Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Welcome to Reef2Reef!
Yes, that’s an isopod, I’ve never seen a big parasitic one attached to a fish’s fin before (not a lot of blood there for it to feed on). I’ve seen small isopods that act as micro predators in tanks - hiding in the rocks during the day, but coming out at night to bite chunks out of the fish.
Physical removal is the only treatment for isopods that have had their terminal molt. For isopods that are still growing, you can use a chitin inhibitor like Dimilin.
Jay
I’ve never used dimilin in a reef tank. I do know that it will harm Arthropoda if they molt. There is another drug used in reefs, Interceptor. I think it also works on isopods, but you’ll need to ask about it on the reef sub forum here, as I’ve never used it myself.Thank you for this information! Will look for this chitin inhibitor to try and catch any immature ones! With that treatment, if you know, are there any life forms that are also succeptible to this drug that I may want to set up in a different tak first? Or might I just be setting up a second tank to have the same issue?
Hey there! Did you have more and do you have any tips for getting rid of them? I discovered one attached to my firefish yesterday and have loads of them in my tank as I caught 20-30ish with a trap last night. Did you try any drugs and would you recommend?Happy update! Caught the Tang, dipped it in freshwater, bugger dropped off immediately! Tang back into tank.
Amazing how large this thing is!
But... Did it have babies? Are there more? Time will tell. Very nervous about that.
From the sound of it, I’d keep trapping them.Hey there! Did you have more and do you have any tips for getting rid of them? I discovered one attached to my firefish yesterday and have loads of them in my tank as I caught 20-30ish with a trap last night. Did you try any drugs and would you recommend?
What you are referring to is the life cycle, similar to sand fleas. They hatch and grow up, eat, reproduce and die. It would be a period of no isopods and then they would come back if the eggs are not eaten or destroyed.I would keep at it,if you kill your rock your probably going to regret it in 6 months when your trying to eradicate all the algae that’s going to be on it,where do your clownfish sleep? It sounds like they may be getting hungry and desperate,I also read something from either gulf live rock or Tampa bay rock saying it’s unexplained but all of sudden they just disappear and die off like a seasonal thing too if I remember right and they are trying to figure out the isopod thing and how to deal with them to have better answers for customers
It was just something I read on a thread from a reply of one of the company’s that sold the rockWhat you are referring to is the life cycle, similar to sand fleas. They hatch and grow up, eat, reproduce and die. It would be a period of no isopods and then they would come back if the eggs are not eaten or destroyed.