Clownfish with Black Parasites?!?

[umluis]

Hi,

I'm ashamed to say that I am not totally new to the hobby, but recently started getting more and more into the complexities of keeping a reef tank.

It's been a little over 6 weeks since I setup my new 90 gallon tank, and have added a few pieces of coral, 1 blennie & 2 perculas. Just this week, I've noticed tiny black parasites on the body of my clowns. Usually, there is no more than one at a time and soon fall off - - usually before I turn off the lights.

My fish have been behaving normally in feeding, breathing, etc., and I've taken the precaution of adding Kordon's Ich Attack to the tank (started on Monday) once a day to kill any free-swimming parasites/larvae that haven't found my fish yet. BUT, I'm still concerned that I don't know what these little creatures are!

Should I be? Have I taken the right steps/precautions?

Thanks,
umluis

 

[Slakker]

Sadly, no. You should never treat the main tank. Ever. I would expect your corals to suffer greatly, and depending on the active ingredient it may make it impossible for you to keep inverts in your tank.

It's hard to identify what this is without pictures, but it is certainly not Ich. Perhaps isopods or some similar pest.

 

[umluis]

Thanks Tyler,

I made the decision to treat the main tank, since my aquascape is extremely complex and thought it impossible to catch all the fish without putting too much stress on them and everything else in the tank - - not to mention the possibility of some of my rock hitting the class and everything crashing down.

I appreciate your concern for my inverts, but I've kept up with blogs, newsletter and all information I can find on Kordon's new organic product, and found that it has no detrimental affect on inverts. To date, I haven't noticed any behavior to show signs of stress in them.

I will try to get a good picture tonight and will post it. But, if you can, imagine something about half the size of a grain of rice, black and sticks straight out of the fish's body.

The only thing I can really think of comparing it to, would be fleas on a dog..just not so mobile.

Thanks,
Luis

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Try to find what it might be on this site. http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchpods.html