Cirolanid Isopod problem

[tripper]

All,

Last night, while cleaning my tank, I noticed a cirolanid isopod on the sponge in my overflow box to my sump. This is the second one of these that I have found in the past 3-4 months. Is this something I should be concerned with? I have never seen them attached to my fish and have had no strange fish deaths recently. I guess just finding a second one scares me a little.

Any thoughts?

tripper

 

[lando]

These are not good. You should make every attempt to get them out. Manual removal is best. After lights-out go night diving with a flashlght to spot them. You can also introduce a six-line wrasse as they are a natual food source and the wrasse should eat them. This method is certainly up for debate but I have not seen an isopod in my tank since the addition of the six-line.

 

[tripper]

lando,

I actually do have a six-line wrasse in my tank. It is just coincidence considering I did not know they would eat them. Given the size of the isopod I pulled out though, my six-line would need a couple others to help him take care of it. I understand they are not good, but hopefully I don't have too many since I've only seen two in my tank in the year that it's been running.

Thanks

tripper

 

[malkore]

Hey, can someone shed light on why isopods are bad? are they parasitic? I ask because my second choice for an LFS had some weird external 'parasite' looking things in one of their tanks full of royal grammas. One gramma had a white 'thing' stuck near it's eye, and another had a slightly larger white thing attached near it's gill. Way too large to be ich or marine velvet.

 

[grimlock3000]

Yeah Isopods are parasites, they attach themselves to the side of a fish and can do significant damage to fish in a short period of time. Here are some Cirolanids I caught in my tank: