Need help identifying what parasite this is

[jlammonds]

Got a zebra eel little over a month ago and noticed these things hanging off of his tail and face. Took him out of display and into quarantine tank for about 2 weeks and did 2 freshwater dips and they all fell off except for 3 that had to be pulled off. They were alive and seemed to be filled with his blood like a leech. He didn't have any left and put him back in the display when the next day he was covered completely with baby leech things I didn't want to stress him even more so I left him and got a cleaner shrimp that ate all of them within 2 days and has been rid of them since(3 weeks ago)! So I thought I had solved the problem but I woke up today with my clowns having them (one is on his eye) and they won't let the cleaner shrimp get them off. I need help with a treatment and ID for these things before they spread even more.

 

[DED65]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[JayM]

Piscicolidae Worm?

 

[Sophie"s mom]

@vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

Got a zebra eel little over a month ago and noticed these things hanging off of his tail and face. Took him out of display and into quarantine tank for about 2 weeks and did 2 freshwater dips and they all fell off except for 3 that had to be pulled off. They were alive and seemed to be filled with his blood like a leech. He didn't have any left and put him back in the display when the next day he was covered completely with baby leech things I didn't want to stress him even more so I left him and got a cleaner shrimp that ate all of them within 2 days and has been rid of them since(3 weeks ago)! So I thought I had solved the problem but I woke up today with my clowns having them (one is on his eye) and they won't let the cleaner shrimp get them off. I need help with a treatment and ID for these things before they spread even more.

Please post pic under bright white lighting
May be anchor worm which is rare to see

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Got a zebra eel little over a month ago and noticed these things hanging off of his tail and face. Took him out of display and into quarantine tank for about 2 weeks and did 2 freshwater dips and they all fell off except for 3 that had to be pulled off. They were alive and seemed to be filled with his blood like a leech. He didn't have any left and put him back in the display when the next day he was covered completely with baby leech things I didn't want to stress him even more so I left him and got a cleaner shrimp that ate all of them within 2 days and has been rid of them since(3 weeks ago)! So I thought I had solved the problem but I woke up today with my clowns having them (one is on his eye) and they won't let the cleaner shrimp get them off. I need help with a treatment and ID for these things before they spread even more.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The picture isn't quite clear enough for me to say what these are. The key defining factors are: if you can see segments (bands) on the body, they are annelids, leeches. If you cannot see bands, then they are flukes. If they have 2 eye spots they are turbellarian worms, if they have 4 eye spots they are dactylgyrid flukes.

My guess is that these are leeches (annelids). How long were the freshwater dips that you did? Continued, 5 to 7 minute dips will likely be your best means to control these. Formalin dips and trichlorfon work better, but those are really toxic to people and shouldn't be used in homes.

Eels are prone to a few diseases that won't infect other fish in the tank. Does the clown have one of the worms on its head? That is likely an "accident" on the part of the worm....as clownfish are not a primary host for these larger worms.

 

[jlammonds]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The picture isn't quite clear enough for me to say what these are. The key defining factors are: if you can see segments (bands) on the body, they are annelids, leeches. If you cannot see bands, then they are flukes. If they have 2 eye spots they are turbellarian worms, if they have 4 eye spots they are dactylgyrid flukes.

My guess is that these are leeches (annelids). How long were the freshwater dips that you did? Continued, 5 to 7 minute dips will likely be your best means to control these. Formalin dips and trichlorfon work better, but those are really toxic to people and shouldn't be used in homes.

Eels are prone to a few diseases that won't infect other fish in the tank. Does the clown have one of the worms on its head? That is likely an "accident" on the part of the worm....as clownfish are not a primary host for these larger worms.

I took the clown out and did a manual removal on the ones I could and got a better pic.

also @vetteguy53081

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I took the clown out and did a manual removal on the ones I could and got a better pic.

also @vetteguy53081

Those are annelids - leeches. You can manually remove them, but it is rough on the fish.

 

[jlammonds]

Those are annelids - leeches. You can manually remove them, but it is rough on the fish.

Are there any treatment options I can use besides manual removal or fresh dips because I believe they are reproducing in the tank now since I had no sign of the for a couple weeks. Also do you know the life cycle of these and how long they could survive without a host if I remove the fish into a different system. I put prazipro in the tank yesterday hoping that might help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Are there any treatment options I can use besides manual removal or fresh dips because I believe they are reproducing in the tank now since I had no sign of the for a couple weeks. Also do you know the life cycle of these and how long they could survive without a host if I remove the fish into a different system. I put prazipro in the tank yesterday hoping that might help.

