gill and body flukes

Question
QUESTION: My large green severum has flukes, I have treated with a medication for this condition over a period of ten days, but he doesn't seem to be any better, he is very lethargic and spends the majority of his time at the top of his tank just looking up he isn't eating very much either, I have done various water changes also put salt in his water hoping this would help, can you advise please

ANSWER: Hi Sylvia,
 Hmm... why do you think that he has flukes?  Flukes are extremely rare on a fish like a green severum.   

 How often have you been doing water changes?  That is the most important thing to keeping a fish healthy.  You should be changing 25% of the water in his tank, once a week, every week.

   I am very reluctant to add medications to a fish tank unless you know EXACTLY what you are treating.  The same goes for adding salt. Adding either salt or medications can cause many more problems than they solve.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou for your reply, I thought it was flukes because everything I read up on related to that, the only other thing I thought it could be was Ick as he is covered in white spots on his body and his gills, he flicks quite a lot as well, as for water changes I have always done water changes every week, I really am at a loss as to what to do to help him, do you have any other advise you can give me, do you think it would be better not to put anything in the water at all and hope for the best?

Answer
Hi Sylvia,
 If he is covered in white spots then it is definitely ick and you should treat it as such.  You need to get one of the anti-ick treatments (there are many) and use it as directed right away. Time is important here. Basically all of them are similar; they use some combination of copper such as methylene blue and formalin.  I use a product called Rid-Ich, but others work as well.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>