Help....No Idea what I'm dealing with here!

[bushwick]

Good Evening,

Well the lunare wrasse and now the sohol tang are starting to rub / flash on the sand again so there is something present in the tank that’s for sure (did 3 Formaline baths but this has not done the trick). The fish are feeding OK and there are no signs of disease what so ever except for the fish flashing.

If I look closely I can see these white bugs / fleas present in quite a few numbers on the aquarium glass panes. They would be 0.5mm long and there numbers have multiplied from the last time I looked. Any idea what these could be? It could well be these that are irritating the fish. If they are on the glass they sure will be in the water collum. The thing is these have been present in my tank since day 1. They have been introduced with the water I presume. They lasted the cycle of the tank that went for 6 weeks (fallow) unless they where feeding of the flesh of the white bait that seeded the tank.

Any ideas? I’m thinking of dosing the tank with cupramine. Not a problem as a FO tank….Not a reef tank.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers

Che

 

[Puffer Queen]

The things crawling on the glass are probably some type of pods. Pods do not cause scratching/flashing.

Doing formalin dips may dislodge some of the parasites on the fish but when you return the fish to the system which has parasites - you have reinfected and exposed the fish.

Parasites will often be in the gills as this is the place where there is the greatest exposure to water. There are three life stages of ich and only the feeding stage can be visualized if the parasites are outside the gills on the skin.

Leaving the tank fallow means no fish for the parasites to eat and complete its life cycle.

Dosing the display tank is not advised - it will kill off the microfauna on rock & substrate. It will also kill off the pods. This will cause problems with your water parameters.

Trying to achieve a therapeutic level (the level needed to kill the parasites) in a tank with porous material will be difficult. The porous material will absorb the copper and can release it later. This could cause toxicity.