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Skin Flukes?

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
I have three wild A. baenschi females. After a couple of weeks in my tanks, they started to develop black marks on the fins. Three days after treating with API General Cure (metro and prazi) the spots are gone.

Ted mentioned a similar issue in an old thread and stated he thought they were skin flukes. I don't notice any spots on the Nannostomus marginatus that the baenschi share a tank with. Are skin flukes the likely cause?
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
I dont know if those spots were caused by flukes, but many flukes are restricted to one or a few closely related fish species. So if they were flukes, it's not surprising that they could infect Apistos without infecting other kinds of fish. Monogenetic flukes (move directly from fish to fish) can be killed with metro+prazi (also formalin and other meds). Digenetic flukes (require additional hosts beyond fish (snails, birds) may not respond to treatment, since they are walled off in cysts within the skin or muscle, waiting for the fish to be eaten by the next host. The common "black spot fluke" and "yellow grub fluke" seen on many wild N. Amer native fish are both digenetic flukes - they cannot spread from fish to fish.
 

aarhud

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
343
Thank you. I'm temporarily dismantling the tank this week to convert from a big canister filter to a corner HMF. Would you treat the marginatus with General Cure while they are in a small holding tank or chalk it up to a species-specific fluke?
 

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