Isopod eating fish's eyes

[Frigideus]

New reefer here, so obviously quite stressed, but I have spent the last 5 hours trying to catch my bangaii cardinalfish to remove an isopod from his eyes. unfortunately he has found a really nice spot in the rockwork to make it so i cannot help him.

any tips? also are there anything that will eat these problematic things so i can go buy some of them as soon as the aquatics store opens? i do not want my fish to continue to suffer at the hands of this monster and it needs to be dealt with asap. i can get a picture of the monster as soon as i somehow catch the fish for an ID but i dont need an ID to know i dont want this thing anywhere near my tank! please help

 

[Tahoe61]

How big is the tank? Can you just lower the water level?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/isopods-removal.342708/

 

[fishguy242]

Try caching in the dark using a flashlight and a "pokey" stick ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

New reefer here, so obviously quite stressed, but I have spent the last 5 hours trying to catch my bangaii cardinalfish to remove an isopod from his eyes. unfortunately he has found a really nice spot in the rockwork to make it so i cannot help him.

any tips? also are there anything that will eat these problematic things so i can go buy some of them as soon as the aquatics store opens? i do not want my fish to continue to suffer at the hands of this monster and it needs to be dealt with asap. i can get a picture of the monster as soon as i somehow catch the fish for an ID but i dont need an ID to know i dont want this thing anywhere near my tank! please help

Ive seen this occur and give the fish a 5 minute freshwater dip (same temp as the display tank) and isopod should drop off, do not attempt to pull or poke the isopod off fish which has hooks and can cause further damage

 

[Frigideus]

I caught the fish and the isopod fell off! The tank is 2 feet deep so I had to work pretty hard to get my hand down and blowed with my baster gently to coax the fish out so I could net it. Now all I need to know is if there is any natural pest control for these things because I am going to go get some today!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I caught the fish and the isopod fell off! The tank is 2 feet deep so I had to work pretty hard to get my hand down and blowed with my baster gently to coax the fish out so I could net it. Now all I need to know is if there is any natural pest control for these things because I am going to go get some today!

No and often a case like this is isolated but watch for signs of other isopods present. Also keep an eye for the health of the fish's eye