Isopod on puffer
- Thread starter baobao
- Start date
Steven Pro
New member
Have you seen the latest issue of http://reefkeeping.com/
There is an entire article on Cirolanid isopods.
There is an entire article on Cirolanid isopods.
i am not sure if they are amphipods or isopods. In any event, they tend to stick to puffer and are stressing it out a lot. any suggestions would be highly appreciated. without better knowledge, i will likely attempt a formalin bath. this is a first to me. i am actually shocked. (digression - i bought some amphipods and cultivated them in main tank. i took some water from that tank to help establish biological filter of qt. however, the amphipods i bought are not supposed to be parasites - i'm confused!).
knock...following formalin dip, i'm moving puffer to QT with cupramine.(anyone know whether cupramine will kill the isopod? copper is supposed to kill inverts, and isn't isopod a form of invert?)
further, i cannot move him back to original tank because it still has some isopods, despite my assiduous effort to vaccum all of them out( again, i was horrified when i saw all these small isopods today and some were attached and i think feeding on my puffer. poor guy - really stressing out and trying to no avail to shake them off).
I know, i'm probably being stupid, but no one has commented.
further, i cannot move him back to original tank because it still has some isopods, despite my assiduous effort to vaccum all of them out( again, i was horrified when i saw all these small isopods today and some were attached and i think feeding on my puffer. poor guy - really stressing out and trying to no avail to shake them off).
I know, i'm probably being stupid, but no one has commented.
Baobao,
Your bad luck is getting unbelievable. This doesn't sound like the same species described in the article (like what I have encountered). Since this pest is staying on the fish and not exiting when the light comes on, why not pluck it off with tweezers? You can put a little neomycin cream right on the wound before you put the fish back into the water.
Terry B
Your bad luck is getting unbelievable. This doesn't sound like the same species described in the article (like what I have encountered). Since this pest is staying on the fish and not exiting when the light comes on, why not pluck it off with tweezers? You can put a little neomycin cream right on the wound before you put the fish back into the water.
Terry B
Terry, you are right. The puffer can with a half inch isopod attached to puffer. But then yesterday, suddenly hundreds of parasitic (?) copepods reproduced. I think these are parasitic because these copepods attach to puffer.
I could use tweezers to remove the half inch isopod, but the copepods are very small - I am highly hesistant to impose more stress to the puffer from exposing it to air, attempting to pluck at these very small copepods, and likely causing a bacterial infection. Is there an alternative?
I took drastic measure and transfered it to a tank with Cupramine around 0.4mg/L. Are copper& formalin dips every other day sufficient?
I could use tweezers to remove the half inch isopod, but the copepods are very small - I am highly hesistant to impose more stress to the puffer from exposing it to air, attempting to pluck at these very small copepods, and likely causing a bacterial infection. Is there an alternative?
I took drastic measure and transfered it to a tank with Cupramine around 0.4mg/L. Are copper& formalin dips every other day sufficient?
Kevin,
In light of fact that they to puffer, which seemed anxious, I think I am dealing with cirolandids ( though this is my first experience with this), not amphipods ( which I've seen before). So to recap, there is a big(?) half inch isopod attached to belly of puffer and some parasitic isopods/cirolandids covering body.
I'm just shocked that a puffer could have brought hundreds of cirolandids - it must have been in its body?
How should I treat this? I'm planning on continuing formalin dips every other day, leave puffer in cupramine medicated QT, and use turkey blower to suck isopods out? Any suggestions?
In light of fact that they to puffer, which seemed anxious, I think I am dealing with cirolandids ( though this is my first experience with this), not amphipods ( which I've seen before). So to recap, there is a big(?) half inch isopod attached to belly of puffer and some parasitic isopods/cirolandids covering body.
I'm just shocked that a puffer could have brought hundreds of cirolandids - it must have been in its body?
How should I treat this? I'm planning on continuing formalin dips every other day, leave puffer in cupramine medicated QT, and use turkey blower to suck isopods out? Any suggestions?
As previously indicated I would manually remove the isopod/cirolanid from the fish. Not sure where you got your isopods but given your significant population chances are they came with your LR and their population has been building ... you may have just recently noticed.
