Monacanthus chinensis parasites

[birbio2]

Hi! I obtained a filefish (Monacanthus chinensis) from a local seafood restaurant three days ago. It started eating the next day after getting it (it prefers frozen mysis shrimp and chopped shrimp, and is currently ignoring live artemia), and from the second day it started eating from my hand! A very friendly fish, however I have noticed small white spots on the dorsal and anal fin and they seem to move around. Could they be parasitic copepods? My fish shop gave me medication (Marine Anti-Fluke & Wormer) for it, but I don't want to dose it yet incase this is not the issue. What could it be and how should I treat it? I have no other fish or invertebrates in the tank. Thank you!

**It also has cloudy eyes, but it is only visible at some angles when it rotates it's eyes

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi! I obtained a filefish (Monacanthus chinensis) from a local seafood restaurant three days ago. It started eating the next day after getting it (it prefers frozen mysis shrimp and chopped shrimp, and is currently ignoring live artemia), and from the second day it started eating from my hand! A very friendly fish, however I have noticed small white spots on the dorsal and anal fin and they seem to move around. Could they be parasitic copepods? My fish shop gave me medication (Marine Anti-Fluke & Wormer) for it, but I don't want to dose it yet incase this is not the issue. What could it be and how should I treat it? I have no other fish or invertebrates in the tank. Thank you!

**It also has cloudy eyes, but it is only visible at some angles when it rotates it's eyes

Also known as fan-bellied leatherjacket has this pattern on its fins but not ruling out flukes. See if this progresses over next 24 hours . If not , may be pattern. Blue planet fluke and tapeworm treatment should be available in your country

 

[birbio2]

I think I can definitely rule out it being the skins natural pattern, when I zoom in with my camera I can see them move/hanging off the skin. I also noticed they are now on one eye socket as well

Also known as fan-bellied leatherjacket has this pattern on its fins but not ruling out flukes. See if this progresses over next 24 hours . If not , may be pattern. Blue planet fluke and tapeworm treatment should be available in your country

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi! I obtained a filefish (Monacanthus chinensis) from a local seafood restaurant three days ago. It started eating the next day after getting it (it prefers frozen mysis shrimp and chopped shrimp, and is currently ignoring live artemia), and from the second day it started eating from my hand! A very friendly fish, however I have noticed small white spots on the dorsal and anal fin and they seem to move around. Could they be parasitic copepods? My fish shop gave me medication (Marine Anti-Fluke & Wormer) for it, but I don't want to dose it yet incase this is not the issue. What could it be and how should I treat it? I have no other fish or invertebrates in the tank. Thank you!

**It also has cloudy eyes, but it is only visible at some angles when it rotates it's eyes

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Many filefish have normal cloudy eyes when observed at certain angles. It is related to something called Tapetum Lucidum (my spelling may be wrong).

The V shape I see in some of these white spots indicate the paired egg sacs seen in adult female copepods. These are difficult to treat because anything that kills them may also harm the fish. I would first try a 5 minute freshwater dip.

There is a drug called Dimilin that causes the larval copepods to not be able to grow. It doesn’t kill the adult copepods though.

If that doesn’t work, you would need to try a formalin bath or even trichlorfon. Both of these can be harmful to humans though.

One other thing - parasitic copepods have a larval stage that doesn’t live well in aquariums, so this may be a self-limiting disease, where it won’t get any worse in your tank.

 

[birbio2]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Many filefish have normal cloudy eyes when observed at certain angles. It is related to something called Tapetum Lucidum (my spelling may be wrong).

The V shape I see in some of these white spots indicate the paired egg sacs seen in adult female copepods. These are difficult to treat because anything that kills them may also harm the fish. I would first try a 5 minute freshwater dip.

There is a drug called Dimilin that causes the larval copepods to not be able to grow. It doesn’t kill the adult copepods though.

If that doesn’t work, you would need to try a formalin bath or even trichlorfon. Both of these can be harmful to humans though.

One other thing - parasitic copepods have a larval stage that doesn’t live well in aquariums, so this may be a self-limiting disease, where it won’t get any worse in your tank.

