Seahorse large parasites on body

[gizmo duck]

I am watching a friends tank while she is on vacation. It is a seahorse tank approx 45 gal. Only two horses a sea star and snails. The owner was very dedicated and trained these wild caught horses to eat frozen.

I do not know any levels of nitrates, phosphates ect except that salinity is at 1.024 per the Lfs.

There are large parasites on the body of the horses. And I can see tiny white specks crawling on the horses as well but can't make out a shape. I have a pic of the large parasites though. I think they are neobenedenia.

So far owner has given the horses a fresh water dip, the parasites did not detach and she said she left them in the fresh water dip for almost 10 minutes!! I purchased prazipro and dosed the tank already. Would hypo salinity quarantine help?

 

[ThRoewer]

Looks like Argulus (fish lice), a crustacean parasite.

With seahorses I would go for careful manual removal with some fine tweezers.

A chemical treatment with Trichlorfon (Dylox) may be required at a later point to kill eventual eggs and larva, though I would wait with that until the owner comes back. It is a pretty harsh and relatively risky treatment.

 

[fish_fanatik]

thank you

thank you

Thank you. Is it more risky to leave the parasites untreated (I would pick off the visible ones)? Or go for the treatment?

 

[ThRoewer]

I would go for picking them off and let the owner decide on further treatment.
Preserve the parasites (freeze them or put them in a small jar with 37% formalin, 90% isopropanol should work too) - they may be helpful to get a prescription from the vet.