zebra danio - gill flukes??

[appleblossom]

Crouching by the tank this evening I looked up to see that one of our female zebra danios has developed a bright red inflamed area around the gill on the underside of her face.

google research suggests ammonia poisoning or gill flukes.

ammonia tests ok (0) but she has been used as a cycle fish for three tanks, could this be a delayed problem?

alternatively gill flukes, I cant see anything but then she does tend to move around too fast for me to get a good look. She's been in this tank for aroung 8 months and the problem has only just occurred, I know nothing about gill flukes so dont know if they live in the water waiting for a weakened immune system, or if they develop over time, or can incubate in a tank for months, or have to be brought in with another fish.

She is the only one affected, have recently added one betta female (1 week ago) and 2 peacock gobies (3 weeks ago) all seem fine

Any ideas what the problem could be?

I will set up a tank to quarantine her once I have an idea what to treat for
thanks in advance!


edit: she is gasping and swimming around with her mouth open and has moved from the top to the middle of the tank. Still swimming around, but not as manic as her usual self

 

[The-Wolf]

There is no need to quarantine her, gill flukes can be suscessfully treated with Sterazin, or Paragon if you have shrimp etc in the tank.
Both are made by waterlife and should be available in your LFS.

 

[MissClaire]

I think this is a common thing for zebra danios....only because whenever I have kept them I have noticed this happening as well....I didnt treat the problem but it seemed to go away over time. (im not saying not to treat it though im just a noob)

 

[appleblossom]

too late, she was dead when i got home from work,

if it was gill flukes does this mean my other fish are at risk too?

and how did it get into the tank in the first place?!

 

[The-Wolf]

sorry to hear that Appleblossom
for a good desription of flukes read here.
HTH.