Not sure what happened

[JTL]

Other than I lost 2 fish in a matter of a few days. I posted this in a different forum and I think it should have been in this one. A few days ago my royal gramma died after losing some color and showing ragged fins, and flashing but it was eating. I looked it over but did not see anything unusual. Then I noticed that my black cap was losing color. I was finally able to catch it and give it a FW dip and I notice quite a few of what I think flukes dropping into the water. I could only leave it in for 3 minutes because it was gasping. The next day it was dead and it was also eating up to the last day. I looked it over and it had an area of scales missing around the head, but when it was in the fresh water it look like a lot of flukes in the same spot.

I did not qt these fish but my lfs did for a couple of weeks. I have had them for over 2 months. I find it odd that both died about the same time. I also have 2 black and white clowns that were put in the tank shortly after these fish and they look good. They are out in the open so I can get a good look at them. I treated the tank with Prazipro after I lost the fish.

Someone suggested that it might be the dreaded Uronema but they did not have any cuts or red lines on them. It puzzles me that the two clowns do not seem affected. Anyone want to venture a guess?

[JustinM]

Uronema is a thought but I’m not sure. Do you have any pics of when it was in water. It’s much easier to look at the disease then.

Do you have any aggressive fish in the tank? Basslets can pretty much hold their own, but sometimes not. Besides the ragged fins and flashing, did they have a film over them, hiding, swimming into flow?

Flukes can kill and sometimes don’t really show many symptoms. They will appear fine besides the flashing and gasping for air. Then they’re gone! I remember when they called this the silent killer.

[JTL]

They looked fine in the water except for the ragged fins and color fading. They seemed to be aggressive toward each other. There was no open sores or red blotches.

[JTL]

This is a pic when the fish was in the FW dip. I believe those are flukes. It took a day to catch him but he didn't look nearly this bad when I last saw him, he just had faded color and a ragged tail. I wish I could have caught this earlier. I can't be sure this is what killed him but it looks pretty bad. Quite a few flukes dropped off in the FW dip but it was too little too late. I really feel bad for him.

[lagatbezan]

unfortunately when the flukes are that bad and numerous, the fish usually has very little chance of recovery.

[Jdub968]

That does look like flukes also the one pic were all the scales or off , the flukes could have got a bacterial infection going

[JTL]

So true. I feel like I should have caught this earlier but like I said it didn't look bad when I last saw the fish which was early in the day and even then he just was showing some loss of color and having never had flukes in any of my previous tanks I did not know what to look for. The black cap and the royal gramma were not always getting along so that is what I thought the ragged tail was from. When the gramma died I found no flukes but I wasn't looking for them. My two clowns are not showing any symptoms but I put Prazipro in the tank and found a lot of them floating around. I think they will be fine. The only thing I can figure is that maybe the gramma and black cap were stressed and the flukes got a foothold.

[Jdub968]

Make sure to to redose prazipro again in 5-7 days

[JTL]

That's the plan.

[lagatbezan]

Originally Posted by Jdub968

That does look like flukes also the one pic were all the scales or off , the flukes could have got a bacterial infection going

yup! I agree.
its a good idea to do a acriflavine bath after fw dip to help it against secondary infections. Not sure if it would have helped in this specific case, but always good to have on hand.