Received Yellow Tang with black snail like objects attached to him

[blackstallion]

I received a Yellow Tang from an online vendor yesterday and these were attached to him and in the bag. ID on what they are? He's in QT now so no risk of them getting into the DT, but I haven't seen these before, especially attached to a fish!

 

[blackstallion]

I reached out to the seller and he said this Tang had been in a frag tank with inverts so most likely these are baby snails, although I've never seen snails attach to a fish!

 

[Bleigh]

I reached out to the seller and he said this Tang had been in a frag tank with inverts so most likely these are baby snails, although I've never seen snails attach to a fish!

Back when I had freshwater tanks, I had an explosion of snails and they attached to the fish and ate them alive.

im assuming you pulled them off the fish. If so, did they look like snails? And did the fish have any wounds where they were?

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Got me stumped. Free bump.

 

[blackstallion]

Back when I had freshwater tanks, I had an explosion of snails and they attached to the fish and ate them alive.

im assuming you pulled them off the fish. If so, did they look like snails? And did the fish have any wounds where they were?

Once I put the Tang into the QT tank the remaining snails fell off, I cannot see any physical damage to the fish.

 

[blackstallion]

No signs of physical harm, but only time will tell I guess...you can actually see the dead snail on the glass bottom beside him...

 

[Bleigh]

Once I put the Tang into the QT tank the remaining snails fell off, I cannot see any physical damage to the fish.

so definitely not growths on the fish. Strange. I suspect fish almost always come in with things on them that fall off, just most aren’t visible.

 

[Bleigh]

No signs of physical harm, but only time will tell I guess...you can actually see the dead snail on the glass bottom beside him...

do you think it died when it went into The tank? If so, that seems a little odd. Hoping someone else will come along and know what it is.

 

[blackstallion]

do you think it died when it went into The tank? If so, that seems a little odd. Hoping someone else will come along and know what it is.

Yea, it was attached to him before going into the tank and I didn't notice until he was in QT. Within a couple hours it fell off. I had pre-dosed 1ppm Cu and Metro into the QT, so that combo probably did him in.

 

[Bleigh]

Yea, it was attached to him before going into the tank and I didn't notice until he was in QT. Within a couple hours it fell off. I had pre-dosed 1ppm Cu and Metro into the QT, so that combo probably did him in.

Hopefully it was just catching a free ride then. I wonderhow many inverts were in the tank it came from.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've never seen that in 50+ years. Native freshwater fish become parasitized by larval clams, and I once found a tiny sea anemone hanging onto the skin of a flashlight fish, but never snails. There aren't any fish parasites that could even be mistaken for snails, so I'd just call it a fluke (no pun intended).

Jay

 

[Qasimja]

the fish looks healthy i think its gonna be fine

 

[BrandonS]

Do you know what the salinity the fish came in?

 

[Steph72]

What a handsome tang!!!! I’m glad you got those snails off him. Too weird.

 

[blackstallion]

I've never seen that in 50+ years. Native freshwater fish become parasitized by larval clams, and I once found a tiny sea anemone hanging onto the skin of a flashlight fish, but never snails. There aren't any fish parasites that could even be mistaken for snails, so I'd just call it a fluke (no pun intended).

Jay

Do flukes have hard shells? These definitely were organisms that were in a hard shell.

 

[blackstallion]

Do you know what the salinity the fish came in?

17ppt, the QT is at 15ppt.

 

[BrandonS]

17ppt, the QT is at 15ppt.

maybe a brakish snail then?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Do flukes have hard shells? These definitely were organisms that were in a hard shell.

No - I should have said pun intended! A fluke can be a parasite, but it can also be something that happens by accident (grin).

Jay

 

[blackstallion]

No - I should have said pun intended! A fluke can be a parasite, but it can also be something that happens by accident (grin).

Jay

Gotcha, I do understand a good pun