are all cirolanids bad?

[DocApoc]

I started a 25g tank about 4 weeks ago with a shipment of Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock.

I've been dealing with the tank cycle, and the various hitchickers, and I figured things were finally going well.

now I've found that I have a serious number of Cirolanid Isopods in there. I found one in a crab trap I had set some time ago (2 weeks?), but I haven't seen any since. Now about 3 days ago, I was checking out the tank early in the morning (which I do every day before work), and I saw tons of little white specs swimming around. It was easy to net one, and there are very clearly either Cirolanid or Aegid isopods. They have the large eyes, they have no trailling structures at the tail, and they can't curl up.

But they seem to be reproducing in a tank with little to no food input. I used some bait for the crabs a couple weeks ago, but it was only one time, and the tank has had no other food since. My cycle ended 2 weeks ago, so die off seems to be over.

I'm left wondering what these guys are eating, and I'm wondering if I really have to get rid of them.

I intend to keep fish in the tank, but Shimek's article (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php) points out that not all cirolanids are parasitic. Mine obviously are not obligate parasites, anyway.

They seem to be increasing. I'm seeing dozeons of them swimming around at a time, when I used to see none. I couldn't have missed it, they are everywhere in there every night. Since they seem to have some food source, I can't imagine completely wiping them out.

So do I need to get rid of them? am I an idiot for even considering ignoring this and hoping they don't kill the first fish I put in there?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[gastone]

Jamie,

I purchased some Florida aquacultured rock a few years ago and ended up with the parasitc isopods. Nasty little critters. They attached themselves to: firefish goby, GSM, mandarin (they burrowed into ate killed the mandarin).

I understand that not all isopods are parasitic, and I'm not able to visually differentiate parasitic vs. non-parasitic species, but I wouldn't chance any of these little satan spawn in my tank again. I spent weeks upon weeks scouring the tank at night looking to net these guys. If it were my tank I would delay another month/6 weeks before adding any fish.

Good luck, and I hope they are not the obligate parasites.

Garrett.

 

[tomndeb]

try a junk fish first to see if they attatch

 

[Kent E]

If it were me I'd dump the water and place rock out in the yard for a couple weeks.

 

[salty joe]

Catch one, get a decent image & send it to Dr. Ron.