HELP HELP: regal not eating

[Theo Reef]

Good day all.

I got this beautiful blue belly regal tang 9 days ago. I placed him in a qt tank, tried feeding everything I have from ocean nutrition formula pellets, cove pellets, nori, brine, mysis, hikari marine mega and algae mega. He seemed stressed so I added a lipstick tank to make him more relaxed, one day after adding lipstick I noticed some flukes on the regal. Dipped both of them in fresh water dip, flukes came off and he does seem more relaxed. But what can I do or give to get him to eat??? Today is day 9 not eating at all. I really love this fish, really don’t wanna loose him.

[ThRoewer]

Before anything else you have to treat the fish against flukes. A freshwater dip is at best to confirm that a fish has flukes, but it isn't anywhere near sufficient as a treatment.
One effective treatment option in this case (flukes coming off in freshwater bath) would be hyposalinity.
Another option would be treatment with PraziPro (Praziquantel).
Ridding the fish of the flukes and potential internal parasites might already be enough to get it to eat.

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[Theo Reef]

I live in China and we don’t have Prazipro here. Is there any alternative I can look for? Also, would you suggest that I hypo the water while he is stressing and not feeding? If so I can do that today. Otherwise, what alternative meds for Prazipro can I look for? It can’t be medicated food because he is not eating at all.

[ThRoewer]

Hyposalinity reduces stress and energy consumption by the fish.
Can you get Praziquantel? It's the active ingredient in PraziPro. You likely will have to go to a veterinarian to get it but it's a pretty common deworming medication for pet and farm animals.
I think that there is another medication - I got to check my books later.

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[mjrenz]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Hyposalinity reduces stress and energy consumption by the fish.
Can you get Praziquantel? It's the active ingredient in PraziPro. You likely will have to go to a veterinarian to get it but it's a pretty common deworming medication for pet and farm animals.
I think that there is another medication - I got to check my books later.

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I believe that the other medication you're thinking of is fenbendazole

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[Theo Reef]

I started with the hyposalinity for now. I do have Praziquantel 200mg tablets. And I can also get Fenbendazole sachets containing 6g.

How much of the Praziquantel tablets do I give( what strength in mg) and how do I desolve it?
Also, will it work for internal parasites if its suspended in the water?
Should I remove the purigen and matrix that’s in the filter?

Can this cause the fish not to eat. I saw this morning that he nips at the pellets, but spits it out again.

What else can I do to make him eat? I really love this fish, and really don’t want to loose him.

[mjrenz]

Originally Posted by Theo Reef

I started with the hyposalinity for now. I do have Praziquantel 200mg tablets. And I can also get Fenbendazole sachets containing 6g.



How much of the Praziquantel tablets do I give( what strength in mg) and how do I desolve it?

Also, will it work for internal parasites if its suspended in the water?

Should I remove the purigen and matrix that’s in the filter?



Can this cause the fish not to eat. I saw this morning that he nips at the pellets, but spits it out again.



What else can I do to make him eat? I really love this fish, and really don’t want to loose him.

What do have the salinity at right now? Hypo is effective at killing flukes within 5 days below a sg of 1.011, I prefer to use 1.009 but it's very important not to go any lower than that and monitor ph closely making sure it stays above 7.5. Don't mix the treatments for flukes as the hypo is an effective treatment for them. One of the dangers of flukes is secondary bacterial infections, do you see any redness, especially around the gill area, or rapid breathing? Try mixing a drop of garlic in his food to stimulate his appetite, it's very important to get him eating

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[Theo Reef]

It’s at 1.017 now. Just want to give it some time to get used to it then I’ll drop it to 1.009. I usually use hypo to qt fish. I’ve tried every single food I’ve got, with and without garlic. Even tried algae from my scrubber. I don’t know what else I can do....

[ThRoewer]

Fish really don't need to be slowly acclimated to hyposalinity.
Getting them back to a higher salinity is where you have to acclimate them. especially if they had been in hyposalinity for a longer period (=months). The range from 1.009 to 1.016 is where you have go slow: +0.001 per day.
Once you have them at 1.016 you can go faster, all the way up to drip acclimatization.

The dosage for Praziquantel is: 200 mg/100 l for 24 to 72 hours. Repeat after 7 days.

As for additional medications:

External Monoganeans ("Flukes") are most effectively treated with trichlorfon (brand names: Dylox, Masoten, Neguvon).
Unfortunately, this is a somewhat risky treatment that has to be dosed correctly and the fish have to be carefully monitored. Trichlorfon is absolutely deadly to inverts and even the smallest trace will kill crustacean. So fish that were treated with this need to "rinsed" well (best done with a couple of tank transfers) before being returned to a tank with inverts and especially shrimps and crabs.
Some fish are also sensitive to it, for example, sharks and catfish.
Dosage: 100 mg per 100 l for 2 to 3 days

Internal worm infections can be treated with:

- Levamisole: has to be administered with food, 250 mg/100 g over a period of 7 to 10 days.

- Niclosamide (brand name Mansonil): has to be administered with food, 500 mg/100 g over a period of 3 days.

- Piperazine: has to be administered with food, 250 mg/100 g over a period of 7 to 10 days.

Since saltwater fish have to drink (at least at normal salinity) those of the above that are water-soluble may also be dosed into the water, but I don't know at which dosage.