I have an Emperor Angel, after a few days in qt it was obvious it had an irritant. After a fresh water dip, I could see Benedina left in the container. I also saw several very small black specks which at the time I assumed were just some debris. I treated the Benedinia with Prazipro. It provided quick relief. After several days the symptoms of scratching, darting started again, I treated several more times. The symptoms reappeared. I did another fw dip, no sign of the Benedina which was easy to see before. There were however tiny black specks again. Under magnification I could clearly see what looks to be a form of Argulus. I haven't been able to identify it exactly but the general description would be that of a Branchiura, very small to the naked eye maybe a 1/4 of the size of a pixel on a computer screen. To this point a couple of months have past and more than once I thought I beat it, but it keeps coming back. Even though I have been careful about cross contamination between my qt and display I think it may now be in my display, hence the re-infestation in the qt(water changes from the display to qt ,feeding, etc.) I have started doing fresh water dips every second day for the angel and switch disinfected qt's each time. The last couple of dips only 1 parasite has been left. My concern is the main display, only one fish has been showing signs of parasites, (an anthia visiting the cleaner shrimp often) but I think it is only a matter of time before the rest are infected. Are there any options other than tearing down the tank, qt'ing and treating the fish and fallowing the tank for 8-12 weeks. The tank is a 375g reef. I am considering 80w uv, more cleaner shrimp, possibly neon gobies, but I'm leary of this because I may end up just having to catch them too. Would metronidazole treated food have any affect on lice? The tank is lightly stocked with a yellow tang, naso,regal tang, coral beauty, 5 bartlett anthias, 4 chromis. The last thing I want to do is rip the tank apart, so i am open to suggestions. Thanks.
Options for fish lice?
- Thread starter hawk66
- Start date
Hattie B
Member
HI hawk66,
Hum, Argulus is most commonly found in ponds. are they lethargic or becoming leathargic?
Do you see any patches on the skin like an edema?
Argulus usually can be seen moving around the skin pretty fast of the fish.
I would def. feed medicated food to prevent infection
Treatment of course liek you said of your main can be diffucult. I believe there are some meds that kill lice but I am more familiar with them in fresh water..
What about something like Clout?
Hum, Argulus is most commonly found in ponds. are they lethargic or becoming leathargic?
Do you see any patches on the skin like an edema?
Argulus usually can be seen moving around the skin pretty fast of the fish.
I would def. feed medicated food to prevent infection
Treatment of course liek you said of your main can be diffucult. I believe there are some meds that kill lice but I am more familiar with them in fresh water..
What about something like Clout?
Last edited:
Rondelet
New member
Hawk66,
I'm with Hattie - I really doubt your fish are infected with lice, and in particular Argulus. First, Argulus are typically FW parasites. Second, they are very large! Most adults are around 5 mm across and therefore much larger than a pixel. If I had to guess, you may be dealing with a light infection of black ich, or possibly the intermediate stage of some other type of trematode. For more information, look up Turbellarian-Paravortex (type of skin fluke) to see if you can match up what you are observing with some descriptions. The standard treatment for black ich is a formalin dip, however, I suspect you may also see some effect with praziquantel. However, before commencing any further treatment you should try to better pin down what the nature of the problem is. In this case I would avoid using Clout. If you do find it's black ich, or strongly suspect a tremtode infection of some sort, and are looking for a way to possible treat the fish in you main display, I would opt for trying a full course of praziquantel via the feed. For this you could try Jungle's antiparasitic food which contains praziquantel - and for these types of infections a better route of administration than by adding the active to the water. The trick of course is getting your fish to eat this stuff, but it's worth a try.
Hope this helps.
I'm with Hattie - I really doubt your fish are infected with lice, and in particular Argulus. First, Argulus are typically FW parasites. Second, they are very large! Most adults are around 5 mm across and therefore much larger than a pixel. If I had to guess, you may be dealing with a light infection of black ich, or possibly the intermediate stage of some other type of trematode. For more information, look up Turbellarian-Paravortex (type of skin fluke) to see if you can match up what you are observing with some descriptions. The standard treatment for black ich is a formalin dip, however, I suspect you may also see some effect with praziquantel. However, before commencing any further treatment you should try to better pin down what the nature of the problem is. In this case I would avoid using Clout. If you do find it's black ich, or strongly suspect a tremtode infection of some sort, and are looking for a way to possible treat the fish in you main display, I would opt for trying a full course of praziquantel via the feed. For this you could try Jungle's antiparasitic food which contains praziquantel - and for these types of infections a better route of administration than by adding the active to the water. The trick of course is getting your fish to eat this stuff, but it's worth a try.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the replies. The fish in the main display look ok. Yes, it doesn't seem possible it could be argulus but after many hours searching for a pic, the closest I can find is that of the "general form" or shape of argulus. Mind you I have been looking through only 30x magnification. I'll find a microscope for a closer look and a better description. I did a 30 min. fw dip today on the Angel, 4 parasites came off. There was also a cocoon type thing, oval in shape. I have seen them before after some of the dips, I thought they were pieces of feces but now that I have seen a few I don't think so. They are very consistant in size,shape and colour. Maybe they are egg sacks and whatever the parasite is, is laying eggs on the fish. At least that would explain why the angel keeps getting re-infected after the dips as well as the earlier Prazipro treatments. Since monday after every fw dip the qt has been swapped with a clean one and the water has not come from the display. Appreciate any thoughts you may have.
Rondelet
New member
Hawk,
I'm struggling with the description! If the bug in question requires 100x magnification or higher I would be really surprised if it was a parasitic copepod - at least one that resembles Argulus. One idea that comes to mind (and this is way out there) is a larval isopod (aka "Praniza" larvae), which hatch from adults in the substrate and attach to fish to get a blood meal before dropping off. However, these don't look at all like Argulus - but something to consider and possibly rule out. Note that parasitic crustacean (and in particular parasitic copepods and their kin) don't lay eggs on or in their fish host, rather they produce trailing egg strings and sacs that hatch free swimming nauplii. I still think you are dealing with a trematode (body fluke) of some sort. Very strange indeed! If you do get a closer look try to sketch it and post the sketch, or PM it to me and I will do my best to ID it for you.
One thing to consider is whether or not you are seeing "disease" rather than an [occasional] infection. If the parasite is not causing clinical pathology, your best course of action may be to just let the parasite and the host find their equilibrium. Keep in mind that the presence of a pathogen doesn't always equate to disease. If there is no disease you really need to question the need for treatment. Basically balance the risks from treatment against the risk from the parasite. Just something to think about.
I'm struggling with the description! If the bug in question requires 100x magnification or higher I would be really surprised if it was a parasitic copepod - at least one that resembles Argulus. One idea that comes to mind (and this is way out there) is a larval isopod (aka "Praniza" larvae), which hatch from adults in the substrate and attach to fish to get a blood meal before dropping off. However, these don't look at all like Argulus - but something to consider and possibly rule out. Note that parasitic crustacean (and in particular parasitic copepods and their kin) don't lay eggs on or in their fish host, rather they produce trailing egg strings and sacs that hatch free swimming nauplii. I still think you are dealing with a trematode (body fluke) of some sort. Very strange indeed! If you do get a closer look try to sketch it and post the sketch, or PM it to me and I will do my best to ID it for you.
One thing to consider is whether or not you are seeing "disease" rather than an [occasional] infection. If the parasite is not causing clinical pathology, your best course of action may be to just let the parasite and the host find their equilibrium. Keep in mind that the presence of a pathogen doesn't always equate to disease. If there is no disease you really need to question the need for treatment. Basically balance the risks from treatment against the risk from the parasite. Just something to think about.
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