for praziquantel is 2.5mg per liter. It is not cheap so be prepared to shell out your cash a bit. It is available in petstores or online sites as Prazipro or Droncit in veterinary clinics. The other choice is flubendazole which is just as effective. You can buy it as Kusuri Fluke-M. Not sure if you have it in your local petstores.
 
Ive just noticed he is breathing with the other gill again, it is not clamped now. Yes he only scratches at his gills, his fins are not clamped. I was thinking about giving him a salt bath. If it isnt fluke, why would he be scratching for, it doesnt seem like normal behaviour. Was his gill clamp a one of, what would cause it to clamp? He is eating and behaving normal otherwise.
 
Occasional scratching is normal but frequent is another story. Still, your case does not let your fish off the hook from any possible issues. Have you started adding salt and prazi? Just add the salt since the fish obviously has an issue with his gills. Salt baths will not help much assuming parasites are involved since there is a good chance they are trying to establish themselves in your main tank already. If you have a spare tank, perhaps leaving the main tank fishless for 2-3 weeks will render the flukes incapable of continuing their lifecycle due to lack of hosts but at the expense of your beneficial bacteria responsible for keeping your water parameters stabilized. Personally, I'd just treat your main tank with salt and prazi. Please keep us updated for any changes or improvement.
 
Thats the thing, I'm not sure if it is normal occassional scratching, or frequent (something's wrong) scratching. How much scratching is classed as normal? He would scratch a few times an hour, my guesstimate would be 5-8 times. Maybe 1-2 times every 15-20 minutes.

I have added salt, I will try to get some prazi today.

I hope its just normal scratching, and there is nothing wrong with him.

He does seem happy and is swimming/eating normal.
 
No, it isn't normal. I've never seen a fish in my experience scratch normally like that. Once or twice every few hours is fine assuming there is silt irritation involved but that is too frequent.
 
is the snapper being kept in FW or brackish? wouldn't the treatment depend on this as well
 
He seems to have stopped scratching, I will keep an eye on him and give you guys an update in a week or so.

Thanks Lupin!
 
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