Need help identifying parasite. Possibly ich?

[Hiram]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking around on this forum for information quite a lot the last year, but never really made an account or had something worth posting. Now however, I've made a fairly worrysome discovery on which I could certainly use the help of some more experienced reefers.

So, I had 2 clowns in a breeding tank that were quite close to spawning to the point where they were picking clean a spot on the terra cotta pot. However since I didnt expect this quite so soon, they only paired up last week, I didnt have a rot culture on the ready. So I decided to move them to my main display for a while in hopes to slow them down a few days. They'd been in my care for over a month and behaved as any very healthy clown would so i was fairly positive they were free of any parasites or diseases. Whilst acclimating them, since my main display uses a different salt and a different salinity, 2 little black spotted bugs dropped off them, one each, that started zooming around the water and actually noticably biting the clowns. They shook them off immediately and i seperated the clowns immediately from the bugs.

Any idea what these could be? Maybe ich in the theront stage? Theyre about 2 mm long. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[kchristensen8064]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking around on this forum for information quite a lot the last year, but never really made an account or had something worth posting. Now however, I've made a fairly worrysome discovery on which I could certainly use the help of some more experienced reefers.

So, I had 2 clowns in a breeding tank that were quite close to spawning to the point where they were picking clean a spot on the terra cotta pot. However since I didnt expect this quite so soon, they only paired up last week, I didnt have a rot culture on the ready. So I decided to move them to my main display for a while in hopes to slow them down a few days. They'd been in my care for over a month and behaved as any very healthy clown would so i was fairly positive they were free of any parasites or diseases. Whilst acclimating them, since my main display uses a different salt and a different salinity, 2 little black spotted bugs dropped off them, one each, that started zooming around the water and actually noticably biting the clowns. They shook them off immediately and i seperated the clowns immediately from the bugs.

Any idea what these could be? Maybe ich in the theront stage? Theyre about 2 mm long. Thanks in advance guys.

Looks like a isopod to me.

 

[Hiram]

Looks like a isopod to me.

Isopods latch onto and bite fish?

 

[kchristensen8064]

Isopods latch onto and bite fish?

Most isopods are not parasitic, and are a good source of food for your fish. If you have a parasitic type it could be trouble but it's more likely that it's a good member of the pod population and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

That's a parasitic Isopod I think, best to remove it just to be safe.​

 

[Humblefish]

Isopods latch onto and bite fish?

Yes, parasitic isopods are something you don’t want in your DT so I would pull the clowns out immediately.

En route to QT give them a 5 min FW dip to see if any more drop off/out: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[rkpetersen]

Certainly not crypto. Parasitic isopod, aka fish lice.

 

[Hiram]

Thanks for the responses guys. Freshwater dipped and it seems to have done the trick. Guess Im gonna have to clear that entire breeding setup huh.

 

[Humblefish]

Guess Im gonna have to clear that entire breeding setup huh.

I would, yes. Even if you don’t see isopods in there, they lay eggs.

 

[kchristensen8064]

I would, yes. Even if you don’t see isopods in there, they lay eggs.

I second this, it is always better safe then sorry.