Sea Lice ?

Scotcheggs · Jan 30, 2019

Hi All,

I took my clown fish out from 8 week QT and within 2 days in my DT my poor wee dude had this thing from hell in his gill.

I removed it with tweezers but have never seen this before.

Anyone got any ideas what it is, at first I thought it was a large Pod looking for a home but when it came off it more looks like a louce or somthing else.

Any ideas welcome.
Cheers ScotchEgg

ihavecrabs · Jan 30, 2019

Crazy!!! Parasitic isopod would be my educated guess.

#reefsquad you need to see this!

ihavecrabs · Jan 30, 2019

Oh and #WelcometoR2R @Scotcheggs

S-t-r-e-t-c-h · Jan 30, 2019

ihavecrabs said:
Crazy!!! Parasitic isopod would be my educated guess.

#reefsquad you need to see this!

Agree. Also YIKES!

Physical removal is usually the first step, so good for that. Good luck!

Frtdrmrose7 · Jan 30, 2019

That’s crazy! Hopefully you don’t have more in your DT

Lovemyreef2015 · Jan 30, 2019

Probably a cirolanid isopod

reef lover · Jan 30, 2019

Yup...no good
Welcome to r2r!

Big G · Jan 30, 2019

Welcome to R2R! How's your little dude doing now that the critter is gone? How is its breathing?

rkpetersen · Jan 30, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
That’s crazy! Hopefully you don’t have more in your DT

Nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Oh, and welcome to R2R @Scotcheggs !

Big G · Jan 30, 2019

rkpetersen said:
Nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Screen Shot 2019-01-30 at 1.57.01 PM.png

Scotcheggs · Jan 31, 2019

Thanks for the warm and slightly spooked welcome from everyone.

I have called off the nuke for now, I think it came of a new bit of live rock I gambled on.

Leopard Wrasse just came out of my QT to nom nom on any of its friends (if any)

The little dude is happy as a pig in poop now it's gone.

Just for info, I tried a freshwater dip twice prior to removing with tweezers as I was worried it was attached to the gil tissue but it made it go deeper.

I eventually got it off with the tweezers after lots of fun trying to get him to lie on 1 side while a giant came at him with 2 sharp sticks !!!.

Anyways all is well for now

Scotcheggs · Jan 31, 2019

Here's the wee dude now and my overly photogenic Emp saying hello

Scotcheggs · Jan 31, 2019

He is breathing fine, he was a little shell shocked after the freshwater dip then removal, but was eating like a pig and fine an hour later.

He back to trying to dominate the other clown into being the female lol

Sabellafella · Jan 31, 2019

Scotcheggs said:
Hi All,

I took my clown fish out from 8 week QT and within 2 days in my DT my poor wee dude had this thing from hell in his gill.

I removed it with tweezers but have never seen this before.

Anyone got any ideas what it is, at first I thought it was a large Pod looking for a home but when it came off it more looks like a louce or somthing else.

Any ideas welcome.
Cheers ScotchEgg

What a photo! Your on the right path. It's not that common of a fish parasite in the hobby, but there's been quite a few threads I've came by with these parasitic isopod I believe? Little guy should be fine now! Crazy that the parasite is almost half the size of the clown