Cirolanid Isopod Life Cycle

adamwheel

adamwheel

New member
I've read everything I can find on Cirolanid isopods. I'm setting traps and netting nightly with all fish removed from DT.

Will they die off with no fish to host them?

I had a week without any but have caught 13 in the past 2 nights.

I am very willing to be patient and continue my current regimen but would like to know I will eventually win the battle.

Thanks,

Adam
 
You're going to be waiting for quite a bit, as these guys can eat other stuff. Looking around two to three (or longer) months to be safe.
 
Thanks for the reply. That article gave me the traps I'm using.

I have 2 cycled QTs right now, so I think I'll settle in and prepare for a lengthy battle.

Would love to hear from anyone with experience with them.

Adam
 
Also, can I feed PhytoFeast or anything else during this time to keep all of my inverts/filter feeders going? Might the Isopods feed on them too?
 
To the OP, how long have you noticed them in your tank and have you seen any actually attack your fish?
I've only been reefing about a year and discovered at least one about the size of the "small" ones in the linked article. The thought of finding one stuck to my fish kept me up nights. Also, the fear of being sliced open and devoured from the inside kept me from even trying to catch it.
The last time I saw it was probably 4-5 months ago and I didn't lose any livestock so I'm just curious if maybe the density of the isopods is causing issues for you.
Call it morbid curiosity.
 
adamwheel said:
Will they die off with no fish to host them?
Click to expand...

I am wondering the same thing. IDK, but I doubt it as they eat other stuff.

How is your battle going adamwheel? Mine has just begun-I hope to get rid of them while waiting out ich on live rock I put in the tank a couple days ago.
 
adamwheel said:
I first noticed them on my chevron tang. They are parasitic.
Click to expand...

But don't they also eat whatever they can find laying around? Which makes starving them out a lot harder than just removing fish. On the other hand, is it possible they need a fish host to complete their life cycle?
 
I'm not sure how else they can be killed except with extreme methods like copper, interceptor etc..

I put a jawfish and a domino clown in my main dt thinking they were gone (after a few weeks of being fallow), but sure enough they're there..they've tattered my clown fish's fins and I can see my jawfish being uncomfortable..he's twitching and the lights are still on.

My QT is going up tonight and I'm going to put these poor fish in a temporary home. I love love my rock, but it's sad that there are parasites in my tank that are so tiny but can wreak so much havoc.

I think they're adapted to live through any conditions - fresh, salt, cold, hot...they're like aiptasia :p

Good luck with your battle..I HAVE to win this battle. :mad2:

s
 
Last edited:
oh God, I read most of the articles on cirolanids but I missed that one. I had to swallow my dinner down reading about the last aegid parasite. I don't have that one, thankfully, just the other parasite from hell, cirolanid. I've come down at 3am to turn the lights on and saw a few on my clown.

shudder.
 
Arc Katana said:
You're going to be waiting for quite a bit, as these guys can eat other stuff. Looking around two to three (or longer) months to be safe.
Click to expand...

That would assume they have nothing to eat, right? Who knows what they might eat in a pinch? Algae, each other, who knows?

My impression is they are not an obligate fish parasite. Anybody know if that's true or false?
 
Perhaps a good approach would be to convert some sacrificial mollies to saltwater and keep them in an acclimation box within the tank. Once they attach to the mollies, pull the box and remove the isopods and repeat. Since it seems they favor a fish host I think this would be a quicker way to eliminate them.
 
I read that article first thing but thank you for posting.

I've been told about the molly idea and will consider it if need be. I think using an acclimation box is a good idea. Isopods latch on and the fish would be easy to catch. Any fish would work in this situation (chromis maybe)?

I've been fallow for about a month now and am attempting to trap and net them. In the meantime, I'm enjoying growing some nice SPS frags out and watching my attached display refugium fill in. I'm also getting my fish list dialed in and sent through Tank Transfer and QT so I can add them all in the proper order when the time comes.

After my last trap and catching 13 in 2 days, I've now gone 3 straight nights finding none.

I trek to the basement to view with a red head lamp at 12:30 and around 3:00 a.m. each night. Between 2:00 and 3:00 seems to be the sweet spot for my system. After searching with the red light, I turn the room lights on full blast and quickly check the glass for them. After that, I simply watch the water column for a few minutes. If any are swimming, I've found them very easy to catch in the current using a net with very fine mesh (surprised me how easy this was).

I hope this info helps and that anyone with experience chimes in.

Adam
 
CuzzA said:
Perhaps a good approach would be to convert some sacrificial mollies to saltwater and keep them in an acclimation box within the tank. Once they attach to the mollies, pull the box and remove the isopods and repeat. Since it seems they favor a fish host I think this would be a quicker way to eliminate them.
Click to expand...

That's a very interesting idea, thanks! My only concern is what if an isopod got a good meal and dropped off and got away-it'd then probably have the energy to reproduce.
I wonder how long an isopod hangs onto a fish?

Maybe Prazi or another chemical would make isopods release. That's probably easier on the fish than manually picking. It wouldn't be all that much work to set up a 10 gal recovery tank. Then you could have two groups of 3 or 4 fish to alternate.
 
I agree with your concern about feeding them. They drop off early in the morning. You may inadvertently be fueling their reproduction if even one got away. I've read in some older archived reef central forums that females may not eat for a couple weeks while brooding the little ones.

That's why I'd rather exhaust other methods first.

Definitely not ruling that option out however.

By the way, caught a medium sized one (~4-5 mm) in my filter sock today. It's stomach was full of brown material from the sock.
 
The more I think about it, the better the molly routine sounds-at least for my system. Anybody know of anyone with experience?
 
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