Found the Culprit

[GrndHog]

I started out w/ 2 fish 2 weeks ago and now down to one. My Royal Gramma died yesterday and had no idea why. I think I know why now, I found this on my Kole tangs tail this morning.

You guy have an idea what it is, I know its some sort of parasite

 

[GrndHog]

Well that might not have been it. I was watching him swim around and that thing fell off. I was able to retreive it and look at it closely, I see two eyes and a tail shaped like a mantis shrimp. Is it possible that it was a baby mantis along for a ride? It was on the tang for about 5 hours.

 

[steve-s]

Actually it's a parasitic isopod and could be the reason the gramma passed (being small) and why the kole is looking shabby. Keep tabs on any possible others you may find and remove when possible.

Can you post a pic of the kole?

Cheers
Steve

 

[GrndHog]

If you look in the middle of the first pic, you'll see the tail fin and the hichhiker attached (white dot)

 

[steve-s]

I was actually refering to a full view of the tang to see if there are any visible signs of other parasites or problems...

Cheers
Steve

 

[GrndHog]

The apperance of the tang looks great no parasite evidence at all. He continues to graze on the diatom but no other eating. I just put some seaweed select on a clip to see if he would hit that.

Other than the parasitic friend that he had this morning, he seems to look and act normal.

Thanks

 

[GrndHog]

This exactly what it was, I found this pic of an isopod on the web

Thanks Steve

 

[GrndHog]

Does anybody know of a predator for these isopods? I found two more latched onto my Tang this morning.

What would be the best way of ridding these things from my tank?

I have a 10 QT setup if that would do any good. I thought maybe starving the things to death.

Any thoughts?

 

[kreach]

I found this article by Ron Shimek on cirolanid isopods (your bug) that has some info about removing them... it's not an easy task.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/clarke_shimek.html

 

[GrndHog]

Thanks Kreach for the article,

Has anybody else had to deal w/ these little bugs?
It dosent look good, I'm just wondering how they were introduced to my tank.

The only things that have been put in the tank have been the LR, LS and 2 fish.
My guess is the LS

 

[steve-s]

he only things that have been put in the tank have been the LR, LS and 2 fish.
My guess is the LS

If it was the simple bagged wet sand from the LFS it's not going to be from there. It probabley came in on the LR. They can live quite long without a fish host which makes getting rid of them quite hard. Even if you take all the fish out there is still a good chance it will take 8-12 months to be rid of them. About the only way to speed that up is to catch them as you find them. Bit tasking to say the least but there is really not much else to be done.

Cheers
Steve

 

[WildFlower]

Where did you get your LR/LS from???

WildFlower

 

[GrndHog]

Both LR and LS are from..... well you know where.

 

[GrndHog]

Well it looks like I'll be ripping my tank apart, I've got a 4 inch sandbed and 140lbs of LR

I have had nothing but problems from day one!!!

 

[yaksplat]

I'm going through the same thing now. check out this article:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/

Jim

 

[steve-s]

I do have a sort of "hypathetical" solution but it's a bit involved. There is also still a chance it may not be 100% effective but I'll let you decide.

Remove all the fish from the tank and treat with hyposalinity if they are afflicted by the pest. Then remove all the rock from the tank and store in a rubbermaid tote or similar. With only the substrate in the tank, you can then treat the main tank with hyposalinity as well. Keep in mind that this will also kill any fauna that lives in the sandbed as well as the pesky isopds. The plus is that you will not lose the beneficial bacteria populations. After a week or so of hypo, you should be able to raise the salinity back up. You will most likely get elevated NH3 or NO2 readings if there was much fauna in the sand.

Next step is the rock. Using >>reefrunner's suggestion<< fill a bucket with carbonated water mixed up to the proper salinity and dunk each piece of rock for a few minutes. This should cause the pests to evacuate any hiding places within the rock and then it should be safe to rinse in regular SW and replace to the tank. The rock part is where this makes it less than 100% accurate but I think it might just work. The rock should then be able to reseed the sand with fauna.

Could just be wishful thinking on my part but I thought I'd throw it out there

Cheers
Steve

 

[yaksplat]

There's a lot of posts on this in the saltwaterfish.com forums

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?&threadid=97357&highlight=isopods


i'm going to hope that they haven't reproduced an i'm going to catch them all

I will be optimistic.....

i'm starting to think that my mantis isn't the nastiest thing in the tank anymore.

Jim

 

[GrndHog]

Thanks Steve for the intovative idea, I just might do the Hypo.

I might just take the fish out and leave it fishless for the next year.

Jim,
Your right about the mantis, right now my thoughts are they are pretty cool!!! I just wish they had a appetite for isopods.

 

[GrndHog]

Jim,

The pics on the saltwater.com thread are the ones I have.

 

[GrndHog]

I found this write up on gulf-view.net, its a method of catching these things. I might try it.

To rid your tank of isopods, you will need a flashlight with a red lens, I used a regular flashlight with a piece of clear red plastic over it. You will also need a 5 gallon bucket and around a 3 foot piece of PVC pipe 1/2 inch in diameter, attached to the PVC you will need some 5/8 clear flexable tubing. Sizes really dont matter as long as you can build the thing! So now to catch the isopods. About 10 minutes after lights out in your tank you take the flashlight and just look around in your tank..preferably next to the glass and substrate, but also in algae growths if you have them. When you see one get your PVC with tubing attached and start a suction with it pouring into the 5 gallon bucket. Stop it with one of your fingers, and slowly place the end in the tank close to the isopod, release your finger and start the flow again. Then get very close to the critter and then lunge at it with the pipe and SWOSH he is in the 5 gallon bucket. Worked GREAT for me and was kinda FUN. Only missed once, but got all 3 of them out in 2 nights.