Is this a parasite?

[amps]

I have a convict tang that was the sole survivor of a 1 month QT (posted about the 3 anthias I lost already).

He had a formalin bath upon getting him home, 3 weeks of CP and 2 doses of Prazipro.

It wasn't until I got him into the DT that I saw a small wound 0.5 cm behind his left fin. Up close it looked like a little red bump with 2 super tiny clear filaments coming out of it. Today (4 days later) I decided to do something about it when it only seemed to get larger. I netted him out of the tank and carefully pulled the 'whatever-it-is' out with some tweezers. The whole thing is maybe 1cm long, equally divided between the part that was inside and the part outside.

Here's a few pics I took with a little macro adapter for my phone (super handy btw):

http://imgur.com/a/AU6F2

In 2 of the pictures you can clearly see that it's two separate filaments that were sticking out. Was this an anchor worm or some sort of parasitic copepod?

 

[melypr1985]

It's definitely something.... I think I've seen that before in one of the studies I read. I'll need to look through them again and see if I can find it. I'll be back.

In the mean time @Humblefish will probably know right off the bat

 

[amps]

Thanks! I should mention that everything but the two filaments was completely embedded in the flesh of the fish, perpendicular to his skin. The 'root' of it must have gone 2/3 of the way through his body, almost to the other side.

After pulling it, I gave him a quick 10min formalin bath (Ich-X) that includes some malachite-green.

 

[melypr1985]

I found some images that seem to match what this is, but I haven't found the paper I was talking about. Then I thought it was in another link, but I can't find the link anymore. It's somewhere on here. I'll keep searching. I think your dip was a good idea btw.

 

[Triggreef]

Clearly a hair follicle. Nothing to see here.


Just kidding man. lol No idea what that is just want to be able to come back and look when someone figures it out.

 

[melypr1985]

OK. I've looked all over and at about a million pictures and publications. i can't find it, but I found a few pictures from other people who had something similar. None of those (that I found) got an answer on what it was. I'm guessing some kind of anchor worm, but that's a guess based on the body structure. I wish I could see a good close up of the other end. I'll keep looking around, but I hope humble drops in and has an idea.

 

[amps]

OK. I've looked all over and at about a million pictures and publications. i can't find it, but I found a few pictures from other people who had something similar. None of those (that I found) got an answer on what it was. I'm guessing some kind of anchor worm, but that's a guess based on the body structure. I wish I could see a good close up of the other end. I'll keep looking around, but I hope humble drops in and has an idea.

Thanks for taking the time. I took a couple more pictures of the little sucker: http://imgur.com/a/kll2i

What's interesting and seems unique compared to other people's problems is that the two filaments are actually one piece! I suspected but once I got a real close look, they're actually a loop that was sticking out of the tang.

I looked through a couple hundred photos of copepods and worms and didn't see any that had an external loop like that. So weirddddddddd

 

[melypr1985]

Yeah. that's really weird. I just don't know what it is. I'm sorry. I'm glad you got it out of the fish though. How is he doing after the removal and dip?

 

[amps]

Yeah. that's really weird. I just don't know what it is. I'm sorry. I'm glad you got it out of the fish though. How is he doing after the removal and dip?

He didn't flinch while I pulled it out and was calm throughout the dip. He's in the DT now and swimming around like before.

 

[melypr1985]

He didn't flinch while I pulled it out and was calm throughout the dip. He's in the DT now and swimming around like before.

Well that's something. Keep an eye on the insertion point and look for redness or swelling. After a few days if you don't see anything, then I'd say he's safe from infection... at least from this anyway.

 

[Humblefish]

Definitely looks/sounds anchor worm like; although most anchor worms have a "V" tail. Something tells me @Lionfish Lair may know what this is for sure.

If it was an embedded worm, removing with tweezers was the correct course of action. Of course, now you need to be watchful for infection; a topical antibiotic such as Bio-bandage would be ideal. Also, you can use Dimilin to sanitize a QT of anchor worm eggs...

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Those filaments were outward, right? And the other end without the filaments is what was attached?

 

[amps]

Rh

Those filaments were outward, right? And the other end without the filaments is what was attached?

The clear filaments were the only part of the thing sticking out. The rest of the thing (the greyish/brown tube) was completely inside the fish.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Anchor worms usually have a little part of their body structure sticking out, but it looks like one despite that. The strands filaments are a little long though. Give me the day to poke through my textbooks and see what I can come across.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I'm now on my PC and just saw the additional photos. Do you mine if I bring all the pictures here for reference?

 

[amps]

I'm now on my PC and just saw the additional photos. Do you mine if I bring all the pictures here for reference?

Go for it. This is an interesting mystery.

Slight update: The convict tang is doing fine in the DT 16hrs after removing the parasite and giving him a Hikari Ich-X bath. Eating normally and swimming with the other fish.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I'm wondering is the internal part was fish tissue or not and if the peach part is actually the critter.

 

[amps]

I'm wondering is the internal part was fish tissue or not and if the peach part is actually the critter.

I was thinking the same thing. The pink/peach globule at the end of the filament looks like it would be the body of the beast. Maybe it started more internal (from food or swallowing) and it worked it's way through the body to the outside, leaving a vein of scar/bad tissue. It didn't appear to move, retract or flinch at all while it was still attached or after it was pulled, I think it may have been dead from the 2 rounds of prazi that it went through.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I'm looking at that closely on my 27" screen and I totally think that's tissue.... I swear I've hauled stuff like that out of people. You can also see in the second picture above that's it's not continuous.... there's a gap between the peach part and and the gray part. That to me totally looks like a species of sea lice and perhaps from the order Siphonostomatoida. blah!