Help, I ihave some sort of parasite!

[smcnally]

Ok. So I got up this morning to look at how the tank is doing and find that one of my powerheads fell into the sandbed. Sand everywhere and cloudy. While doing this I notice one of my false peculas laying on his side (still breathing). So I thought I better move all the fist to a QT because I figured toxins may have benn released into the water. Well when I net him I notice this little bastard on him.

So I pulled him off and put the little perc in QT. Well he is still going on his side every now and then. I know where there's one, there's usually more, but I haven't seen any before. Aren't these the kind that only come out at night and feed on the fish? The thing that scares me is I've heard horror stories about these guys over at RC about QTing the fish and starving them out for 2 months. I guess they will only eat fish.

 

[dad300]

cirilonoid isopod!!! BAD!!! BAD!!!! check on DR rons forum on RC. and wear gloves when you go in the tank. They only eat living flesh...They don't care if it aqautic or land based. I'm sorry to hear you have them... time to get a qt tank and starve the guys out.

 

[smcnally]

I thought it was a Cirolanid. I just did read over all his stuff on it. I'm so bummed out now. Weird, now he seems fine. He's swimming around like normal. Someone please tell me I could have had just one of those.

 

[smcnally]

Should I toss my damsels in there as collection cups? Nah...we all know that the damsels probably have a pact with them, and would continue on strong. Well, I just introduced a rock from my bosses tank into it I hope it was just a straggler on that since I haven't noticed any bites before. I'll have to let him know. Either that, or more likely, it came on my TBS shipment. I'll have to set up my 20 gal as a QT, since I'm selling my 37. Would it be fine to circulate water from the main tank to the 20 gal as long as it went through some sort of filter to catch the little bastards?

 

[me2003]

I do not know if this will work but you may want to check this thread.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=393688

 

[smcnally]

Thanks, I'll try that as a last resort. I just read this in one of Dr. Rons Forums "You may be lucky with the bugs. Sometimes, fortunately, the infestations are just single individuals." That was a little comforting. I guess it will be a week of getting up at 3am with a flashlight to see if there are more.

 

[~Flighty~]

Bad bad bad. I had them and nothing in the hobby is as freeky as thos alien eyed fish eaters. I can't stand even looking at that photo. They destroyed one fin on my clown by slicing the vein to the fin so it didn't get any blood flow. They are terrible.
I would definately do the intercepter treatment for peace of mind. The babies are tiny, like a grain of sand but with the same evil eyes. If you do the interceptor, make sure any canister filters get treated. mine hid in there durring the day.

 

[~Flighty~]

Here are the two threads I posted on my problem. (shudder)

http://216.235.242.50/forums/showthread.php?t=1344

http://216.235.242.50/forums/showthread.php?t=1405

 

[smcnally]

Thanks for the links, I read them through. So do you think I should treat the tank right away, or be sure there are more? I was thinking it may have come in on one of the rcks I got from my boss, so I was hoping it was the only one. But, I know that's nothing more than wishful thinking.

 

[~Flighty~]

What do you have in the tank that would get hurt by a treatment? Ornimental shrimp? hermits ? crabs? can you get them out for a few hours durring treatment? I would treat if it was my tank again, but thats just me.

 

[~Flighty~]

Man, I rered my posts. I had forgotten the part about my gobies eating the dying isopods. That was a sight.

 

[smcnally]

I have 1 emerald crab (BIG), 3 small porcelain crabs, one small unidentified crab (don't think its gorilla...has small claws, but it has pink and white stripes all down it's arms and claws), about 10 small scarlet hermats, 5 mexican turbo snails, some conchs (cute lil babies too). I also have a bunch of bi-valves in there, would it hurt them?

 

[~Flighty~]

It won't hurt the snails or bivalves. I would take out any crabs and hermits you can get to.

 

[smcnally]

Do thiese things multiply rapidly? I was wondering if it would hurt to wait a few days so I can get up and check the fish and see if there are anymore. I would just hate to treat it if it just came in on the rock I put in yesterday. I'll have to call my boss and see if he's noticed any on his percs.

 

[~Flighty~]

I have no idea, but watch your hands and be aware that they can perminantly disfigure your fish. Mine lost his fin to them. I bet that is a rare case, but the blood loss could kill them too.

 

[nemogonecrazy]

i purchased some lr from pjs a while back about 2 year and one of those things hitched a ride then attacked my perc so i pulled him off then put him in a cup full of lysol tought him a lesson of course i felt bad so i flushed him...however the perc live on for about 7 months with one eye..he was a warrior.best of luck to u

 

[smcnally]

Well, I put the fish back in yesterday afternoon because I needed to know if I had more. I turned all lights off at 9PM and checked all my fish at midnight. Nothing on them. I checked again at 4am (because I had a dream they were covered in the little aliens) and nothing on them still. Finally I checked again at 6am, and still nothing. I hope this is a good sign. I'm sure I'll be checking like this all week before I'm convinced that there are no more.

 

[Aquaman_68]

Ok. So I got up this morning to look at how the tank is doing and find that one of my powerheads fell into the sandbed. Sand everywhere and cloudy. While doing this I notice one of my false peculas laying on his side (still breathing). So I thought I better move all the fist to a QT because I figured toxins may have benn released into the water. Well when I net him I notice this little bastard on him.

So I pulled him off and put the little perc in QT. Well he is still going on his side every now and then. I know where there's one, there's usually more, but I haven't seen any before. Aren't these the kind that only come out at night and feed on the fish? The thing that scares me is I've heard horror stories about these guys over at RC about QTing the fish and starving them out for 2 months. I guess they will only eat fish.

Are those two dots on the front the eyes?

 

[~Flighty~]

yes, those are the eyes. The body is usually clear, but they will fill entirely with blood. The body ends at the end of the red part in that picture. I'm not sure what is behind it in the pic. I found ones ranging in size from a grain of sand to the size of my pinky fingernail. -shudder-

 

[starrfish]

This post is creeping me out!! I just got itchy all over....