Isopods showing up.

[Slicktrax]

I am finding isopods on my clowns. Currently I just net the clown when I see an isopod and remove it. There has to be a better way than this. I have searched and found a ton of different ways to rid these pests, but want actual methods used by fellow TBS owners.

 

[Alien7]

unfortunately this is one of the ways to do it....i removed my fish and caught all of mine right after lights out by looking on the walls of the tank.

too bad the package doesn't come with a warning....isopods aren't anything fun to deal with. good luck!

 

[Flighty]

Not tbs but gulf rock, but anyways ...
Save yourself trouble and fish and go the Interceptor route ( Dog heartworm med, same as for redbugs.) Painless, fast, killed em dead!

 

[hdtran]

I don't have any parasites (I was more concerned about Cryptocarion than isopods). But then, I also QT'ed the tank before adding fishes.

I'm neither a vet nor a marine biologist, but I'd be concerned about heartworm medication also killing desirable inverts (e.g. amphipods, copepods, bristleworms, crabs, shrimps).

 

[Flighty]

These isopods have been known to live on the rock through the cycle and for four or five months afterwards with no host to eat, so any normal qt is useless. In my one experience the shrimps weren't effected, almost all crabs and hermits lived with some short term side effects, and I still see worms and various crawly "bugs".

 

[eoffrey]

Isopods are bad?

gee, I thought they really presented no problems..........any articles around here I can read on them a bit more.....


gee, I'm stunned right now........as I have isopods in my 10 gallon tank i use for various things..................

hmmmmmmm

 

[Slicktrax]

Link from Dr. Ron

The parasitic isopods are the ones I am referring to.

 

[hopkinkm]

what are the odds of this stuff coming with the package?

 

[Alien7]

it's tough to say. between me and my buddy up here we're 2 for 2.

 

[hopkinkm]

well so far so good on my end, how long do they take to start showing up on average.

Kory

 

[docklink]

I finally added a pair of percula clowns but haven't seen any sign of isopods.
Plenty of copepods and such still (It's fun to watch the pistol shrimp catch them after lights out).

 

[Slicktrax]

Hopefully mine are gone, I kept removing them with tweezers as they showed up on the fish. It has been four weeks without a sighting on any of the fish. They made themselves known within a couple days of adding my first fish.

 

[Alien7]

good luck with your hunt, slicktrax

here's a picture of one of my happy couples:

 

[Dazz]

I did happen to have one when I first got my TBS. I thought it was a baby mantis shrimp and it happend to get caught in my skimmer section and never moved from there till it died, so I must say I was lucky. He was about half an inch long too.

 

[lanamarks]

how common is it to get isopods on TBS rock. I'm thinking about ordering TBS but the thought of bloodsucking parasites doesn't sound too great.

 

[Slicktrax]

My first half had them but the second half didn't. I got the first half in June, second half mid-July and haven't seen any further signs of the bad guys.