Help ASAP with my tang

da1jewfish · #1 07/09/2007, 07:37 PM

I just got this gold sailfin tang today. He is in a tank with corals only, he's the only fish.
He's only been in there for like an hour. There are rather large copepod looking bugs on him. 1 right above his eye, and 1 on his lower fin. I can't get a pic to make it out. They loof very similar to a copepod and size.
Thanks all!!

scottwhitson · #2 07/09/2007, 07:39 PM

Do a search for isopods sounds like that might be what you have.

Grins · #3 07/09/2007, 07:41 PM

Read this: http://wetwebmedia.com/isopoda.htm

da1jewfish · #4 07/09/2007, 07:50 PM

thanks.... crap it appears as if I am going to have to tweezer them off!! I already have him in an isloation area. any other ways to do this?

Grins · #5 07/09/2007, 07:54 PM

Be sure to check in his mouth too. That link suggested they will often hide there as well.

da1jewfish · #6 07/09/2007, 07:55 PM

a will cleaner shrimp eat these??

da1jewfish · #7 07/09/2007, 08:03 PM

good news he basically let me take 3 off. there is one more left that is visible.
Yea by the time I could get him out there were 4!

Grins · #8 07/09/2007, 08:24 PM

Ack, do you have the meds that were suggested to?

da1jewfish · #9 07/09/2007, 08:42 PM

no I don't have mercury -based anti-septic on hand. I was able o take them all off w/o much stress. I couldn't them on him through the nite, so I took them off. They weren't on him more than a half hour. He seems ok. Tomorrow I'm going to get a damsel and use him as a guniea as the article suggests.
DO yall know if cleaner shrimp will eat these guys, if they happen to attach on a fish?

da1jewfish · #10 07/09/2007, 11:01 PM

You probably won't believe this! After doing a lot of research on these cirolanids, it is the ******* parasitic isopod, prognosis lokked a little grim. I went to the tank with a flashlight, a brine net, tweezers, and a bucket. So far there is much good news, you CAN outsmart them. They seem to be attracted to light... haha. They are also so sparradic that a few swam into my net (thank you). After the bug fishing I caught a total of 28 of these !^%$#^*. The feeling of hearing and squeezing them... priceless.
I don't think I did bad at all. Some of them were pretty small and some were larger. They are very similar to their cousin copepods... The main difference from a distance would be these swim and very sparadically at that.
I'm a do a lil more fishing a bit later. I really think I got most of them. Although I guess some could be lurking in the sand bed.
I could use info about cleaner shrimp and isopods

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...2/DSCN2891.jpg

da1jewfish · #11 07/09/2007, 11:12 PM

this is bad man. not good at all. There are tons on the glass!! holy crap. Now I can't be sure they are same thing b/c there so small but one can only assume. damnit

if these are the same (hope there not) they must be eating something other than fish b/c I have never had fish in there before. I had that one in there for an hour or so. I am stumped.

DylanE · #12 07/09/2007, 11:23 PM

are you sure some of the smaller ones arnt just copods?

happyface888 · #13 07/09/2007, 11:28 PM

Would adding some sort of crab,shrimp or something work? Maybe a certain crab,shrimp or snail and devour thoes things.

da1jewfish · #14 07/09/2007, 11:33 PM

They could be copepods. I hope so. I'm not sure how small these isopods can be. The ones I pulled were large enough, somewhere around the size of a grain of rice.

Maybe neon gobies or cleaner shrimp would eat these. I haven't found any info of what eats them. But I'm on it.

DaveJ · #15 07/10/2007, 12:56 AM

Those pods just don't show up.... and apparently they didn't come with the fish so a few questions... Have you added any LR lately? How long was the tank up without fish and where did you get your LR from if you added some in the last 6 months.

xtm · #16 07/10/2007, 01:20 AM

FW dip can make them fall off the host fish. However I don't know if the Tang can tolerate being in FW for ~30 mins

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/bp/index.php

da1jewfish · #17 07/10/2007, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveJ
Those pods just don't show up.... and apparently they didn't come with the fish so a few questions... Have you added any LR lately? How long was the tank up without fish and where did you get your LR from if you added some in the last 6 months.

yea its a 3 week old tank. Everything is new including about 25 pounds of LR. The tank was up 3 weeks w/o fish. The fish was in there for about an hour. There are some hermits, snails, and a few fraged corals.

*update* I removed a total of 34 of these. I talked to many LFS today most did not know what to do. 1 suggested that it is a lice.?.? Another suggested a UV sterilizer or try some neon gobies and cleaner shrimp.
* I now have 2 cleaner shrimo in there along with a damsel. I am going the guinea route, probably loose this fish and save everything else. My plan is check on the "guinea" every 1-2 hours and remove any pods.
I see many bugs on the glass, its making me bite my nails a little. Tell me these are the good copepods?? I have copepods in my other tank, they seem to breed in the water colum

da1jewfish · #18 07/10/2007, 08:47 PM

I just took the damsel out, it only had one cirolanid on it from 5 hours of being in there. I caught 3 more today total. I don't see any anywhere. Both fish are now in hang-on isolation containers.

anyone have an idea of life cycle of the isopods? I've been reading and the authors have wrote if none are noticed within a 1-3 month peroid they are gone. SOund right?
thanks all