Black bug on gobie

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RobE

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 17, 2008
440
0
46
Seminole, FL
I recently set up a 10gal fowlr tank, This is my first salt i have several fresh. It has 6 lbs of base rock and 7 lbs of live rock along with live sand. The live rock came from an established tank. My parameters are.
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate >10ppm
ph 8.1
salinity 1.025
I finally decided to get some fish i picked up 2 paired up Yellow Watchman Goby - Cryptocentrus cinctus. I acclimated them and i noticed a black spot on one of there fins. After a wile i noticed that there was more spots on both and they moved around. My initial thought was fish lice but i cant find anything that matches. They are approximately 1.5 mm in length and black , i cant get close enough to get a good look at them. If i have to ill try again to get a pic of it, every time i get close with the camera the hurry back to there cave. I was wondering if there is any natural way to get rid of these things (cleaner shrimp) id prefer not to have to use meds if i can. Thanks in advance, Rob.
 
An update now there are considerably more on them now and some are clear looking and another has a red tint to it. My wife saw one jump off and borrow in the sand. The gobys are pretty distressed I don't know what to do any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
This is the best pic i could get. You can see one on his dorsal fin and if you look close you can see one on his pectoral fin also. I think that they start off transparent and may be sucking the blood of the goby. They look like copeopods up close. I hope someone has some suggestions i don't know how long there going to be able to survive like this.
parasite.jpeg
 
Wow, I haven't seen anything like that either. You could try an RO freshwater bath, if these guys are able to dis-attach themselves. The other problem to consider, if they are dis-attaching themselves, and there is no general "cure", you'll have to break down the tank to be rid of them. If not completely dry everything out.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, and good luck.
 
I have looked around the web and have come to the conclusion that it is some sort of isopod. Are there any natural predators that will take care of them like some sort of shrimp? I really don't want to use meds if I don't have to. Thanks.
 
So in that picture, on the base of the dorsal, is that one, or a grouping of them? If it's a grouping right there, given your measuments you provided for an individual..... it could be a case of Black Spot. It's most often seen in Tangs but don't be fooled, it can and does infect a whole host of others. It's a parasite, yes. But not a lice, that's probably why you couldn't find anything close to what you were looking for. Black Spot disease is actually a flatworm - turbellarian flatworm. If it is infact flatworms, there are a few things you can do to get rid of them and save your fish, but what I'm about to tell you is not something that's going to make you happy - just warning you. These parasites live in the substrate - which just made your goby all that more of an appealing host. At the larval stage, they feed on detritus matter in the substrate and lack pigmentation, being almost transparent - which is why it's not a parasite you can look for until it finds it's host in your fish. Once grown is when it seeks out a host, and then proceeds to feed off it's tissues and blood - this is what gives it it's deep brown/black pigmentation, and this is when the aquariust usually first realizes there is a problem. And yes, they move around. It's life span is actually pretty short, and it generally feeds for up to a week on the host fish, and then detaches it's self and falls back into the substrate... But this is where it gets gross. utelizing asexual reproduction, once the adult is done feeding and detaches, soon after, it's body literally ruptures and out comes a whole group of new flatworm babies. And so, the cycle starts all over again - in larger numbers this time. It's important to note your fish's behavior when infected and trying to cure this plague, because though it's not a fungi or bacteria, it can still proove lethal, resulting in lethargy, color blanching, loss of appetite, rapid breathing, and a very high potential for secondary infections at the wound sites.
To treat it, I'd recommend an immediate freshwater dip of all fish infected, and if you want to be doubly sure - a formalin bath as well. But don't do that until you read up on it, or ask one of us how, because it's not something to just prepare and dump your fish into. Being that you just purchased these fish, you could get lucky and the worms might not have seeded your subtrate yet as they are still attached to their host. If that's the case, it's the best case-scenario, and I'd remove those fish immediately and get them in QT otherwise you are about to have a battle in your tank which could take months to clear. But because it's always better to be safe rather than sorry, I'd move all the fish from that tank, do a freshwater dip on the two notably affected, followed by formalin (if you choose), and put them all in a QT, leaving your main tank void of all fish. Even though the adult worms don't live long, it's impossible to say with all certainty that they haven't ruptured and your substrate isn't crawling with larve. Because of that, it's imperative to remove all hosts from the tank, to prevent the larve from fully maturing and reproducing. If the main tank is infected, and the worms aren't completely erradicated, reinfection is bound to happen, no matter how effectively you treat and cure the fish themselves. Unfortunately because the worms in their larval and juvenile stages can survive for several months without a host, it's not an easy thing to do to make sure a display tank is really safe, and can be a major headache. For right now though, you need to act, and god's willing, you may be able to save yourself from having them deposited into your sand considering they apprear to still be feeding.
oh yea, and remember to stop in and thank your supplier for being the most uneducated doofus, and selling you flatworm infested fish, and let them know they've got an epidemic chillin in their tanks as we speak.
 
Thank you water_baby83 for your very detailed response. I did lose the smaller of the two gobys, unfortunate but it did allow me to get a better look at what was attached to the side of my fish. It defiantly was not a worm i did some looking and i think it is some sort of isopod, i don't have the ability to take a detailed magnified picture. Although i am no expert i do believe that is what it is so i need to know how to get rid of these things. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Rob
 
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