White string on Achilles tang

[lone reefer]

Hi everyone, my Achilles has what looks like a little white string stuck to his forehead for the last few days. The closest I could come to identifying it is maybe a parasitic copepod? He seems healthy otherwise. Interested to see what anyone else thinks. I’ve attached the best photos I could get. Thanks

 

[dhanking]

Does it move in the flow or is it attached to his body at all sides of the string

 

[lone reefer]

Does it move in the flow or is it attached to his body at all sides of the string

Moves in the flow, appears to be only attached at one small point in the middle of its forehead between the eyes

 

[lone reefer]

Here are some better pics

 

[dhanking]

Probably some type of parasitic worm

 

[dhanking]

Copper will kill it, so if I were you I would catch it at night and quarantine

 

[lone reefer]

Copper will kill it, so if I were you I would catch it at night and quarantine

Well all the fish in the tank were quarantined ahead of time with copper and prazi and they’ve all been in the tank for a few months and all corals have also gone through a qt or a thorough dip process so I’m kinda skeptical of it being a worm. From what I’ve been able to find it looks more like a parasitic copepod, which there isn’t really a treatment. The visible stingy piece doesn’t appear to moving like a worm would be

 

[dhanking]

If copper won't work,
Maybe you can just pluck the string. In any case, you should still isolate the tang so it doesn't spread the parasites more than it has.

 

[lone reefer]

If copper won't work,
Maybe you can just pluck the string. In any case, you should still isolate the tang so it doesn't spread the parasites more than it has.

I agree that isolating a fish that seems to have a possible parasite would be best, but I do not have a extra qt setup at the moment and the Achilles is sensitive. When he was moved to the main display from qt he got constipated and didn’t eat for 3 days. So I’m really not trying to go that route unless I’m certain it’s something to be that concerned about. If it is a parasitic copepod then the fish will likely fight it off and they are not know to infect another fish from what I’ve been able to find on that type of copepod. I had a disease wipeout over half my fish about 6 months ago so as I am quite paranoid now I have seen a white spec here and there on my other tangs and it ended up just being a piece of sand or debris that got caught in their mucous layer. So if every time I saw the smallest thing and decided to pull a fish out without knowing what was actually on the fish I would’ve caused myself and the fish quite a bit more stress than necessary. I’ve looked up many pictures on worms on other fish and it just doesn’t look like anything as far as worms go.

 

[dhanking]

Do you have a cleaner shrimp? That could help