Houston theres a problem!!!!

DevilBoy · 01-13-2007, 09:16 AM

I was looking in my tank. And i dont believe what i saw. It had a lobster type body and tail but white in color and big black eyes. I did some research and found out that it is a cirolanid isopod. Has one ever had these guys?? how do i get rid of them??

This think is scarry looking.

Thanks...

Is there anything i can do to kill this sucker or get him out... I am sure since i seen 1 there is probably more.

redwinger · 01-13-2007, 09:38 AM

Maybe do a interceptor treatment if you cannot catch it. That might kill it but will also kill all your crabs at the same time. In any event you want it dead or out of the tank ASAP

DevilBoy · 01-13-2007, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwinger

Maybe do a interceptor treatment if you cannot catch it. That might kill it but will also kill all your crabs at the same time.

Whats that?? will it kill my amphipods? i dont have any crabs in the tank. just a tank with water and 80# of live rock.

ZEKESTER · 01-13-2007, 09:47 AM

then do the treatment you'll get the pods back over time

smeese · 01-13-2007, 09:50 AM

Tear the tank apart if it is just rock.

redwinger · 01-13-2007, 09:51 AM

Yep nuke it now, I would take no pods for a couple months to assure that one of those f'ers is not in the tank.

Petunia · 01-13-2007, 10:35 AM

you can also try a different method. here's an article and some ideas of how to catch it/them:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/bp/index.php

dirk griffin · 01-13-2007, 10:54 AM

better call the Isopod BUSTERS

spazz · 01-13-2007, 11:33 AM

i did a little research on these nasty little buggers and read this....

"Some years ago there were several large sharks that washed ashore in Florida. Examination showed that they were all killed by cirolanids that had burrowed into the shark and eaten their hearts".

i guess i will never get any live rock that has not been in a tank for a few months/years. these things can kill an entire tank in no tiem and you may never know you have them. they eat the fish so quick that you may not see them on the fish.

i agree with redwinger. NUKE THE TANK! its not worth waisting the lives of your nice fish for one of these little buggers.

by the way where did you get that rock from? if it was a local shop then you need to tell them they have these and that they should nuke there storage tank so they dont infect other peoples tanks. this is almost as bad as the acro flat worms in my mind.

Sea monkey · 01-13-2007, 11:39 AM

before you do anything crazy make sure it is the right one many of the isopods look that similar. Some are not considered to be negative organisms. big difference is the bad ones have big black eyes.

I personally wouldn't do an interceptor treatment unless i was absolutely sure i knew what it was or i actually saw one on a fish. Do we even know that intercept is effective against isopods and maybe their eggs? even then i think my first step would be to take the fish out, quarantine them and let the isopods starve out in the display tank. I think the life cycle is something like two months. In my mind this is a much better option than wiping out all the beneficial organisms with interceptor. Guess it kinda comes down to how many fish you have , are you able to quarantine them , do you value your fishes lives more than all the crabs,shrimp and pods , kinda personal decision i guess.

This is my own personal experience with them. when i first got my TBS rock people said one of the problems with it was it sometimes has isopods so i kept a sharp eye out. One day i saw one and i was absolutely sure it was one of the parasitic ones , i studied all the pics and my "untrained eye" was positive , i had these nasty buggers and i needed to figure out how to get rid of them asap. Then i never saw one again ......game over : )
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php

It is pretty hard for the novice to tell the difference between these two creatures.

Loverotties · 01-13-2007, 11:42 AM

What ever you do Watch your fingers!

Sizzlersonthebrain · 01-13-2007, 12:30 PM

catch him and sendhim to me!

hypoxia · 01-13-2007, 01:17 PM

Get it out of there NOW. I know someone who would sit there with a darning needle and flashlight at night and stab them one by one to get them out. She finally had to let the tank run fallow for seven months.

Sea monkey · 01-13-2007, 01:42 PM

with a quick search on RC i found this post . Need to be careful on what we advise people to do, doubly so with drastic measures like interceptor and "nuking" your tank . Many people actually listen to the things we have to say

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=656178

Quote:

I have been battling cirolanid isopods in my tank for over 6 months now. Unfortunately starving them out is probably your best option.

I have been testing a variety of things to see what will kill the cirolanids in somewhat controlled conditions. I don't have my data with me so I can't comment on exact figures, but here is what I found:

1. The interceptor treatment does not work very well at killing the isopods. It did possibly kill some of mine, but the vast majority withstood the treatment for days. For a treatment time that long you are going to kill off tons of other things in your main tank.

2. Freshwater dips will kill them, but it takes a long time. The minimum amount of time it took to kill an isopod for me was 10 minutes. Several of them lasted almost an hour. I also dipped one in FW until it was no longer moving(10 minutes) and I put it back in SW and it recovered in less than a minute.

A freshwater dip of your live rock for 10+ minutes is going to kill just about everything on it and will result in a large cycle in your tank and basically dead live rock.

3. Copper is going to make your rock worthless, I would avoid it.

I hope to write up my results at some point so everyone can see them, just haven't had the time lately and still doing some tests unfortunately.

Another tip, do not feed ANY meaty food into the tank with the isopods, they could be the scavenging kind like mine and live off that even with no fish. It is also a good idea to remove any creature that molts (crabs, shrimp) as my isopods feed off those as well.

Brian

Sea monkey · 01-13-2007, 01:54 PM

BTW if you can catch one we can figure out definatively what you have.

Quote:

Sphaeromatids are small bugs, generally less than a centimeter in length. They are common scavengers in many shallow marine environments, including coral reefs, and they are harmless to reef aquarium inhabitants. They can be recognized immediately by a couple of distinctive characters. First, each individual has the capability to roll into a ball-like terrestrial pill bug. None of the other isopods likely to be found aquaria will be able do that. Second, when examined with a hand lens or magnifying glass, the last pair of appendages of the males are expanded and extend to the rear, like small rudders or the fins on a 1959 Caddy. Females lack these extensions, but if some of the isopods are seen with them, that is usually a good indication that the rest of them are also Sphaeromatids.

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