Possible Tank Parasites? With Pic!

[GlidergirlUK]

My small Green spotted puffer fish had been looking under the weather for the last week. I scratched my head as to what was wrong. Anyway after thinking it was just stress for a while then suspecting he had ate a piece of gravel instead of a snail by mistake....now sadly he has died. Anyway when I retried the poor fellow I noticed some little things crawling on him...like minute things very fast! And on closer inspection I notice that my piece of wood is covered in the same things...they are like little pin head dots and are whizzing across the wood!

Any one have any ideas what they could be? Would they have been the cause of my puffer death? Are they just friendly bacteria? (doubtful!) What can I do to get rid!

Help!

Oh my god these things can swim as well! I just watched one jump off the wood and swim back to it! PLEASE HELP!

 

[mellyville1985]

omg i just came on here to post about something similar...... just done my weekly/10 day water change (10-20%) and noticed these teeny weeny little bugs (they have legs ) they were crawling on the slat that the lid rests on so not in the water but did see some loating about at the surface! cant see any within the tank, only where i was siphoning...... could it be they were on the siphon?? ew!! am off to research now.......

oh forgot to say sorry for your loss and sorry i cant offer you any advice im just as stumped!

 

[GlidergirlUK]

If you look at the full size pic you can see them better. Just noticed one of my other puffers flicking himself! Please help someone!

yep they have legs! I had suspected he might die (because I thought he had eaten gravel!)

 

[GlidergirlUK]

OK I am off to the LFS to see if the knowlegable puffer guy can help (I only really trust his opinion!)

 

[GlidergirlUK]

He has no idea either..he has suggested a course of melafix to try and get rid of them.

 

[Athena]

What do they look like close up? It's hard to tell from the photo as they just look like little dots on the wood.

Do they have flat round bodies? If so, could they be fish lice? I don't know much about fish lice and whether they can survive away from a host or not.

Either way, just thinking about them is giving me the heeby-jeebies LOL

I guess the reason the LFS chap told you to use Melafix is because tea tree oil apparently can kill certain types of parasites - but not everything, though.

Do you think they came out from that piece of wood?

Athena

 

[Anguilla82]

some sort of shrimp?

is it in a brackish tank?
in marine tanks you get things called copepods which look similar to what you have on your wood though to be honest the pic doesn't really show what they are.

 

[-SPB-]

Not sure if this will help but sure worth a look, it's a pinned topic about hitchhikers in tanks:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277805

 

[Anguilla82]

What do they look like close up? It's hard to tell from the photo as they just look like little dots on the wood.

Do they have flat round bodies? If so, could they be fish lice? I don't know much about fish lice and whether they can survive away from a host or not.

Either way, just thinking about them is giving me the heeby-jeebies LOL

I guess the reason the LFS chap told you to use Melafix is because tea tree oil apparently can kill certain types of parasites - but not everything, though.

Do you think they came out from that piece of wood?

Athena

i don't think they're fish lice.
you wouldn't get that many on a peice of wood and not on the fish themselves.

 

[GlidergirlUK]

Its really hard to see if they are flat...my first thought was baby snails! but not at that speed and able to swim!
No they havent come from the wood as I have had this in for about 7 months between 2 tanks (my other tropical tank). I am going to try the melafix and see what happens.

 

[GlidergirlUK]

Even weirder now....they have all vanished from the log! I wonder whether they are there everyday but I have only noticed today because I was home early from work!

The tank is just starting to go brackish, I have put salt in with the last water change but there was so little it doesnt even register when measured. I am adding the salt really slowly as I have only just set up the second filter and don't want to kill off the bacteria.

So should I dose with melafix?

From the link above I am torn between copepods and ostracods. I thought these only occured in saltwater though?

 

[Athena]

That was a good link posted by SPB...

Yes, snails can move very fast in the tank but they don't have legs sticking out LOL

Very weird how they've suddenly all vanished! LOL they probably time it so that they come out when you're not around. Bet you gave them a surprise today coming home early and catching them!

The thing puzzling me is that most of the critters mentioned in that link are supposed to be harmless to fish - so what caused your puffer to die I wonder?

Do you have a camera with a zoom lens on it that might show a better pic of them? (next time they appear?)

Athena

 

[GlidergirlUK]

I wonder if they are only around during the warmest part of the day? Would explain it as when I get home I open the window to let the room cool down as it does get rather warm in here with the computer and 2 tanks running!
As for zoom...that was zoomed! I have an undewater camera so I might try that next time but the quality isnt that great on it either. LFS have said if the melafix doesnt work to bring the wood in a bag in to the store so they can have a look.

Ah ha! they are in the log! there is a little gap that I just saw some go into! they think they can fool me! If only i had a microscope! My dad does but hes 90 miles away!

on closer inspection of my other puffers I do not see any things crawling on them, maybe they were only on the dead one as he was on the bottom for possibly a few hours (he was alive this morning when I went to work)...hmmmm.

Ok plan is...do water change tonight, dose with melafix and see how it goes!

 

[youngfisher]

All I can say is.. Good luck!

 

[Athena]

Ah yes, then maybe they were feeding on the dead fish. So they might not actually be doing any real harm in the tank but instead they might be tank cleaners of the scavenger sort (eating leftover food, dead fish etc)! Still, not very pleasant to look at.

Could be that they've been in that piece of wood the whole time but you only noticed them because having a dead fish in there caused them all to rush out for a feast and once the fish was taken out they all eventually went back home again. Such imagination I have eh? LOL

Anyway, good luck with it all!

Athena