id help please!

[scoobahSAM]

Ive been noticing a small circular bug(invert?) inside my tank the past couple nights after turning my lights off. Ill come back about an hour or so later and flash a flash light onto the glass and sure enough its there. After looking at it with my light beaming right on it for about a minute, it unlatches itself from the glass and floats off into the night of my tank. Maybe a type of iso? Im hoping its not a parasitic isopod like a creoland (Ive read they like to latch onto fish) Anyway, I'm trying to eliminate the problem, if it is, before adding any livestock.

 

ive been trying to get a picture of it but its kind of hard taking a picture of something when you're trying to hold a flashlight right at it while taking a picture of a teeny tiny little bug on glass lol

 

ive been looking at sites that have different pictures of hitchhikers too but nothing really looks much like it. Its a perfect circular bug.. transparent. I dont remember if it had two eyes in the center or not.

[scoobahSAM]

heres a picture of it.. anyone?

 

[mmcguffi]

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchpods.html

 

any of those guys?

[scoobahSAM]

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchpods.html

 

any of those guys?

ive searched through that site a few times and im hoping its from the Sphaeromatidae family. It looks like the last one in this link the most.. http://www.crustacea.net/crustace/isopoda/www/sphaerom.htm

 

but im just asking for more clarification

[mmcguffi]

a lot of the time those guys are parasitic to fish.

 

Id just throw him out just to be safe.

 

when it doubt, just throw out

[scoobahSAM]

a lot of the time those guys are parasitic to fish.

 

Id just throw him out just to be safe.

 

when it doubt, just throw out

yeah ive been trying to catch him the last few nights but ive only seen him like two nights since ive had my cuc in there and thats been approx. a week and a half. I actually just checked right now with my little flashlight but no luck.. any ideas on how to catch it? everytime I seem to catch him in the action he delatches himself from the glass by the time I can try to do anything

[mmcguffi]

turkey baster him out when you see him perhaps?

[scoobahSAM]

I think youre thinking of cirolanid isopods being parasitic towards fish.. i think sphaeromatidae are more known to be algae grazers and for sure whatever it was it wasn't a cirolanid

[mndfreeze]

You def want to catch it and get a good ID picture. That pic could be anything. Eyes are the key thing with isopods also. There is a way to tell between the two if you catch it. Apparently the Sphaeromatidae will roll up like a rolly polly / pill bug if you stress it out a bit. The bad isopods won't do that,. and tend to be a bit more clear.

[scoobahSAM]

You def want to catch it and get a good ID picture. That pic could be anything. Eyes are the key thing with isopods also. There is a way to tell between the two if you catch it. Apparently the Sphaeromatidae will roll up like a rolly polly / pill bug if you stress it out a bit. The bad isopods won't do that,. and tend to be a bit more clear.

Ill try to catch it.. I didnt see it at all last night or the night before. Anyone know an easier way to catch these things? Other than sitting around in the dark with a flashlight and turkey baster for hours peaking in with a flashlight every hour to see if its there?

[wolfador]

the bad isopods are scary looking. LOL, I had one in my tank when I first got the live rock.

 

What I did was leave a net in the tank and used a diffused flashlight to locate it, then I turned on the lights which I guess stunned him for a second and I was able to snatch him.