help this was attached to my yellow tang.

[reneeanneb]

i got it off it was attached to him close to his gill
is he gonna be ok?
i have found several of these in my tank,one was in my filter but they were all way smaller than this one,i let em take a ride to the septic tank.

 

[Fluff]

Ewww, good job on removing it. How is your tang acting? I suspect he'll be fine.

 

[reneeanneb]

he seems to be ok,he gave me a good run when i was trying to catch him.here i was stressing because i thought the ph drop was going to kill him,hewas almost white last nite,lookat him thisam and his color is back.but something stuck on him.

 

[cmor1701d]

Looks like a cirolanid! Find them and flush them. They attach to and feed off your fish.

Read this article for more info. Excerpts from the article.

"The same species will fasten on to larger fish and eat its way into a major blood vessel where it will remain for some time sucking blood and eating tissue. When sated it will detach from the host and swim away.

Tropical species not infrequently show up in reef tanks either riding on a fish or in a piece of live rock. Often the first the aquarist knows of them is when they see the isopod on a fish. Murphy's law is active here; the bug will never be on a cheap or expendable fish. The problem is how to remove the isopod from the aquarium. If the bug stays on the fish, the fish needs to be captured. . .

If YOU can catch the fish, the isopod may be removed with a pair of forceps. Carefully!!! Upon removal the fish should be isolated in hospital tank, and treated with antibiotics until the wound heals. The bug may be disposed of. Carefully!!! I had a student who was holding a three centimeter cirolanid that we had just collected in her clenched hand. The bug cut through the flesh of her palm, dug in, and started to eat HER. Her response was rather impressive. So was the tenacity of the isopod, it was HARD to remove it.

If you notice a cirolanid in your tank, and it leaves the fish, there is almost nothing that may be done to catch it. They are very fast, small, and quite capable of avoiding a net. And if it is a pregnant female (remember all isopods have brood pouches), and the brood hatches, you have REAL problems. There are only three courses of action in this situation; and I truly am not jesting about these responses. The first is to remove all the fish from the tank and wait the two or three months until you are certain that all the isopods have died from starvation. The second solution is to effectively nuke the tank. Remove all live rock and discard it as the isopods may hide in it, and as some of the isopods bury in the sand, you should also remove and discard the sand." End of excerpt.

Other folks on this forum have found them shortly after receiving some very fresh LR. They have been, to their knowledge, successful at catching and removing them from their tanks. It takes time and patience.

If you search on the term "cirolanid" you should find some posts about catching these parasites. Good luck!

 

[reneeanneb]

 

[cmor1701d]

Just keep on the lookout for them. Perhaps after lights out, use a flashlight with a red lens covering to look at your fish. They are easier to catch at night too.

If you see lots of them you may want to remove the fish to a QT tank and let the tank go fallow until they die of starvation. It will also be easier to spot them in a QT situation.

 

[steve-s]

let the tank go fallow until they die of starvation.

That can take upwards of 8-12 months. Isopods are quite capable of feeding off the organics in the tank just as crabs and snails would.

Chers
Steve

 

[cmor1701d]

Steve,

Any advice you can give on ridding a tank of them then?

 

[steve-s]

Manual removal is the best means. Natural predators would also become "targets" so it is not advisable. It's really a wait, watch and trap game. Looking for them after lights out or early AM before lights on is the best time. They are more prone to preying on the fish while the fish is dormant.

To be honest it's quite a rarity for these guys to find their way in to hobbiest tanks in the first place. It's possible there are more, but I wouldn't count on it. Check nightly to be on the safe side though.

Cheers
Steve

 

[reneeanneb]

Manual removal is the best means. Natural predators would also become "targets" so it is not advisable. It's really a wait, watch and trap game. Looking for them after lights out or early AM before lights on is the best time. They are more prone to preying on the fish while the fish is dormant.

To be honest it's quite a rarity for these guys to find their way in to hobbiest tanks in the first place. It's possible there are more, but I wouldn't count on it. Check nightly to be on the safe side though.

Cheers
Steve

this one was #4 the others fell out of my lr when i was crab hunting,except the one that was in my filter.the rest were 1/4 the size of this one.i took the guy to the lps he put some parasite killer in the bag to see if it would kill him,he didnt die right away but wasnt moving too good either.but that stuff will also kill my anemone's and inverts so i wont be putting it in my tank.
i didnt find any lesions on my tang so he must've just attached to him so i'm just gonna watch him closley and if he starts acting different i will put him in a hospital tank.
hopefully that was the last of those guys! 8O

 

[cmor1701d]

hopefully that was the last of those guys!

I am hoping right along with you.

 

[DaveBeaty]

but that stuff will also kill my anemone's and inverts

So much for my idea of putting ammonia in the tank to reduce the water quality enough to kill the inverts. Anything that will kill a cirolanid would do in an anemone in a heartbeat!.

 

[reneeanneb]

but that stuff will also kill my anemone's and inverts

So much for my idea of putting ammonia in the tank to reduce the water quality enough to kill the inverts. Anything that will kill a cirolanid would do in an anemone in a heartbeat!.

from what i gather if you have inverts or coral your pretty much out of luck using chemicals to try and kill off pests.my only hope is if there are any more they will be small and get sucked up in my filter when they decide to show themselves. (hey one did,i can always hope )