will he hurt my clown?

[ladyfsu]

I got a piece of live rock the other day and saw a little critter zip out of it and hide in a hole. It looked like a copepod but a teeny bit bigger and it crawled differently. I didn't think much of it.

This morning that thing is on my clown. The pics aren't great because the clown just wouldn't hold still! I'll keep working on it, but can anyone tell me what this is and is he just temporarily hitching a ride? or is he hurting my buddy!

Thanks. I'll work on better pics.

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Thats bad Parasitic Isopod..If you can catch the fish with the thing attached, try doing a freshwater or formalin dip..Fluke tabs are an organophosphate [sp?] med and might work also...You may have to remove the thing with tweezers
There is a few threads on these guys, and a lot of info if you use google

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php

 

[cristhiam]

I got one once, just remove the fish and carefully remove it with the tweezers. Never saw one again.

 

[ladyfsu]

Thank you....we tried to catch the clown and failed, so we took a break until we were ready to get more serious and move stuff around. The clown was staying REALLY close to his anemone and looked like he was putting that isopod on the anemone's tentacles...rubbing differently back and forth. Well that thing is GONE now. No clue where it is. I wonder if the clown was making the anemone sting it.

OH WELL...problem solved (for now...until that bugger shows up again) Thanks!

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

They usually latch on to the fish at night...and USUALLY fall off once lights are on..Keep an eye on your fish, if he is being attacked by this parasite everynight, it will eventually kill him