External Parasite?

[radav88]

I just got home with my first set of fish for my new aquarium. I slowly acclimated them and got them in the tank with lights off. I came back to check on them after two hours and one of the clowns now has what looks like two external parasites stuck to it. One is a white oval looking thing stuck to it's pectoral fin and the other is a darker oval stuck to its side. I've tried to get a better picture a bunch of times. You can actually see them both in the pic. If it's some kind of external parasite how do I treat this?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Cant clearly make out what is there from angle but give this fish a 5 minute freshwater dip same temperature as display tank. If it is an isopod or similar, should dislodge. Please provide video or pics under white lighting for clarity in identifying

How is fishs' breathing rate?
Is fish eating ?

 

[radav88]

I'm currently trying to get a video. Breathing rate is fine they're just scooting all over the tank at the moment now that the lights are on. As I was writing this my other clown appears to have picked up the same parasite. I will try and snag them and do a freshwater dip asap. I'll post a better pic/video asap.

 

[radav88]

I've attached a video you can get a decent view of the dark spot a few times.

 

[jabberwock]

I am useless but following.

 

[radav88]

Here is the video. You can get a glimpse of it in the last few seconds of the video.

 

[jabberwock]

Nice job with the video. I isolated and zoomed in as much as the resolution allowed.

 

[radav88]

Thank you very much. I'm not great with that and I'm also trying to do it on my phone. Much appreciated.

What are the odds these are the only two parasites in the tank? Am I just going to have to keep dipping in freshwater or will I need to move them to a smaller tank while these die off with no fish to feed on?

 

[jabberwock]

I have no idea... At least it is not the dreaded tongue replacement parasite. At least I don't think it is.

 

[radav88]

I have no idea... At least it is not the dreaded tongue replacement parasite. At least I don't think it is.

Thank you again for the help. After multiple attempts with my smaller net I was unable to snag either clown. I need to get a larger net with a longer handle.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you again for the help. After multiple attempts with my smaller net I was unable to snag either clown. I need to get a larger net with a longer handle.

I wasn’t able to view the video but the still image appears to be a cirolanid copepod.
They are more like micro predators than parasites. I’m surprised you have them, what was the source of your live rock?
They can sometimes be controlled from from further reproduction with Dimilin. The adults can’t be killed with chemicals that wouldn’t otherwise harm the fish. You need to try trapping them. You can run a search here and see if any of the methods seem feasible.
Jay

 

[radav88]

I wasn’t able to view the video but the still image appears to be a cirolanid copepod.
They are more like micro predators than parasites. I’m surprised you have them, what was the source of your live rock?
They can sometimes be controlled from from further reproduction with Dimilin. The adults can’t be killed with chemicals that wouldn’t otherwise harm the fish. You need to try trapping them. You can run a search here and see if any of the methods seem feasible.
Jay

Thank you for confirming. To answer your question I got the live rock from TBS. Ironically this was the decision involving my tank I waffled most on and look what I get....

Before I move on to how to go about removing them from the tank. I went down to check on my clowns and they appear to have picked up some more parasites over night that appear larger and white compared to the one in the picture above.

So my plan is is going to be to try and freshwater dip the fish to get the isopods to release and if that doesn't work tweezers. Then I will need to move them to another tank and treat with antibiotics to deal with potential infection? Does this sound like a good plan?

I did some research and it appears there are a few things I can try to do to trap them. If I'm a patient person do you know if it's possible to just starve them out by leaving the tank fallow? There appears to be conflicting data on that note.

 

[jabberwock]

Thank you again for the help. After multiple attempts with my smaller net I was unable to snag either clown. I need to get a larger net with a longer handle.

Try a fish trap. Much less stressful for the fish.

 

[jabberwock]

This thread seems helpful and encouraging.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cirolanid-isopods-in-my-setup-help.927207/

 

[Jay Hemdal]

This thread seems helpful and encouraging.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cirolanid-isopods-in-my-setup-help.927207/

Thanks, that's one recent thread, I was on my phone before and couldn't search properly.

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you for confirming. To answer your question I got the live rock from TBS. Ironically this was the decision involving my tank I waffled most on and look what I get....

Before I move on to how to go about removing them from the tank. I went down to check on my clowns and they appear to have picked up some more parasites over night that appear larger and white compared to the one in the picture above.

So my plan is is going to be to try and freshwater dip the fish to get the isopods to release and if that doesn't work tweezers. Then I will need to move them to another tank and treat with antibiotics to deal with potential infection? Does this sound like a good plan?

I did some research and it appears there are a few things I can try to do to trap them. If I'm a patient person do you know if it's possible to just starve them out by leaving the tank fallow? There appears to be conflicting data on that note.

Take a look at the thread posted above. Try to avoid tweezers - you can easily damage a fish. Hopefully, the isopods will bail off in the FW dip. Antibiotics shouldn't be needed unless you see signs of secondary bacterial infection (red ulcers, or white growths).

Jay

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Try at night to catch, watch to see where your clowns hide/sleep... scoop them up.
Mine like to stay at top of aquriam

 

[radav88]

Take a look at the thread posted above. Try to avoid tweezers - you can easily damage a fish. Hopefully, the isopods will bail off in the FW dip. Antibiotics shouldn't be needed unless you see signs of secondary bacterial infection (red ulcers, or white growths).

Jay

Thank you for the advice it's much appreciated. It appears that I'm dealing with two different forms of ecto parasite. The first is the one you can see in the picture. That one stayed on the clowns until the lights on my tank were almost completely on. The others I couldn't get a good picture of because they only stayed on when it was nearly complete darkness. From what I could see they were white ovals attached to various parts of both fish. Currently with full lights on there are zero visible parasites on the fish (Yay!?). So now I'm going to move them to a smaller qt tank setup while I battle the isopods in my main display.

This thread seems helpful and encouraging.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cirolanid-isopods-in-my-setup-help.927207/

Thanks for that!

As for nabbing the clowns I'm going to try a fish trap but if that fails I'm going to scoop and move them with the much longer handled and larger net I picked up.