Parasite observed clownfish Gill

[El Maestro]

My clownfish had been acting weird and swimming moderately erratic last night. I observed this morning a parasite on the larger ones gill. It looked like an amphipod/isopod. I put the TBS jar package in my tank a couple of weeks ago and have had a fairly rough cyano outbreak since with die off. I had seen some small evidence of ich prior to this but figured clown fish would likely be able to just shake it off.

I'm going to setup a 10g quarantine tank with copper and dose prazipro prior (not in the display) to putting the fish in the QT tank. Does anyone have any feedback on this? From here on out I'm going to run any new fish through copper before heading to display to keep ich out as I lost a royal gramma to ich last month.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My clownfish had been acting weird and swimming moderately erratic last night. I observed this morning a parasite on the larger ones gill. It looked like an amphipod/isopod. I put the TBS jar package in my tank a couple of weeks ago and have had a fairly rough cyano outbreak since with die off. I had seen some small evidence of ich prior to this but figured clown fish would likely be able to just shake it off.

I'm going to setup a 10g quarantine tank with copper and dose prazipro prior (not in the display) to putting the fish in the QT tank. Does anyone have any feedback on this? From here on out I'm going to run any new fish through copper before heading to display to keep ich out as I lost a royal gramma to ich last month.

IF an isopod, a freshwater dip should dislodge it but please apply pics and even video under white light intensity, no blue to see what you are referring to

 

[Reef Jedi]

As mentioned by @vetteguy53081 pictures under white light are very helpful.

Again as mentioned above A quick fw dip will dislodge it from the gills and provide immediate relief.

 

[El Maestro]

So I tried to get a pic for about 10 minutes and my clownfish apparently took watching Zoolander last month to heart because I couldn’t get it to turn its body to the side with the parasite for more than a moment.
I came back after a few minutes to try again and the parasite appears to have dislodged. How long would I need to leave the tank fallow if I want to starve this type of parasite? I figure I may as well just do a full ich treatment as well and bite the bullet on qt from here out.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I tried to get a pic for about 10 minutes and my clownfish apparently took watching Zoolander last month to heart because I couldn’t get it to turn its body to the side with the parasite for more than a moment.
I came back after a few minutes to try again and the parasite appears to have dislodged. How long would I need to leave the tank fallow if I want to starve this type of parasite? I figure I may as well just do a full ich treatment as well and bite the bullet on qt from here out.

That does sound like a cirolonid isopod. They aren’t obligate parasites, they can come and go on the fish. I call them “ micro predators”. They usually come into aquarium on fresh live rock. The best control method is baiting them into a trap - run a search here, I’ve seen traps made out of soda bottles, etc.

Of course, not being able to see the critter makes my ID provisional. Here is an article I wrote that discusses other crustacean parasites:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/arthropod-parasites-of-aquarium-fish-hemdal.792/

 

[El Maestro]

So I did get fresh live rock and saw something an invert about like these when I dumped everything in. Would running the tank fallow not be effective to starve them?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I did get fresh live rock and saw something an invert about like these when I dumped everything in. Would running the tank fallow not be effective to starve them?

I don't think running fallow will work - these isopods seem able to feed on other items in an tank. Trapping them does seem to work, but it takes time. It may be that they die out in the same amount of time it takes to trap them (grin).

 

[El Maestro]

I caught the main offender today when I was walking by and saw it swimming in the water column and the clown fish trying to nibble it. I literally plucked it with my fingers. I am thinking given the beady eyes that this must be it. Hopefully it was the only one. I threw it in the trash.