Flukes – Also known as Monogenean Trematodes or Flat Worms
What are Flukes?
Flukes is a parasite which lives on the skin or the gills of your fish. There are two classifications of flukes both of which can have detrimental effects on your fish’s health.
Dactylogyrus affects the gills. Whereas gyrodactylus affects the skin.
Both strains of this parasite are hermaphrodites, meaning that they possess both male and female reproductive organs. Gyrodactylus are a live bearing parasite, however Dactylogyrus are egg layers. When the flukes are born/hatched, they are already carrying a fully formed embryo.
The fluke can birth one new fluke every five to ten days, whereas the eggs take approximately four days to hatch.
One singular fluke can produce up to three generations as little as a month. The number of flukes created in this thirty-day period can equate to more than two thousand. However, this number can increase drastically if the conditions of the pond are warmer as elevated temperatures increase the speed of the reproduction cycle.
The flukes attach themselves to your fish using its hooked mouth, this hooked mouth allows the fluke to feed on the mucous and skin cells of your fish. Given the reproductive rate of flukes, once your fish become infected seeking professional assistance as soon as possible is crucial to stop the infestation.
Flukes that affect the gills can affect the oxygen intake for your fish as the flukes can cause an increase in mucous production, this can have a negative impact on the gills and the way in which your fish respirates. The most significant fact of oxygen deprivation is that your fish may die from hypoxia if this is not addressed promptly.
As the flukes feed upon your fish, they create wounds, although they are small, they do leave your fish susceptible to secondary ailments such as bacterial infections which will require further treatment so that your fish can return to full health without any complications.
Identifying and diagnosing Flukes!
As with all fish illnesses your fish will exhibit signs of discomfort. These are warning signs and noticing the abnormal behaviours is key to treatment and a speedy recovery.
The initial symptoms of a parasitic fluke infection are:
As with many other parasites, flukes are invisible to the human eye, and they do require a mucous scrape to be formally diagnoses. The pond medic will analyse the mucous scrape to ensure the diagnosis is accurate and the correct treatment plan will then be implemented.
Do not delay call the pond medic today Tel: 07737 674417
Causes
Flukes lie dormant within your pond and do not generally cause a disruption to your fish’s health. However, once a fluke does infect your fish it can be due to:
How contagious is Flukes?
EXTREMELY
Given the life cycle of the parasite and the communicability the whole pond requires treatment. Not just the fish who have been identified with the disease.
Treatment
Due to the high reproduction rate of the flukes, a regimented treatment plan will be put in place which must be followed in order to eradicate your fluke infestation. It is vital for the health of your fish that you follow the plan, or the outbreak can be prolonged, and your fish will not recover efficiently.
The pond medic will ensure that the treatment is for the entirety of your pond and will advise appropriately. As flukes can cause secondary illnesses the pond medic will also assess what treatment, if any, would be beneficial to help aid a speedy recuperation.
Prevention
In order to prevent further outbreaks of flukes we need to ensure that your livestock’s immune system is not compromised, and we also need to naturally boost the immune system as best as we can.
This can be achieved by:
