Gerald Bassleer examines a figure-eight puffer dying from gill flukes. The parasites colonize the gills with visible hooks and eggs, causing the fish to waste away and stop eating. Treatment requires sea salt and Praziquantel, repeated over two weeks to kill newly hatched flukes.
Questions this video answers
Case 179.
December 10, 2023.
5 grams of sea salt (dosage context unspecified).
Praziquantel (spoken as 'Prazikanthel' in the transcript).
Chapters
Hello, dear fish hobbyist or a professional fish keeper. In the background, a big fish house which I like to work with. We have a lot of ornamental fish. And today I had a special case I want to discuss with you. Case 179, about a fresh water puffer, used to be called Tetrawdon ocellatus and which had a serious parasitic infection. So watch my interesting videos because they are very lovely to see the parasites if you like fish pathology. It's the Dihomyctere ocellatus or used to be called Tetradon ocellatus or the figure eight puffer used to be the other name, has a serious gill fluke infection. Yes. Details on fish diseases in my books in the link below, the Dichenbictera ocellatus puffer. See the very poor looking puffer here in the back is dying, wasting away. Yeah. And some look healthy, look hungry, doing well, but a few might also be badly affected. We couldn't see yet, maybe the next coming days. So this is what we found in the gills. Look how massive these gill flukes are, affecting the kill tissue, damaging the kill tissue, affecting the health of the fish and of course causing the fish to become weak, not being hungry and of course wasting away. Well, this is a very unusual case and I'm happy to share with you this kind of terrible worm infection. And at the same time we found inside eggs, eggs of those worms which we normally find on the bottom of the aquarium or in the filtration. But here the worms already put in between the gills. And then I also can observe or show you the hooks, how those worms are attached to the gills and of course causing damage. Look, those hooks inside, well, this is causing damage and causing the fish to get also bacterial infections on the gills and becoming weak and stressed. So this is a wild fish. It's special to encounter this kind of special gill fluke. I don't know the scientific name, it's not my job to find out, it's for other people. But what I can tell you, you can take origin actions and treat with 5 grams of sea salt. And at the same time using a medication against gill flukes, like Prazikanthel for instance. It's quite often used. But follow the directions, don't overdose and be careful not to treat too much too often. See my book's details. Treatment might be needed to repeat maybe two times a week and this during two weeks because there are eggs in the gills and not out of those eggs. Within seven days, 10 days, babies comes out. You have to destroy them also. So maybe people who are watching this video has other suggestions. Well make your comments below. Everybody likes to see them and everybody likes to see my books which I have in different languages and you can order online here. Below is the link or you become at my Patreon a professional trained aquarist. So I hope you enjoyed this video here from the fish house in the back, the mini fish tanks, teaching me lessons every time I go there about fish diseases and giving me the opportunity to have cases of fish diseases. For instance, for you to know, this is Aquafarm International in the Netherlands. Thank you for watching and see you next time. For case 118.