That is really informative, thank you. Do you know how long the adult copepod lives for? It sounds difficult to treat, I just got the fish (it was in a seafood restaurant tank for 2 days) so I am worried to do any stressful event such as a freshwater dip, but I may try this in the future. What is your opinion of a biological approach, such as a cleaner wrasse or shrimp to pick off the copepods?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That is really informative, thank you. Do you know how long the adult copepod lives for? It sounds difficult to treat, I just got the fish (it was in a seafood restaurant tank for 2 days) so I am worried to do any stressful event such as a freshwater dip, but I may try this in the future. What is your opinion of a biological approach, such as a cleaner wrasse or shrimp to pick off the copepods?

Sorry, I don’t know how long these copepods might live as adults….months probably. However, this fish was living with these in the wild and they were not at fatal levels, and since they are unlikely to reproduce in an aquarium, the health risk to the fish is low. These are also species-specific, I’ve only seen them on filefish, triggers and some types of puffer.

I don’t know if cleaner shrimp will work because the filefish might eat them. Cleaner wrasse should help, but getting healthy ones is difficult.

 

[birbio2]

Sorry, I don’t know how long these copepods might live as adults….months probably. However, this fish was living with these in the wild and they were not at fatal levels, and since they are unlikely to reproduce in an aquarium, the health risk to the fish is low. These are also species-specific, I’ve only seen them on filefish, triggers and some types of puffer.

I don’t know if cleaner shrimp will work because the filefish might eat them. Cleaner wrasse should help, but getting healthy ones is difficult.

Thank you again for your reply. Could I have your help to identify something new? Today a white film started growing over the areas where the copepods are clustered on (nearby the white film there is also a brownish film, which can be seen in the dark.png on the dorsal rays). There are also a few white circular patches (I drew some arrows to mark problem areas). Also, it's horn was damaged when I got it, and the skin doesn't seem to be healing back (seems to be retreating actually). Is this lymphocystis? And should I get something to treat the horn?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you again for your reply. Could I have your help to identify something new? Today a white film started growing over the areas where the copepods are clustered on (nearby the white film there is also a brownish film, which can be seen in the dark.png on the dorsal rays). There are also a few white circular patches (I drew some arrows to mark problem areas). Also, it's horn was damaged when I got it, and the skin doesn't seem to be healing back (seems to be retreating actually). Is this lymphocystis? And should I get something to treat the horn?

I don’t see any lymphocystis. Most likely this is handling damage, with possible secondary bacterial infection.

I was worried about this - live food fishes are not always handled very well, just well enough to keep them alive until they are sold.

What antibiotics do you have available?

 

[birbio2]

I don’t see any lymphocystis. Most likely this is handling damage, with possible secondary bacterial infection.

I was worried about this - live food fishes are not always handled very well, just well enough to keep them alive until they are sold.

What antibiotics do you have available?

Hong Kong has quite a large market that has fish and fish medications that I can check, what type of antibiotics should I look for? Or I can try order it on Amazon if it ships here (if it isn't restricted). Do you have one or two recommended bacterial infection antibiotic?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hong Kong has quite a large market that has fish and fish medications that I can check, what type of antibiotics should I look for? Or I can try order it on Amazon if it ships here (if it isn't restricted). Do you have one or two recommended bacterial infection antibiotic?

Yes - consider using Neomycin (but not in conjunction with copper). Kanamycin is another option. You want a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic. Avoid any in the tetracycline family, calcium in the water causes them not to work.

 

[birbio2]

Yes - consider using Neomycin (but not in conjunction with copper). Kanamycin is another option. You want a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic. Avoid any in the tetracycline family, calcium in the water causes them not to work.

It turned out to be quite difficult to get any antibiotics in my area, so I did a 5-day treatment of Waterlife's Myxazin while I waited for the delivery of Kanaplex. I didn't notice much improvement after it. After the Myxazin treatment I did water changes over several days and then started the Kanaplex treament.

