So after catching one .5" cirolanid at the very beginning of setting up my tank, I let it sit fallow for nearly 2 months, with only the two tiger gobies in there. (one a hitchhiker, one thrown in for free by TBS) I never saw another cirolanid on either goby, and they're out and about pretty frequently now. sooooo, last week i pulled the trigger and bought my first 2 fish; a carpenter's flasher wrasse and a midas blenny. the first day after introduction into the tank, I spot the midas blenny (by now dubbed Baxter) in the front corner of the tank, looking very sluggish. At first I figured he was simply adjusting to the new tank and recovering from the shipping, but when I looked closer, yikes!, there were two tiny cirolanids sucking on his body. After failing to net Baxter twice in an effort to pull the bugs off w/ tweezers, Baxter went into hiding for a day. Two nights ago we saw him rubbing his body against a hole in the rock, and since yesterday the cirolanids aren't on him anymore. I'm scared now though, because 1) i had no idea the tank had any more cirolanids in it, 2) the two cirolanids probably just detached because they were full, and will be back for a second meal later. ARGH. And of course, they picked the cutest fish in the tank to chew on.
I am without a hospital/QT tank right now, because my wife refuses to return the FW guppies that we have had in a 20G tank for years. So even if I lived in the twilight zone and COULD catch the four fish now in my tank in an effort to make the tank fishless and starve out the cirolanids for 3 months, I have nowhere to keep the fish once I catch them. I'm hoping beyond hope that I'll see both bugs back on the only fish slow enough for me to catch, Baxter, and net him so that I can pull them off of him. What a sick feeling in my stomach. Literally hours before I spotted the bugs, I was finally feeling like the tank was looking awesome and all the work was paying off.
nuts.
Brian, does the dirty water trap work for cirolanids? I would love to trap them!