Dan H Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 So a bit ago we bought 2 Helfrichi firefish. Both were doing fine but one morning the second one was missing. We thought he was dead but then this morning he reappeared! He looked very lethargic and was not moving much. I had to go to work but when Meg got home she found him laying on the sand bed with some strange looking thing on its side. She texted me pictures and we figured it was some parasite. Meg caught him and we decided to try a freshwater bath. Immediately the parasite started to move. Meg took tweezers and tried to pluck it off but the darn thing was on pretty good. So after a few tries we decided to smash it with the tweezers. Very carefully Meg pinched the parasite and smashed it to death. We put the firefish into QT and he immediately looked somewhat better. Hopefully he will survive. Pics for your enjoyment. If you happen to know what it is please pipe in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 That reminds me of a fish louse. I know large scale aquaculture facilities struggle with them when fish are confined in high density populations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Do you think this came with the fish or came crawling out of your liverock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Is it just me or does he look he has a fair amount of white spots on him? Sorry it's not related to the external parasite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Admittedly I didn't read the whole article word for word. But it looks similar to an isopod. Last third of the article. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+etannert Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Glad you saved your Helfrichi, they are such beautiful fish! Hope he pulls through! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 I'm sad to report that he just died. I think it was indeed an Aegid Isopod, and we're certain it was in the live rock as we inspected the fish closely before buying them. I believe the white spots were sand as he was laying in the sand bed, it wasn't ich. Well, according to Ron's article, I think our best course of action is to hold off on buying any more fish for about 2 months and just watch the remaining Helfrichi and hope he doesn't also become dinner. What a bummer. Creepy little sucker. Apparently they will actually try to eat YOU if they can! Crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M6S1K3 Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Dang. That is a bummer. You two sure are patient but it's admirable that you are doing it right. Best of luck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Sorry to hear about your fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Well, Meg and I have been discussing and we think it's best to just watch the remaining Helfrichi (and technically gobies, but they are soo tiny it's rare to see them) and wait to see if there are any more isopods in there. Sounds like they are fairly aggressive and theoretically we should know within a few weeks if there are any left. Assuming no more incidents after that time, then we're probably in the clear. If not, then we probably will take out the fish and let the isopods starve for a few months. So hopefully we just won't see any more for a few weeks. Sucks having to lose such a beautiful fish to a stupid bug! I put it in a plastic bag so y'all can see it at the May meeting and know what they look like. Creepy nasty little sucker. In other positive news - The tank parameters are nearly perfect so that's a plus. The 2 mantis shrimp are both growing fast, and both have colored up and are quite beautiful. The one is a freaking HOG! I put some mysis in a turkey baster and fed them to him and holy crap! He was such a hoss he would grab one, go stash it in his cave, then come out and grab another. He repeated this about 6 times. At the end he was literally munching on a mysis, and still grabbed another! Well, I guess the sad part about all of this is that we probably won't have any more fish by the May meeting, so expect not too much to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 That's terrible! Sorry about the rotten luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Dan, you may want to setup a QT to host new additions before adding them to your large DT. Good luck, I am enjoying your build thread. It is a beautiful stand and canopy and well thought out setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Dan, you may want to setup a QT to host new additions before adding them to your large DT. Good luck, I am enjoying your build thread. It is a beautiful stand and canopy and well thought out setup. Yup. QT is on it's way and should be here this week. Long story somewhat short... I said we needed a QT and Meg said she didn't want the house to look like a science experiment. I being a good husband tried my best to reason that we still needed a QT. Yeah, no dice. Well, after this experience, last night she suggested that we should get a QT. Ok. Done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I'm starting to think this bug was perhaps planted? :-p 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 I think your thinking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Bummer, sad to hear that man! We've all been getting our share of lessons in why we should properly QT lately. I'm sure the next 2 Months will blow by and you'll have fish in there before you know it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Sadly, this is the one case where QT wouldn't have helped. The parasite originated from the live rock already in the tank. Unless you meant QT the new live rock... then yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 Well, theoretically it may have helped because we could have QT him with medication after removing the parasite. QT should be here tomorrow. Oh well, sad but even old dogs learn new lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Technically if he runs fallow in his display tank for the 2-3 months reccomended wouldn't that be QT'ing his rock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 If we have 0 fish in the tank for a few months, it's basically QTing the rock. Any fish-only parasites should starve by then. Now predators would be a different story (i.e. Mantis). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Did your research on isopods come up with any weird scenario where they were able to live off of clean-up crew? Just a thought as they seem vicious enough to eat anything (humans included) that if pressed, a snail might be a good snack to survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 No but ****, now I'm going to have to do more research. It doesn't seem likely but who knows. Side note, so far the other firefish seems to be doing quite well, so hopefully it was just the 1 isopod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Yeah, I'd be surprised if they could survive off of cleanup crew but the thought occurred to me so I wanted to ask just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I always QT my rock. Doesn't everyone else? Coral on the other hand.... ? Is there a chance that the fish came in with a larval form of the isopod imbedded in it that couldn't be easily seen when you first bought it? I'm sure it probably came from the live rock since the rock came from the wild, but it's also possible that fish catch parasites when in high density environments at distribution centers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I alwas QT my rock. Doesn't everyone else? I haven't bought live rock since 2006. Everything is has been dry from that point so I guess I'm a little out of practice in the art of buying live rock. Haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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