As far as how to treat your tank .. thats a tougher question. If it were my tank and I was sure it had a large population of cirolanids - I suspect I would do a modified "do over" ... place all the LR in large rubbermaid with a heater and powerhead and leave in the garage for 3+ months to kill off any ciroids ... I would toss/replace the substrate -- sterilize the tank ... probably use some inexpensive base rock while my LR was "isopod curing".
Just my 02 .. others may have a different opinion.
As far as how to treat your tank .. thats a tougher question. If it were my tank and I was sure it had a large population of cirolanids - I suspect I would do a modified "do over" ... place all the LR in large rubbermaid with a heater and powerhead and leave in the garage for 3+ months to kill off any ciroids ... I would toss/replace the substrate -- sterilize the tank ... probably use some inexpensive base rock while my LR was "isopod curing".
Just my 02 .. others may have a different opinion.
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Kevin,
Thanks. Let me clarify - the copepod/cirolands came from the puffer that I recently purchased and put in QT - there was no live rock. Ironically, when puffer was stressed and exhaled, a bunch of copepods came out.
Will copper kill the copepods? (I don't need to worry about rock, inverts, cause this is in QT).
Thanks. Let me clarify - the copepod/cirolands came from the puffer that I recently purchased and put in QT - there was no live rock. Ironically, when puffer was stressed and exhaled, a bunch of copepods came out.
Will copper kill the copepods? (I don't need to worry about rock, inverts, cause this is in QT).
Not sure I follow this thread ... big difference between copepods, amphipods, and cirolanids.
If your problem is contained to the QT .. then I suggest you first get rid of the isopod on the fish, then fill a seperate container with aged SW .. move the puffer to the new container .. empty & sterilize the old QT ... and do a redo on the QT. Keep alot of aged SW handy since you may have to do plenty of water changes to maintain water quality.
Hope this helps
If your problem is contained to the QT .. then I suggest you first get rid of the isopod on the fish, then fill a seperate container with aged SW .. move the puffer to the new container .. empty & sterilize the old QT ... and do a redo on the QT. Keep alot of aged SW handy since you may have to do plenty of water changes to maintain water quality.
Hope this helps
There is one 1 inch isopod attached to puffer. the hundreds of little parasites are about 0.1 inches and i think they are copepods - they don't look like amphipods and look smaller than cirolands. if possible, i'll try to take a shot.
I'll definitely try to vacuum them out - important questions - is there a way to remove the ones on the puffer without causing a lot of stress and possibly causing a bacterial infection? your take on cupramine against these parasites?
I'll definitely try to vacuum them out - important questions - is there a way to remove the ones on the puffer without causing a lot of stress and possibly causing a bacterial infection? your take on cupramine against these parasites?
Good news? I added a Klutzinger Wrasse to tank with this puffer, and it's picked off a lot of these things off. Is this normal? I don't see the big isopod and the copepods are getting fewer? I just hope he doesn't hurt the puffer - the puffer allows this picking, though ocassionally expresses some pain at getting picked. Do I let this go on, or should I remove Klutzinger?
BTTRFLYGRL
New member
Why did you add another fish? It sounds to me like you need to slow down. What happened to your other sick fish? [you know the ones you thought had Amyloodium]
Kim,
Indeed, I've had a streak of bad luck/ignorance. I did have a QT with two butterflies and a trigger. I suspect the trigger had the amyloodinium, causing death of butterflies. I medicated with copper/ conducted FW dips on trigger and it seemed to be containing the Amyloodinium. However, I did not notice a bacterial infection on trigger until it was too late. Thus, that was a battle lost against the Amyloodinium.
I did not have foresight to add the KW, but the addition has worked tremendously well - It picked off all the isopods/ copepods that were numerous and causing great distress to the puffer.
Indeed, I've had a streak of bad luck/ignorance. I did have a QT with two butterflies and a trigger. I suspect the trigger had the amyloodinium, causing death of butterflies. I medicated with copper/ conducted FW dips on trigger and it seemed to be containing the Amyloodinium. However, I did not notice a bacterial infection on trigger until it was too late. Thus, that was a battle lost against the Amyloodinium.
I did not have foresight to add the KW, but the addition has worked tremendously well - It picked off all the isopods/ copepods that were numerous and causing great distress to the puffer.
