Fish parasite need help

[tbishop17]

Hey,

I have a firefish goby who looked like he was acting a little strange and after keeping a closer eye on him I noticed these small worm looking things on hes skin. They looked like they were crawling over hes body and were causing him to twitch. He was eating fine and seemed to be doing well it was just the occasional shimmer that I noticed. I have since taken him out of my display tank and freshwater dipped him and then placed him in a small hospital tank. I cant see them at the moment but haven't been able to find anything about them. Unfortuantly they were to small to photograph, any ideas?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Give it a freshwater dip followed with PraziPro to treat. Assure water quality is good as it may be turibella worms you see causing irritation

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Did the FW dip give the fish any relief? Are you sure they were worms and not juvenile copepods? Fire fish are prone to a parasitic copepod unique to them.
Jay

 

[tbishop17]

Hey,

Thanks for the response. It could be parasitic copepods. None of my other fish seem to be having a issue. My water seems good. I do 20% water change every Friday. My salinity is 1.026, pH steady, alk 8.4, mag 1350 and calcium 420

Are juvenile copepods dangerous for the fish?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

They normally cannot reproduce in an aquarium, so they don’t get out of control. The females develop egg strings that look like worms hanging off the fish.
I don’t know if this is what you fish has, it was just an idea. It could Also be a worm of some sort, so prazipro might help with that .
Jay