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vermonter310
05/18/2004, 02:08 PM
Today I began treating my tank with melbemycine oxime to attempt to rid it of Cirolanid Isopods. Each day for the last week or two at least one fish has had attached pods. Some tatter fins, others just hang on and I believe that at least the yellow tang has them internally. (She may be removed to Q tank) I don’t really hold out much hope for her. I have additionally netted several of theses pods early in the morning. I have either caught the affected fish and removed the pods with a pair of tweezers or they have dropped when the lights come on. The angel and perc have been caught with the use of a 2-liter bottle trap. The Tang however has proved to be, at least so far, uncatchable.


Livestock and live critters in the tank:
1 bicolor angel
1 TR percula
1 yellow tang
1 Spiney Urchin
20-30 snails
4-or5 porcelain crabs
A few tunicates, orange (came on the LR)
I have not attempted to remove anything from my tank

H2O parameters:
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 1, PH 8.1, ALK 5.

The treatment:
A suggested amount of 25mg per 10gal of H2O. For my 72 that works out to about one fifth of an “Interceptor� brand dog heartworm pill. Yes that's what I'm using. . I fully expect to loose most if not all of my good pods. But through all the research I've done there really does not seem to be much of a choice. Even this treatment which was not developed for this reason may not prove to be successful.

I watched the tank for about an hour following the initial treatment. Nothing I can see, I can’t see any crabs at this time, looks as if anything has been added at all. Everything appears normal.

At 7:30pm I will do a fairly large water change, about 15 gallons (+/- 20%) and add as much carbon as I can. I’ll replace the carbon at 12 hrs. I then plan to treat again in 24hrs, with another H2O change 24hrs after that and change the carbon for several days on a 12hr schedule. I plan to repeat this 3 times with seven days between treatments. As long as everything seems to be going well.

I want to thank Rob for pointing out to me a possible treatment, giving me a point to begin my own research and making himself available. This treatment as far as I could tell has not been used for this particular tank ailment. (If someone knows of some info about this being tried somewhere else please let me know) It is, and I suppose I should stress, at least in this application experimental. So once again, Thanks Rob!

Mike

Ewan
05/19/2004, 07:46 PM
Mike, I'm glad to see you thinking outside the box. The original assessment of the situation was gloomy at best. You're certainly going down with a fight. I like it. You have my support.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck with the treatment. I treated my tank for red bugs, and I was amazed that it cleared out the crustaceans and nothing more. The tank actually seemed totally unaffected with the exception of dead 'bugs' everywhere. It's been approximately 4 weeks, and I spotted a dozen or so copepods the other night. They'll be back in no time.

Given the nature of the situation, will you be dosing 3 times?

Nice job. Let me know if you need anything.

BTW, where did you measure the doseage? I have a friend that helped me.

-Rob

vermonter310
05/20/2004, 08:23 PM
Rob,
I measured the dosage in a highly scientific manner...........Knowing that an entire tablet would treat about 380 gallons, I crushed the tablet and separated the powder into 5 even piles. Enough to treat 76 gallons each. Thinking that a slightly higher dose might be in order I figured that was about as precise as I needed to be.
The plan right now is another treatment cycle (two doses 24hrs apart) after a seven day cease. Then if necessary, a final single dose seven days after that.

Again thanks for the help and have a great vacation.

Mike

ninhsavestheday
05/21/2004, 12:40 AM
does this treatment work with corals and inverts? or do you have to remove all of them????

vermonter310
05/22/2004, 02:02 PM
ninhsavestheday,
as Rob puts it.....some light reading.


http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=367434

Ewan
05/22/2004, 05:04 PM
:thumbsup:

spotfin
05/26/2004, 08:05 PM
Mike,
How is your tank doing?

vermonter310
05/27/2004, 03:14 AM
Hi Jason,

I havn't had a fish with an attached Isopod or seen any early in the morning since the first treatment, The only problem now is an outbreak of Brown algea I presume because of the rather large water changes and i'm not yet using ro/di water.

spotfin
05/27/2004, 08:12 PM
Hi Mike,
Glad to hear your tank is doing well. Sounds like your treatment worked.
I too need to look into a RO/DI unit. I use our well water and have some brown algae, most likely it's diatom.
Jason

Hedonist
05/28/2004, 02:04 PM
Just checking to see how things are going Mike...

How are the inverts doing, are they hanging in there still?

When you do your big water changes, would it help to get a gal or so of water from a water change from a fellow reefer? Or can you innoculate you 'fresh' salt water with some healthy saltwater to keep the bacteria population up?

Hope all goes well!
Denise

vermonter310
05/28/2004, 04:37 PM
Hmmm....that's a good question. I hadn't thought about doing that. It does sound like a good idea.
I have lost a few crabs a few seem to have made it without problems though and I still hear the pistol shrimp(I have never seen him) clicking now and again. Urchin, snails and all the fish seem fine. The yellow tang actually seems much better. she had a dark area right behind her eye that I assumed , quite possibly wrongly , to be an isapod that had made it inside but thats gone too. She looks bright and clean. I have seen no pods, good or bad for over a week now. In a few weeks I may buy some cops and amphs. but all(except the brown algae) looks good.

Mike

vermonter310
05/29/2004, 08:21 AM
Any one have any thoughts on getting rid of the brown algae ? Other than the ro/di which hopefully will be comming this summer.

Thanks guys

Mike