The most evil marine pests caught

[Underwater]

Guys,

I thought apitasa was dreadful but these blood-sucking isopod pests are probably one of my worst nightmare, never encountered before. They will come out at night after tank nights are off, attached to the fish, and start sucking the host blood till next day.

I've lost a few firefishes and blennies but was too late when I remove the Isopods from their bodies. Some are smart enough to drop off before you manage to catch the fish. The only way now for me to catch them is when the tank nights are off and using the torchlight when they are out hunting. Some ended up trapped in the filter wool at the sump. Killed 20 and I believe many still lurk around the DT.

Anyone has good ideas to eradicate them to share? Can't use any wrasses cos these pests are only out when all the fishes are sleeping.

Sigh....

[LittleBurger]

Guys, I thought apitasa was dreadful but these blood-sucking isopod pests are probably one of my worst nightmare, never encountered before. They will come out at night after tank nights are off, attached to the fish, and start sucking the host blood till next day. I've lost a few firefishes and blennies but was too late when I remove the Isopods from their bodies. Some are smart enough to drop off before you manage to catch the fish. The only way now for me to catch them is when the tank nights are off and using the torchlight when they are out hunting. Some ended up trapped in the filter wool at the sump. Killed 20 and I believe many still lurk around the DT. Anyone has good ideas to eradicate them to share? Can't use any wrasses cos these pests are only out when all the fishes are sleeping. Sigh....

Bro, get a clear bottle or container, poke some holes, tie a string to the container and drop into the bottom of tank at night. Put some pieces of shrimp meat in the container. After an hour, use a torch and shine at container. If there are isopods, pull string to take out container. The holes dun make to big cos later when u pull out the isopods might flow out thru the holes. Repeat a few times till no more.

[Underwater]

Thanks for the idea. I'll try that out, maybe I'll put a small kunning fish from ntuc since these pests love to hunt for fishes blood.

The first pic above showed the amount of blood it sucked from my firefish, and unfortunately, the fish didn't make it till this evening after I removed that bugger from its body. : ( I really hate these Isopods.

[LittleBurger]

Thanks for the idea. I'll try that out, maybe I'll put a small kunning fish from ntuc since these pests love to hunt for fishes blood. The first pic above showed the amount of blood it sucked from my firefish, and unfortunately, the fish didn't make it till this evening after I removed that bugger from its body. : ( I really hate these Isopods.

Actually if u can tahan dun add any fish into tank, without hosts, its easier to bait them. So far I try this method sure to catch them. But for fishes with isopods on them, hopefully they will dislodge their grip and go for the bait. U use zoom in on the isopods, look like quite big sia.

[SeahSengYong]

Do wrasse eat them?

[BH2O]

I saw 1 or 2 in my nano LPS only tank. Will die if no fish in my tank?

[brojj]

The only solution is to catch them. Be careful when catching them, there are reports of them attaching themselves onto humans & suck human blood instead.

[solasido]

Found this advice from Reefkeeping:

animals is to catch them all, which although tedious, is possible. Generally, this involves using a sacrificial fish, usually something easy to catch and moderately large. A yellow tang is a good choice for this because the fish's color pattern allows easy determination of the presence of the parasite. The other fish in the tank are collected and removed to a quarantine tank, and the "bait" fish is introduced. This fish is checked periodically and, if the parasites are seen on it, it is netted and removed to a flat surface where it may be immobilized with a wet paper towel. The parasite is removed with a pair of tweezers or forceps. The fish is then returned to the tank, and the procedure repeated. Often the parasites are nocturnal; consequently, the fish will have to be examined before the lights come on. The aquarium is probably free of the parasites if none are seen on the fish for a month or so after the last one has been collected.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/

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[dnsfpl]

sorry for your lost bro

any idea how this pest in introduce to your tank?

from newly purchase fish? hitchhiker from corals?

[Underwater]

These pests are definitely from the liverocks I bought from the farm. Prob over 50 hiding in there. Each about 3mm to 10mm in length.

I dip the rocks in high salinity, but I think I was too impatient and fearing the lost of the purple coralline, I took out the rocks from the dip within 5 mins and these pests probably survived. My greatest mistake for not dipping the liverocks longer or they somehow can survive in high salinity dip. And they move quite fast.

Thanks bro for the article. Maybe the 'sacrificial' fish method would help.

[Underwater]

Another fish fell victim to this 1cm big bugger. Look at the amount of blood (dark portion) sucked from my blenny which seems struggling to swim properly now.

[AroDan]

Thanks for sharing.

[Firestarter]

Use the 'fishing technique' as described by LittleBurger. It is known to work best for catching isopods.

[Underwater]

I used white clams after lights off and indeed, plenty of isopods went straight for the clams and I just net the clams up.

But after observation, I realized they looked different from the evil blood sucking ones which are broader in body, have long feelers, a distinct fan-out shape tail, and like blood which are why they didn't take the bait. The ones caught could be just normal good isopods, scavengers.

Will try using kunning fish next round.

[LittleBurger]

I used white clams after lights off and indeed, plenty of isopods went straight for the clams and I just net the clams up. But after observation, I realized they looked different from the evil blood sucking ones which are broader in body, have long feelers, a distinct fan-out shape tail, and like blood which are why they didn't take the bait. The ones caught could be just normal good isopods, scavengers. Will try using kunning fish next round.

isopod got good one meh?