I got bitten by an Isopod

[bound_for_obx]

Last night I found some more Isopods in my tank. I thought that I had gotten most of them out. The ones that I had been finding have been a little less than 1/4 of an inch long. But last night I caught one that is about 1/2 inch long. Anyways, I put it into a zip lock bag and had the bag resting on the palm of my hand while I was taking a closer look at the little bugger. When I went to put the bag down I discovered that it was stuck to my hand! The Isopod had bitten through the bag and was feasting on me! I'm hoping that maybe this one was a female and all of the other ones have been her offspring.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Why are you getting rid of them man, they are great things to keep in your tank. They serve as good food source for the fish.

 

[diverdown69]

Yep...copepods and rotifers too.

 

[reefrunner69]

I believe he has cirolanid isopods, predatory and not a good thing

 

[bound_for_obx]

They are Cirolanid Isopods, they eat the fish not the other way around.

 

[grimlock3000]

Good luck in your Cirolanid hunt. I recently went through this myself, however I only had two large ones in my tank, and no fish to feed them. These things are pretty aggressive and many people have been bit by them. I was really careful about handling them to make sure I did not get bit. This one fell in front of my tank and was scooting around out of the water:

I burned it with a knife I heated up on the stove:

 

[diverdown69]

Those look like sea lice (also a member of the Isopoda) on a smaller scale. Sea lice are parasitic on the gills of croaker and red fish.
There are some species of isopods that aren't parasitic on fish and can be beneficial nutritionally.

 

[klam]

Nasty little buggers. How do you plan on erradicating them?

 

[hisc1ay]

Is that a really big knife or are these things incredibly tiny?

-j

 

[grimlock3000]

Is that a really big knife or are these things incredibly tiny?

Both The one on the knife is pretty small, maybe 1/4 inch long. The knife is pretty big too...

Here is one I caught that was roughly half an inch long. No size reference for this once, but it was big enough to freak me out:

 

[revhtree]

That makes me nervous! How can I tell if my tank has them?

 

[grimlock3000]

They attached themselves to fish during the night and ride along while sucking on fish blood. Scroll down in the thread here for a pic of one sucking on a clown:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=436092

You can find them by shining a flashlight around at night when the tank lights are out. They will either be attached for fish, or running around on the substrate or rock (waiting for a fish to swim over them). They hide almost the entire time lights are on.

 

[bound_for_obx]

I've been sucking up the smaller ones in a turkey baster. The large one I caught in a shot glass against the front of the tank and then slid a credit card in to cover the opening and pulled it out.

 

[Gatorfreak]

So you could starve them by keeping the lights on 24 hours/day.

 

[bound_for_obx]

I don't have any fish in the tank as of yet so I imagine they are awfully hungry. I have been toying with the idea of acclimating some mollies to salt and keeping them in a breeder net to see if I could capture more before I begin with my actual stocking.

 

[quarryshark]

Well if your fishless, won't they starve if left long enough?

 

[bound_for_obx]

All of research that I've done on them suggests that it will take 6 to 8 months for the population to die off from starvation.

 

[steve-s]

All of research that I've done on them suggests that it will take 6 to 8 months for the population to die off from starvation.

If not longer. Much like any other pod, they can sustain themselves for quite awhile on simple organic materials and detritus in the system. Waiting them out isn't a very good option. Finding them and syhponing them from the substrate/rock or culling them from fish is the best solution. The sooner the better as they can easily breed.

Cheers
Steve

 

[seafan]

I went salmon fishing (in alaska) and tried pulling some off a salmon, I couldn't do it without crushing them.

 

[rockkfish]

I went salmon fishing (in alaska) and tried pulling some off a salmon, I couldn't do it without crushing them.

did u crush the pod or the salmon 8O