How does cryptocaryon tomites find fish?

[kingkai512]

Does anyone know? do they go by the co2 produced by the gills? temperature? eyes? every article i see online just states that they hatch and "find a host".
but is there actual reasoning behind their methods of host finding?

 

[Gary S]

From what I understand no. They just enter the free swimming stage of growth and then out of pure luck, land on the fishes skin, then burrows into it to restart the cycle. Although I imagine the siphoning effect of the fish breathing would help draw more towards and into it.

 

[kingkai512]

so i also read that they normally target the night time to release into tomites because they have an increased chance of latching onto a sleeping fish since they are lower to the ground and ich tends to bury in substrate

so in theory, if we had a tall tank and seperated it horizantally with a grate of some kind, that would decrease the chance of ich finding a target?

 

[Gary S]

so i also read that they normally target the night time to release into tomites because they have an increased chance of latching onto a sleeping fish since they are lower to the ground and ich tends to bury in substrate

so in theory, if we had a tall tank and seperated it horizantally with a grate of some kind, that would decrease the chance of ich finding a target?

I suppose theoretically yes, idk in practice though

 

[scuzy]

Well water movement will lift them.

 

[kingkai512]

hmmm.. so this is thinking out of the box here, half of the tank grated, fish on top substrate coral on bottom, but powerheads on the top also to guide water down

 

[lapin]

Normally they tend to hatch out at night, when fish are resting near the substrate. Better chance of finding a host. They have cilia, so they swim. The issue we have in our tanks is they have a captive audience that cant go very far. This is one reason why we have problems. Another is our fish tend to sleep in the same place in our tanks each night. They cant just move on to a different part of the reef if irritated because in our tanks, they have territories. In addition to this we have a very large population of fish per area, unlike reefs in the ocean. Lot of food for the tomites to choose from in a small area.

 

[kingkai512]

well that is why i mentioned the idea above:
keep fish away from the substrate
have powerheads on to prevent tomites from swimming upward

i know its realistically a silly idea but there has to be some way for the tomites to find a host, surely they arent just popping out of their cyst like a shotgun and burrowing into anything they land on

 

[Gary S]

well that is why i mentioned the idea above:
keep fish away from the substrate
have powerheads on to prevent tomites from swimming upward

i know its realistically a silly idea but there has to be some way for the tomites to find a host, surely they arent just popping out of their cyst like a shotgun and burrowing into anything they land on

I would think power heads would stir them up into the column seeing as they're near microscopic. The only way that makes the most practical sense is thru starvation. That means breaking the cycle by constantly changing tanks until there is no chance that the larva survived (3 weeks if I recall).

 

[lapin]

well that is why i mentioned the idea above:
keep fish away from the substrate
have powerheads on to prevent tomites from swimming upward

i know its realistically a silly idea but there has to be some way for the tomites to find a host, surely they arent just popping out of their cyst like a shotgun and burrowing into anything they land on

This might work to a degree. You would have to be shooting fresh saltwater down into the tank then out thru the tank bottom. If you used any of the water that came out the bottom you would be putting them right back in the system.
Just 1 cyst produces 100 to 1000 babies.

 

[Starblenny]

well that is why i mentioned the idea above:
keep fish away from the substrate
have powerheads on to prevent tomites from swimming upward

i know its realistically a silly idea but there has to be some way for the tomites to find a host, surely they arent just popping out of their cyst like a shotgun and burrowing into anything they land on

That's assuming the fish is crypto free. If the fish already has crypto, then it wouldn't matter if you keep the fish away from the substrate; the crypto cycle will continue, especially in the 3-72 day long reproduction stage.

Besides, I'd imagine crypto parents laying hundreds of mini-cryptos (can't remember the proper term for crypto offsprings) and the odds of finding a host would fall in the favor for the crypto than attempting to hide the fish itself.

 

[kingkai512]

once it finishes that feeding stage off the fish doesnt it fall off and attach itself somewhere on the substrate? how does it know where to attach? or is it like the tomite stage where it just chooses anywhere randomly

 

[Gary S]

That's assuming the fish is crypto free. If the fish already has crypto, then it wouldn't matter if you keep the fish away from the substrate; the crypto cycle will continue, especially in the 3-72 day long reproduction stage.

Besides, I'd imagine crypto parents laying hundreds of mini-cryptos (can't remember the proper term for crypto offsprings) and the odds of finding a host would fall in the favor for the crypto than attempting to hide the fish itself.

No to mention the stress that the fish would be under would only worsen the effects.

 

[lapin]

once it finishes that feeding stage off the fish doesnt it fall off and attach itself somewhere on the substrate? how does it know where to attach? or is it like the tomite stage where it just chooses anywhere randomly

The trophont leaves the fish and becomes what is called a protomont. This protomont travels to the substrate and begins to crawl around for usually two to eight hours, but it could go on for as long as eighteen hours after it leaves it's host (i.e. the fish). Once the protomont attaches to a surface, it begins to encyst and is now called a tomont.

 

[Maritimer]

If the protomont falls off at night and burrows into the substrate, there's a decent chance that the same - or another - sleepy fish will be nearby when the theronts of the next generation hatch out. And there'll be plenty of them. If only a relative few find a fish, the Cryptocaryon population gets a chance to increase.

~Bruce