vermonter310
06/26/2004, 08:38 PM
Cirolanid isopod experimental treatment
*******Disclaimer*******
The only testing done was my own tank. Your experience may vary.
Use at your own risk!
Cirolanid isopods, man they suck! Anyone that’s had them in their tank knows they are difficult to remove and tenaciously attack fish. After finding the first one of them on my TR perc they became an every day occurrence. When I could, I would trap the fish and remove the little buggers with tweezers. When I couldn’t catch the fish the Cirolanid’s would generally fall away when the lights came on but would leave marks (sores) on bodies and tattered fins.
I researched treatments and methodologies for removing them from my system but the outlook was dim. It basically came down to three accepted choices. One; remove all the rock and sand and replace. I wasn’t too hot on throwing out and replacing 85 lbs of LR. Two; remove the fish and any other possible food sources for them and leave the tank fallow for up to six months. This, however, was not an absolute either as they may return with the food source. Three, leave the fish in there and try to trap and remove them as seen until either I removed them all (not likely to happen) or they eventually kill all the fish and then you’re back to options one and two again. Along these lines I did find information on trapping them with a piece of bait fish, a length of PVC and some filter floss but found it did not work for me. I can however expound on this if someone’s interested.
At a club meeting a fellow member offered his experience with an experimental treatment for acro mites. After learning as much as I could about this and faced with few choices, I decided to give this treatment a try.
The treatment for acro mites was Milbemycine oxime and the place to find it was in “Interceptor� brand dog heartworm pills. These tablets are just less than 1 gram each and contain 23mg of Milbemycin Oxime. This is only available from a veterinarian with a prescription. I happen to already be using this for my dog and had some on hand. I have heard some people have had good success simply describing what they are going to be used for to their vet and getting some that way. In any event I will advocate what others have said, be honest with your vet.
The dosage suggested for use in an aquarium to kill redbugs is 25mg (0.025 grams) per 10 gallons of actual tank water. That is 25mg of the entire tablet. Each tablet in the pack of 6 will treat about 380 gallons. At a suggested amount of 25mg per 10gal of H2O my 72g works out to about one fifth of a tablet. The one for large breed dogs .The tablets are ground with a mortar and pestle into a fine powder. The original plan called for using a very accurate scale to measure out the amount and I would suggest you do so. I however simply separated the powder into five piles, each a 20% portion of the tablet, enough to treat 76 gallons. Thinking that a slightly higher dose might be in order I figured that was about as precise as I needed to be. It was then mixed with some tank water and dosed
directly to the tank. I turned off all PH’s and a small power filter I have running as well as shutting down my skimmer. After 6 hours, a 25% water change was performed, the PH’s were turned on and activated carbon was run in the power filter. Twenty-four hours later a second water change was done and the carbon replaced. The acro mite treatment I had read about was done a minimum of three times with a 7 or 14 day interval. I intended to do just that but did not. After the initial treatment I waited. It’s now been five weeks without a sighting. At this point I don’t plan to treat again unless they reappear.
I did not remove any livestock at all. I expected to loose some if not all critters. Live stock/critters in the tank at the time were, 1 bicolor angel, 1 TR percula, 1 yellow tang, 1 Spiney Urchin, 20-30 snails, 4-or 5 porcelain crabs, A few tunicates, orange (came on the LR). Water parameters were Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 1, PH 8.1, and ALK 5.
The good news? I have not seen a Cirolanid isopod since dosing. The bad? As expected I have not seen a copepod or amphipod either. I may also have lost a couple of crabs but everything else seems to have made it. I even saw a dime size starfish that had apparently hitchhiked on the LR from 6 months ago. I still hear the sporadic clicking of what I assume to be a pistol shrimp, however I have never seen it. The fish didn’t even flinch, ate every day and remained active.
Now for the sketchy stuff. I have no idea if the current state of my tank is a product of using this treatment but here’s the skinny. I am currently battling Cyano? Diatoms? Dinoflagellates? I believe it’s Dinos but not 100% sure. Rusty brown in color and when long enough looks snotty/slimy. It is everywhere, rocks, glass and sand. Lights out for a few days seems to kill it off but a couple days with the lights back on and it comes back with a vengeance. Nitrates and Nitrites are both at 0 but ammonia is starting to show on my seachem and fastest test kits. I am doing 20% water changes weekly but can’t seem to get it to read zero. Many of the snails have died since the “red tide�.
It’s possible the treatment killed the bacteria present and the tank is now recycling. I don’t know for sure. It has been suggested that adding some sand and or water from an established tank during the first few water changes following the treatment may have helped re-establish the bacterial life lost. In hindsight this sounds like a plausible action that may have helped stave off the current situation.
Again though I don’t really know. It’s all just guesswork with only one application in one tank to go by. Hopefully others will use this treatment, get the information from their experience out to others, and more information will be gathered.
This is a link to the thread that I got my information from.
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859
Lastly, I put this information out here in hopes that everyone can learn something, including myself. It is something that I chose to take responsibility for and use in my own tank at my own risk. You do the same.
