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#1
08/23/2007, 08:27 PM
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white elongated bugs on fish
My two firefish have these little white insect things on the side of them. They are actually crawling around on their sides. They look about the size of the pods that live in my live rock. I've read the sticky, but it doesn't resemble any of them. Is this just some kind of parasite or something? The fish seem fine. Eating well, not flashing. I don't want to treat them if it's not necessary. What are these things?
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#2
08/23/2007, 09:16 PM
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Sounds like flukes. Remove fish for a 5 min fresh water bath. The flukes should fall off. Make sure the water is the correct temp and PH. Don't wait do this tonight if you can. Can you post a pic of the fish?
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#3
08/23/2007, 09:49 PM
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That would require catching them! I tried and tried. They keep hiding in all my live rock. Seems as though I'd have to take the rock out to get them. They are very fast.
Any suggestions for catching them? How do I get the PH of ro/di water that high? I'll see if I can get a pic that shows detail. First few didn't come out very good. Last edited by vid660; 08/23/2007 at 10:09 PM. |
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#5
08/24/2007, 09:32 AM
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I don't think it sounds like flukes. Flukes are transparent when they are on the fish. They only turn whiteish when they fall off the fish dead like after a freshwater dip. If you are seeing some obvious white bug like thing actually crawling around on your fish it is not flukes. A sign of flukes is tattered fins and cloudy eyes(this occurs when the fluke is on the fish's eye). Could it just be a copepod or something hanging on the fish? There are some parasitic copepods but they are rather rare.
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#7
08/24/2007, 10:55 AM
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I would do the fresh water bath any way. I just looked up parasitic copepods. The female attaches to the body and leaves egg strings. The parasite leaves an inflamed ring where they attach. From what you described this is not it. And parasitic copepods are rare. Even if it's not flukes it is not pods either.
Last edited by Percula9; 08/24/2007 at 11:04 AM. |
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#8
08/24/2007, 11:25 AM
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I do agree that a freshwater dip will probably knock whatever it is off. It's easy to see flukes in the dip(but I don't think that is what you have going on). You can actually see them turn white before your eyes and drop to the bottom of the dip container. They look like little scales on the bottom of the dip container. However, tring to catch a firefish is difficult and may cause more harm than good. Are you risking a lot of other fish if you just wait and see. Do you quarantine your fish before you add them to your tank?
Last edited by tapm; 08/24/2007 at 11:32 AM. |
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#9
08/24/2007, 11:32 AM
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Sounds like it would be best to give them a freshwater dip then. I'll have to take out all my live rock in order to catch them. They are very fast and hide real well in the rock. I hope I don't stress out all the other occupants too much.
Maybe I should put them in a small tank with my mandarin and he'd eat the little bugs.....jk 
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#10
08/24/2007, 11:41 AM
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Personally, I would not tear down my tank to catch these fish and dip them without actually identifing any real parasite. It is hard to id something for us without seeing it but I'd try to do some research online and see if you can id it. If the fish seem fine I'd wait. Not to mention that doing a freshwater dip should knock the buggers off but it may not eliminate whatever it is from your tank and if it is a parasite many times the eggs are still left in your tank and may reinfect. Even with flukes a FW dip will kill the ones on the fish but the eggs are still there in your tank and need to be killed too. I would just wait and see. My 2 cents- always quarantine.
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#11
08/24/2007, 12:00 PM
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I agree with tapm. Freshwater dips are stressful to fish too. And taking everything out of the tank and then chasing them around will be stressful as well. I completely agree that whatever is on the fish will likely still be in the tank and need to be treated. Few, if any, parasites live their entire life cycle on the fish, meaning some will likely be in the tank and need to be eliminated there, which will be extremely difficult without identifying the culprits.
If you do the dip, make sure that you change the water in between and don't do too many fish in too small of a space at one time. While being dipped and stressed the fish will produce more ammonia than normal which can build up quickly to toxic levels in the small space that dips are normally given in. If you can't get a good picture, which is understandable, can you see if they have visible legs? When they move are they walking or moving similarly to slugs? Have you noticed any changes in your fish's behavior? Their physical appearance? |
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#12
08/24/2007, 12:27 PM
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Doing some googling, it looks like argulus (fish louse). From what I've read, treating it is not going to be easy. They are free swimming (I've seen little things that size swimming around) in my tank. Apparently, when you try to net the infected fish, they come off the fish and swim to another host). I have to treat the tank, but it will harm any inverts. This would require removal of all my shrimp, hermits, and snails. Not to mention, it would probably kill my pods. Not a good thing for my mandarin. I'm also unsure as to what damage would occur to my live rock. Help!
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#13
08/24/2007, 12:35 PM
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That's tough. I think you will likely have to remove all inverts, including live rock, to a hospital tank and leave all fish, probably including the mandarin to be safe, in the treatment tank and treat. Any chance your mandarin will eat brine shrimp? Some will, some won't.
You would need to find out how long the lice can survive without a host and keep all your rock in the hospital tank until after that amount of time has passed. No fun for anyone. |
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#14
08/25/2007, 10:04 AM
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Interceptor might work in this case, just a hunch...
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#15
08/25/2007, 08:28 PM
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Update...
I caught the two firefish and my coral beauty dwarf angel. They were all purchased at the same time (3 days ago). The dwarf angel is white stuff at the end of it's pectoral fins, top of dorsal fin, and end of tail fin. The angel looked fine when I purchased it. I'm not sure if it's fins were damaged from going in and out of the rocks or if it's a fungus. All fish were placed into a 10g hospital tank and dosed with coppersafe. I waited until today (fish were placed into hospital tank yesterday) to see if the little white things would fall off the firefish. They did not. So, I followed the advice on the freshwater dip. That worked! They fell right off. Now the firefish are swimming happily in the 10g hospital tank. Should I continue to dose the tank with coppersafe? This has caused ammonia level of .25. I'm doing daily 50% water changes to control this. Should I add maracyn-two for the angel? I'll post pics when I figure out how. Thanks |
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#17
08/26/2007, 02:37 PM
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I'm glad the dip worked. As for the angel the picture was to dark. It sounds like the angel may have lymphocystis, this is a viral infection and will not respond to any treatment other then good nutrition. I would take him out of quarantine and put him back in the main tank. The fire fish might develop secondary bacterial infection in which case antibiotics like Maracyn 2 will be fine. Keep the ammonia down. Water changes and Amquel to neutralize it. Don't feed during treatment.
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#18
08/26/2007, 03:06 PM
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Thanks for the response. I got the ammonia down to zero finally. Testing twice daily to be sure it doesn't get out of control.
Should I continue coppersafe on the firefish to be sure whatever those things were don't survive? (if any fell off in the QT) |
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