Manual removal with fish in a net or Freshwater dip May or may not cause it to dislodge

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Are there any treatment options I can use besides manual removal or fresh dips because I believe they are reproducing in the tank now since I had no sign of the for a couple weeks. Also do you know the life cycle of these and how long they could survive without a host if I remove the fish into a different system. I put prazipro in the tank yesterday hoping that might help.

Prazipro does not seem to affect leeches at all. The organophosphate trichlorfon works well, but as I said, it is really too toxic to use in a home. Back in the early 80's the head curator at the aquarium I worked for got rid of all we had and wouldn't let us use it. I haven't used it since.

 

[jlammonds]

With the eel I did 2 20 min dips and 95% fell off and manual removed the rest I will just do the same for the 2 clowns at the moment but for a shorter period hopefully this will work cause I don't wanna use anything that is toxic. I haven't been able to find any info online about them or seen anything about other people running into this problem so I really appreciate all the help

 

[GlassMunky]

Prazipro does not seem to affect leeches at all. The organophosphate trichlorfon works well, but as I said, it is really too toxic to use in a home. Back in the early 80's the head curator at the aquarium I worked for got rid of all we had and wouldn't let us use it. I haven't used it since.

@Jay Hemdal , Question on the Trichlorfon, is the water itself toxic after its been dosed with the Trichlorfon?
We still use this stuff sometimes at the pond place i work at (Mardel Clout)

Should we be using any kind of extra precautions?

 

[jlammonds]

A freshwater dip for bloth clowns dislodged all of them that were visible. Hopefully this is the last I will see them and that this will not become a reoccurring problem

 

[Sophie"s mom]

A freshwater dip for bloth clowns dislodged all of them that were visible. Hopefully this is the last I will see them and that this will not become a reoccurring problem

Do you have any idea how they were introduced into your tank? I have never seen or heard of these.

 

[jlammonds]

Do you have any idea how they were introduced into your tank? I have never seen or heard of these.

They came in on the eel a little over a month ago

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal , Question on the Trichlorfon, is the water itself toxic after its been dosed with the Trichlorfon?
We still use this stuff sometimes at the pond place i work at (Mardel Clout)

Should we be using any kind of extra precautions?

Good question - I don’t know. I do know that public aquariums won’t let divers enter the water after they have dosed it. Handling it for sure is an issue, you need to use proper PPE.
It is also toxic to some fish species, even when properly dosed, so it is risky in that regard as well.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

With the eel I did 2 20 min dips and 95% fell off and manual removed the rest I will just do the same for the 2 clowns at the moment but for a shorter period hopefully this will work cause I don't wanna use anything that is toxic. I haven't been able to find any info online about them or seen anything about other people running into this problem so I really appreciate all the help

Those are sure some tough leeches! I’ve never dipped a marine fish in FW longer than 7 minutes.

If you can get formalin, you could dose it as a dip outdoors, but that still won’t handle any leech eggs in the tank.

This is a very rare problem, usually seen on puffers, eels, sharks or rays. I’ve never had a fish with more than a few leeches on them at any one time.

 

[jlammonds]

Those are sure some tough leeches! I’ve never dipped a marine fish in FW longer than 7 minutes.

If you can get formalin, you could dose it as a dip outdoors, but that still won’t handle any leech eggs in the tank.

This is a very rare problem, usually seen on puffers, eels, sharks or rays. I’ve never had a fish with more than a few leeches on them at any one time.

Yeah they were latched on the eel good and took a while to let go! The clowns only had them for 1 day and they fell off fast so I guess the didn't have such a good grip yet. I can tell this is pretty rare cause even google doesn't have much info on salt/marine leeches

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah they were latched on the eel good and took a while to let go! The clowns only had them for 1 day and they fell off fast so I guess the didn't have such a good grip yet. I can tell this is pretty rare cause even google doesn't have much info on salt/marine leeches

I went through some more of m y reference books this morning, and they all just say FW or formalin dips or Trichlorfon. In Hadfield/Clayton, I did find some good information: as I mentioned, the eggs produced by the leeches are an issue for long term control by dipping, because the eggs are in cocoons in the tank itself. This reference indicates that full control will require dipping AND frequent siphoning of the tank itself to remove as many of the eggs as you can.