fish lice

[zygote2k]

Just noticed that the Mandarin has what appears to be a fish louse on his right pectoral fin. It's about 1/8" long and looks like a very compressed coepepod. Anyone know anything about these?

[traveller7]

Just noticed that the Mandarin has what appears to be a fish louse on his right pectoral fin. It's about 1/8" long and looks like a very compressed coepepod. Anyone know anything about these?

Sounds like an Isopod. They can be quite nasty.

 

Technical info for ID:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php

 

Current events:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...50#post13229850

 

One to motivate if they are isopods:

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

 

Best of luck and I hope it is not an Isopod.

[treesprite]

Thanks for the links. I just read that stuff and am praying I never see the parasitic isopods in my tank! Thank goodness now that I know about them and what to do if I see them.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I remember when Brian was going through that. He was so frustrated! Great article he wrote, hopefully it'll be of help to those that have to deal with that problem.

 

Zygote, hopefully you can trap that mandarin and remove the critter.

[zygote2k]

problem solved- either the cleaner shrimp took care of it or the mandarin brushed it off or it went its own way. Thanks for the interesting articles.

[davelin315]

They can lodge themselves under the skin of the fish and they can also detach and multiply in your tank. Problem is not solved if it's a cirulanoid (spelling I'm sure is incorrect) isopod. You have to remove them all from the system or they'll kill your fish. Didn't read the articles as I researched before, but they recommend putting in a large fish that is easy to attract and use it as bait - let it get attacked each night and then remove it in the morning and pull them off and dispose of them. Repeat this until there's none left.