I have two fish left in my pond.
I suspect that the two remaining fish may have Flukes from what I have read on the net. I read that Flukes are common in Goldfish and they may even have them when you get them from the pet store. One person said that when they buy new Goldfish (for their aquarium) they assume that the fish has them and treats them for it. They made it sound like it is no big deal to treat. I still don't know exactly what Flukes are but I will Wiki it after posting. I have seen both of the remaining fish flash. Skippy has a few missing scales on his side that I suspect are missing b/c of the flashing. He is so skitterish that I can't get a pic to post and after loosing one fish I don't want to stress them. I don't see any missing scales on Harley. Both fish are hiding most of the time now. They hide under one of my fake Lilies huddled together. I don't know if this has anything to do with the Flukes or if there is another reason for it. I assume that you have to remove the Flukes and that the fish will die if you don't. I read that there is a medication for treating them called Praziquantanell (not sure if it is spelled right). I am nervous about dumping in a bunch of meds without knowing how toxic it might be to the fish.
Now for my questions.
Anyone used Praziquantanell medication?
Has anyone experienced Flukes?
What were the symptoms?
What did you do to treat the fish?
What product(s)were used?
What was the out come?

Yes, my goldfish have had flukes and I medicated them with Prazi. The symptoms were flashing (darting and rubbing up against things in the pond) and gasping. I treated the whole pond with Prazi, as it is safe for fish and plants. The difference between an effective dose and a lethal one is dramatic, so I use it with no hesitation. I dosed for about two weeks to make sure I was rid of the flukes. And I was!

The only problem with Prazi is that it is a veterinary prescription medicine, so it is very expensive, even though you don't need a 'scrip to administer it aquatically.

Most pet store fluke tabs contain it nowadays, so you can avoid buying it in the usual $30 a jar quantities, which treat 1000 gallons, if you have a small pond. Keep in mind that you will end up paying more per gram of actual prazi when you buy it as an ingredient in tabs. Those tabs also contain binders and other, less effective meds which you may not want. Liquid Prazi may also be stocked at your LFS, and comes in smaller sizes.

I have read anecdotally that the powdered form works better than the liquid, but no one has presented any scientific proof. Given the fact that many pet stores do not rotate their stock adequately, the dissolved form would logically degrade faster, and that may account for the difference in folks' experience.

Be sure to turn off UV and remove any chemical filtration you might have. Keep your biofilter running - Prazi does not harm it.

I don't know if this can be explained or not but what does gasping look like? My vision of gasping looks like a fish out of water struggling for air. My fish don't come to the top and gasp but they do hang out under the fake floating pond plants that sit on top of the water and apear to be hiding.
The gasping part of the symptoms has me confused.

Flukes grab onto fish and feed off of them. That makes the fish itchy. If the flukes are in the gills, the fish have trouble breathing and will gasp at the surface which means their little mouths open and close often at and above the surface. There are gill and skin flukes. If you run a microscope slip cover over the fish and gills, you can then see them under a microscope. Don't try that if you haven't been trained though. Fluke tabs will kill flukes but are kind of nasty. Praziquantel is supposed to be pretty safe. I've never used it. Here is one article on it:

http://koivet.com/html/articles/articles_r...rch_term=flukes

Thanks for the link Robyn.