Goldfishes are an integral part of an aquarium. But many a times these fishes can be attacked by a parasite called fluke. You will notice that these parasites are difficult to get rid of as they affect the entire tank along with the filter pump. So you need to be patient while clearing these parasites.
How to Understand that there are Flukes in your Gold Fish
- Your goldfishes will scratch itself against the tank surface.
- There will be mucus accumulation near the gills of the fishes.
- Their skin will become red.
- The fishes’ bellies will appear to be sunk.
- You will notice a rapid breathing pattern in the fishes.
How to Treat Flukes
- Before you start treating the goldfishes for fluke you need to make sure that it is really flukes that you are treating. Add salt solution to the tank water and then add Dimilin to the water to get rid of all the other parasites. Then scrape from under the fish belly and examine the sample under a microscope.
- If there are flukes then you will see something like small worms in the sample and these worms will look like they have the next generation of worms in them.
- Once you are sure there are flukes, disconnect the filter. Do not remove the filter. You need to disinfect it as well because flukes affect these apparatus as well.
- Add 34 milligram of Droncit to 10 gallon water and wait for some time. This medicine is slightly expensive but at the same time it is safe for the goldfishes.
- Now start the filtration process again. Most probably there will be flukes in the filter but soon they will die as there is no host to support the parasite.
- Wait for four days and treat the water with the same dose of medicine. This is likely to kill all the remaining flukes. It is common to have several fluke larvae accumulated in the tank. One treatment is not enough to kill all the parasites.
- Wait for four days again. Perform this for a third time. This third time treatment will leave no doubt that you have safely eradicated all flukes from the tank.
You may also decide to use Formalin for the treatment. There is the fry treatment as well where you need to flush the eggs in clean water to get rid of flukes from the nascent stage itself.
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