Isopods 😥

[Oma_24jbj]

First post here, and it’s a long and terrible subject. I’ve re-entered the hobby after a 6yr hiatus with a 24g JBJ LED nanocube. I started it up in July with purchased live rock & sand straight from the ocean. I dealt with the company before and their product is excellent. This time, though, some nasty isopods made the trip too.

 

After a month of cycling, and getting both parts of the package into my tank, I added some simple corals;  zoa’s, Duncan’s, lepto. I added a 6 line wrasse about 3 weeks ago and she was happy and healthy. Less than a week ago I added a bangaii cardinal. 

 

A white thing appears on my wrasse’s mouth and my heart goes cold, because I also see big black eyes. She stops eating. A day later it disappears, but I know isopods will drop off, but I suspect this was the really bad kind that gets inside their mouth. A day later my cardinal stops eating. She’s hungry but can’t eat. A day after that they’re both dead.

 

I’ve read the incredible isopod article, and know how to make a trap. I’m leaning toward letting the tank lie fallow for a few months to let them die of starvation, because in my heart of hearts that’s what they deserve for destroying my beautiful fish.

 

questions, if I choose to fallow my tank:

 

do I need to foster out my corals so no food source goes into the tank?

will isopods feed on the cuc; variety of snails, hermits, peppermint & mantis shrimp?

I would be thinking appr a 3mo period; opinions on length of time?

should I just nuke my tank from space? (because now I wish I’d gone the old-fashioned route; I hate that I killed 2 fish!)

 

Please offer personal isopod adventures and methods for quelling these Evil Ba#t!&ds.

[Euphylin me]

see if you can capture one and post a picture on here. some isopods are very good for your reef but there are parasitic kinds. i have heard of people hunting them at night while they feed

[Oma_24jbj]

Oh, I know without a doubt these are the bad guys with the big black eyes! I had a clear view of the one hanging on my wrasses mouth. White body, two huge black eyes. 

I know the trap method; glass jar, inverted plastic bottle top, and a very stinky shrimp & stinky shrimp water in the jar. 

Do you know anything about leaving tanks go fallow so the suckers starve?

[Euphylin me]

i would recommend hunting rather than going fallow....obviously dont put in any fish. but parasitic isopods (from what i remember) can eat other things in the tank as well, like detritus. i would try the trap method. hunt them diligently and youll be okay. i just read something that people acclimate mollies and put them in breeder boxes (cruel) and then at night when the isopods feed, they take them out

[Aurortpa]

I’m not familiar with parasitic isopods but have come across them in other forums.  Funny, I thought wrasses especially a 6 line would devour them 😦

 

Try a fang blenny maybe, I know they eat pods, isopods, small worms continuously.

 

If you ever suspect one gets into another fish again tho, look up the protocol and try methylene blue baths—very safe for fish and very bad for pests.  Don’t put in your system tho, it will destroy your biological filtration.

[Oma_24jbj]

I definitely wouldn’t go the moll

1 hour ago, Euphylin me said:

i would recommend hunting rather than going fallow....obviously dont put in any fish. but parasitic isopods (from what i remember) can eat other things in the tank as well, like detritus. i would try the trap method. hunt them diligently and youll be okay. i just read something that people acclimate mollies and put them in breeder boxes (cruel) and then at night when the isopods feed, they take them out

I def wouldn’t go the mollie route, but I think I’ll try the trap. I’ve since read they can/will feed on snails, will even eat flake food!

so, I’m going to go with the stinky shrimp in the glass jar/inverted plastic bottle top with a small hole drilled in the cap method.

[Oma_24jbj]

4 minutes ago, Aurortpa said:

I’m not familiar with parasitic isopods but have come across them in other forums.  Funny, I thought wrasses especially a 6 line would devour them 😦

 

Try a fang blenny maybe, I know they eat pods, isopods, small worms continuously.

 

If you ever suspect one gets into another fish again tho, look up the protocol and try methylene blue baths—very safe for fish and very bad for pests.  Don’t put in your system tho, it will destroy your biological filtration.

The ciroland isopods eat their way out 😝

my system is so small (24g) and has 35lbs of rock...if I could catch a fish it’d be a miracle!

[Aurortpa]

Oh my gosh, it’s like an alien movie.

 

oh goodness...well glass jars or very clear tubs work to scurry fish into, they can’t see them.  

 

Good luck, will be following! Can you get a pic of one when you can so I know what to look out for? 

[mcarroll]

Pic plz!