My schedule:
27.04 — add fish to tank
2.05 — 1st day Myxazin (5.6 mL, for around ~59 liters)
3.05 — 2nd day Myxazin (5.6 mL)
4.05 — 3rd day Myxazin (5.6 mL)
5.05 — 4th day Myxazin (5.6 mL)
6.05 — 5th day Myxazin (5.6 mL)

7.05 — 11.25 L water change
11.05 — 13.8 L water change
13.05 — 10.4 L water change
14.05 — 10.3 L water change
15.05 — 10.2 L water change

16.05 — 1st dose Kanaplex (3 scoops, as on manual)
18.05 — 12.2 L water change then 2nd dose Kanaplex (3 scoops)
20.05 — 11.9 L water change then 3rd dose Kanaplex (3 scoops)

Sometimes the fish would feed, but there were several days he wouldn't (I would try a little bit of food several times a day). I had to do a lot of water changes, the nitrates (Salifert) are hovering around 10 - 25 mg/L and ammonia (Salifert) is zero. He (randomly assigned gender) is lethargic and hides behind the filter all day, and sometimes rests at the bottom of the tank. Sometimes he will chase food and other times will only eat if I pipette directly in front of him. A new behaviour has begun, while eating he will cough and swam backwards (do you know if this is flukes or do copepods also go into the gills?).

It's been 6 days of Kanaplex, there is still white fluff on his body, however it seems to not have grown any larger and the fishes appetite is improving. Do I continue the Kanaplex treatment (how should I do that)? The copepods have moved mostly to above the eyes, and the cotton fluff is mostly on the pelvic fin and the bone is still exposed on his horn.

I'm really worried he will die, I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It turned out to be quite difficult to get any antibiotics in my area, so I did a 5-day treatment of Waterlife's Myxazin while I waited for the delivery of Kanaplex. I didn't notice much improvement after it. After the Myxazin treatment I did water changes over several days and then started the Kanaplex treament.

My schedule:
27.04 — add fish to tank
2.05 — 1st day Myxazin (5.6 mL, for around ~59 liters)
3.05 — 2nd day Myxazin (5.6 mL)
4.05 — 3rd day Myxazin (5.6 mL)
5.05 — 4th day Myxazin (5.6 mL)
6.05 — 5th day Myxazin (5.6 mL)

7.05 — 11.25 L water change
11.05 — 13.8 L water change
13.05 — 10.4 L water change
14.05 — 10.3 L water change
15.05 — 10.2 L water change

16.05 — 1st dose Kanaplex (3 scoops, as on manual)
18.05 — 12.2 L water change then 2nd dose Kanaplex (3 scoops)
20.05 — 11.9 L water change then 3rd dose Kanaplex (3 scoops)

Sometimes the fish would feed, but there were several days he wouldn't (I would try a little bit of food several times a day). I had to do a lot of water changes, the nitrates (Salifert) are hovering around 10 - 25 mg/L and ammonia (Salifert) is zero. He (randomly assigned gender) is lethargic and hides behind the filter all day, and sometimes rests at the bottom of the tank. Sometimes he will chase food and other times will only eat if I pipette directly in front of him. A new behaviour has begun, while eating he will cough and swam backwards (do you know if this is flukes or do copepods also go into the gills?).

It's been 6 days of Kanaplex, there is still white fluff on his body, however it seems to not have grown any larger and the fishes appetite is improving. Do I continue the Kanaplex treatment (how should I do that)? The copepods have moved mostly to above the eyes, and the cotton fluff is mostly on the pelvic fin and the bone is still exposed on his horn.

I'm really worried he will die, I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Kanamycin can become toxic, so you should not extend it beyond three treatments.

It wasn't clear to me - have you tried a 5 to 7 minute freshwater dip on this fish? Are the numbers of copepods increasing?

 

[birbio2]

Kanamycin can become toxic, so you should not extend it beyond three treatments.

It wasn't clear to me - have you tried a 5 to 7 minute freshwater dip on this fish? Are the numbers of copepods increasing?

I haven't tried the freshwater dip yet, is it dangerous to do it if the fish health is still not 100%? My understanding is that I should use tap water (I've left it for over 24 hrs, is that enough or should I add dechlorinator?), then I should set the pH to the same as the tank using baking soda.

The number of copepods do not seem to be increasing (just based on looking, it would be too difficult to count them), they just all migrated to around the eye socket.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I haven't tried the freshwater dip yet, is it dangerous to do it if the fish health is still not 100%? My understanding is that I should use tap water (I've left it for over 24 hrs, is that enough or should I add dechlorinator?), then I should set the pH to the same as the tank using baking soda.

The number of copepods do not seem to be increasing (just based on looking, it would be too difficult to count them), they just all migrated to around the eye socket.

Yes, there is a risk to doing a FW dip, but that risk increases the longer you wait. You could try just a 4 minute dip - and then look in the dip water (a microscope helps) to see if any parasites fall off.