Cirolanid Isopod!! How do you get rid of these?

[MoneyWizard]

Hi all,

This is my first post to RC. I've been reading here for about 3 months now though.

Here is my dilema.

I have a 25gal setup with about 45lbs of premium Fiji LR in it. The LR has been in there for 36 days as of today and I have had no ammonia or nitries for 17 days.

On Saturday I added to small false percs to this system. The inhabitants before were 15 blue leg crabs 4 scarlett and 20+ assorted snails. Everything was good until last night when the tank lights were off. I was watching the animals with a red LED flashlight and saw one of the clowns going nuts. I turned on all the lights and noticed that the clown had a small pillbug looking animal attatched to it. Within minutes the clown was laying at the bottom of the tank. I netted him out and spent about 15 minutes trying to remove the attacker. I'm happy to say I was sucessful. Here is a pic of it.

I then found this article relating to these critters.

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

This dosen't sound to good for my tank. I know that there are at least 2 more of these things in there.

Is the route that is suggested in the article the only way to get rid of these? Has some new method come along since this article was written?

Any help anyine can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ian

 

[Fat Man]

From Reefkeeping

Instead, quarantine and treat the infected individuals and any other potential hosts while allowing the display to go fallow (without any hosts) until the pathogen or pest population dies out. In many instances, one to two months should suffice. In some cases, like Cirolanid isopods, three months may be required (Shimek, 2002). But, that is not an argument against this course of action.

From another article in Reefkeeping

The only way to rid an aquarium of these animals is to catch them all, which although tedious, is possible. Generally, this involves using a sacrificial fish, usually something easy to catch and moderately large. A yellow tang is a good choice for this because the fish's color pattern allows easy determination of the presence of the parasite. The other fish in the tank are collected and removed to a quarantine tank, and the "bait" fish is introduced. This fish is checked periodically and, if the parasites are seen on it, it is netted and removed to a flat surface where it may be immobilized with a wet paper towel. The parasite is removed with a pair of tweezers or forceps. The fish is then returned to the tank, and the procedure repeated. Often the parasites are nocturnal; consequently, the fish will have to be examined before the lights come on. The aquarium is probably free of the parasites if none are seen on the fish for a month or so after the last one has been collected.


Hope this helps>

 

[The steven liu]

If you have a nother tank you can move all the inverts you want to keep : hermits, snails, etc. to the a temporary tank and treat the 25G with the clown in it some copper to kill the isopod. The copper should kill it and remember to do water changes together with active carbon to remove the medication before you reintroduce the inverts.

 

[Fat Man]

I would caution against medicating the display tank. Copper is highly toxic to many marine invertebrates (that's why it was suggested) and is very persistent in the aquarium. Since you have just started I think it would be better to remove your fish to a quarentine tank and wait it out. Patience is the most valuable commodity when it comes to getting things done right.

 

[MoneyWizard]

Thank you both for your advice.

I think I will be going the route of a fishless system for the next few months. Although not what I really want to do, probaly the best solution.

These things won't affect my inverts, or will they?

Ian

 

[Fat Man]

This is from the second link I posted written by Dr. Shimek.

"The taxonomic Family Cirolanidae is huge, consisting of several dozen genera, and probably many hundreds of species. Many of them are generally benign animals that are obligatory carrion-feeding scavengers. Some of these scavengers have been found in aquaria, and appear to be very well adapted to being part of "the clean-up crew." Many of the rest appear to be capable of scavenging when such food is available, but they will occasionally swim up into the water and attack fish, fastening on and sucking their blood. Finally, several species appear to be more-or-less obligate blood-sucking parasites of fishes, although some may be able to live for extended periods by scavenging some dead food. Within the last couple of years, some of these latter species have been seen in aquaria with alarming frequency. In many cases, these infestations appear to be the result of a pregnant female that enters the aquarium and then drops her brood of 10 to 30 young, all of which are immediately hungry for a nice meal of fish blood. A hobbyist will see the alarming sight of one or more fish with from one to twenty blood-sucking parasites on it. Often the isopods are nocturnal, and unless the aquarist is alert, they may not notice the parasites, as the bugs drop off the fish shortly after the lights go on and find shelter in the rocks. Prolonged exposure to such densities of blood suckers WILL kill fish."

By this it seem like they won't harm you inverts.

 

[MoneyWizard]

Thanks for your input.

Just to update...Both of the clowns are now residing in a friends 180. I'm sure that they are quite happy with this arrangement and will likely not want to come home!

As for the Isopods, I was able to net one out last night. I had the lights off for about 2 hours and then turned everything on. One immediatley began swimming looking to hide I guess. I was quite suprised at how quickly it swam. I was able to scoop it out and he got flushed! That made me happy!

I'll see if I can round up any more this evening.

Again thanks for the help.

Ian