Many thanks to Rob (Ewan)
Mike
*******Disclaimer*******
The only testing done was my own tank. Your experience may vary.
Use at your own risk!
Cirolanid isopods, man they suck! Anyone that’s had them in their tank knows they are difficult to remove and tenaciously attack fish. After finding the first one of them on my TR perc they became an every day occurrence. When I could, I would trap the fish and remove the little buggers with tweezers. When I couldn’t catch the fish the Cirolanid’s would generally fall away when the lights came on but would leave marks (sores) on bodies and tattered fins.
I researched treatments and methodologies for removing them from my system but the outlook was dim. It basically came down to three accepted choices. One; remove all the rock and sand and replace. I wasn’t too hot on throwing out and replacing 85 lbs of LR. Two; remove the fish and any other possible food sources for them and leave the tank fallow for up to six months. This, however, was not an absolute either as they may return with the food source. Three, leave the fish in there and try to trap and remove them as seen until either I removed them all (not likely to happen) or they eventually kill all the fish and then you’re back to options one and two again. Along these lines I did find information on trapping them with a piece of bait fish, a length of PVC and some filter floss but found it did not work for me. I can however expound on this if someone’s interested.
At a club meeting a fellow member offered his experience with an experimental treatment for acro mites. After learning as much as I could about this and faced with few choices, I decided to give this treatment a try.
The treatment for acro mites was Milbemycine oxime and the place to find it was in “Interceptor� brand dog heartworm pills. These tablets are just less than 1 gram each and contain 23mg of Milbemycin Oxime. This is only available from a veterinarian with a prescription. I happen to already be using this for my dog and had some on hand. I have heard some people have had good success simply describing what they are going to be used for to their vet and getting some that way. In any event I will advocate what others have said, be honest with your vet.
The dosage suggested for use in an aquarium to kill redbugs is 25mg (0.025 grams) per 10 gallons of actual tank water. That is 25mg of the entire tablet. Each tablet in the pack of 6 will treat about 380 gallons. At a suggested amount of 25mg per 10gal of H2O my 72g works out to about one fifth of a tablet. The one for large breed dogs .The tablets are ground with a mortar and pestle into a fine powder. The original plan called for using a very accurate scale to measure out the amount and I would suggest you do so. I however simply separated the powder into five piles, each a 20% portion of the tablet, enough to treat 76 gallons. Thinking that a slightly higher dose might be in order I figured that was about as precise as I needed to be. It was then mixed with some tank water and dosed
directly to the tank. I turned off all PH’s and a small power filter I have running as well as shutting down my skimmer. After 6 hours, a 25% water change was performed, the PH’s were turned on and activated carbon was run in the power filter. Twenty-four hours later a second water change was done and the carbon replaced. The acro mite treatment I had read about was done a minimum of three times with a 7 or 14 day interval. I intended to do just that but did not. After the initial treatment I waited. It’s now been five weeks without a sighting. At this point I don’t plan to treat again unless they reappear.
I did not remove any livestock at all. I expected to loose some if not all critters. Live stock/critters in the tank at the time were, 1 bicolor angel, 1 TR percula, 1 yellow tang, 1 Spiney Urchin, 20-30 snails, 4-or 5 porcelain crabs, A few tunicates, orange (came on the LR). Water parameters were Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 1, PH 8.1, and ALK 5.
The good news? I have not seen a Cirolanid isopod since dosing. The bad? As expected I have not seen a copepod or amphipod either. I may also have lost a couple of crabs but everything else seems to have made it. I even saw a dime size starfish that had apparently hitchhiked on the LR from 6 months ago. I still hear the sporadic clicking of what I assume to be a pistol shrimp, however I have never seen it. The fish didn’t even flinch, ate every day and remained active.
Now for the sketchy stuff. I have no idea if the current state of my tank is a product of using this treatment but here’s the skinny. I am currently battling Cyano? Diatoms? Dinoflagellates? I believe it’s Dinos but not 100% sure. Rusty brown in color and when long enough looks snotty/slimy. It is everywhere, rocks, glass and sand. Lights out for a few days seems to kill it off but a couple days with the lights back on and it comes back with a vengeance. Nitrates and Nitrites are both at 0 but ammonia is starting to show on my seachem and fastest test kits. I am doing 20% water changes weekly but can’t seem to get it to read zero. Many of the snails have died since the “red tide�.
It’s possible the treatment killed the bacteria present and the tank is now recycling. I don’t know for sure. It has been suggested that adding some sand and or water from an established tank during the first few water changes following the treatment may have helped re-establish the bacterial life lost. In hindsight this sounds like a plausible action that may have helped stave off the current situation.
Again though I don’t really know. It’s all just guesswork with only one application in one tank to go by. Hopefully others will use this treatment, get the information from their experience out to others, and more information will be gathered.
This is a link to the thread that I got my information from.
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859
Lastly, I put this information out here in hopes that everyone can learn something, including myself. It is something that I chose to take responsibility for and use in my own tank at my own risk. You do the same.
Many thanks to Rob (Ewan)
Mike