Blood sucking bug?!?

photokaty

Reefing newb
Last night I noticed this weird clear bug hanging off of my clown fish. It started filling up with blood, so I caught the clown in a net and used a pair of tweezers to get it off after he had tried several times to have my coral banded take it off as well. It is about 3 cm long and has a bunch of legs and big black eyes. Upon later inspection, we noticed hundreds of microscopic white things surrounding the clowns. At first we guessed they were fry because the clowns are a mated pair and I was pretty sure she laid eggs a while ago, but on other threads I'm thinking these might be bad. Can anyone help??
 

Attachments

  • 2010-10-10_02-06-48_106.jpg
    2010-10-10_02-06-48_106.jpg
    21.8 KB · Views: 2,260
That looks like a parasitic isopod. They attach themselves to fish just like you described. As for the microscopic white things, I'm not sure they are fry. Do a google search for clownfish fry. Do they look like any of the pictures that pop up? Fish fry can be hard to identify because they look so much like bugs and ...not so much like fish.
 
Ok so now that we know what it is... what do I need to do? Are they bad for the tank and my fish and how do I get rid of them?
 
That my friend is a Cirolanidae Isopod, what they do is they attach themsleves to fish and quickly suck blood and eat flesh. I know this because when i was diving some guy got one of these on his leg!! They also kill Sharks by burrowing in and feasting in their heart.
But i hate to break the news but there is no cure, they reproduce quick and they hide in sand and rocks. Keep me posted :(


EDIT:

I have found out that they will die off within 5 to 6 months, if they have nothing to feed on. Another option is this, it kills all crabs, crustations, or hower its spelt, so take out all shrimp and crab if u decide to do this. Its called the Red Bug Treatment. Found this webpage, havent read it but u should check it out.
http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic45859.html


EDIT 2:

Found something else as well.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/bp/index.php
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your help. Since finding this isopod, I have been examining my tank daily looking for those and have not seen signs of any more. Hopefully that was the only one in the tank because removing all the crustaceans to put that stuff in would be almost impossible! I have over 80 crabs and snails combined. And a little coral banded that never comes out from behind the rocks!
 
Back
Top