Worm like parasite

[Mishri]

My powder blue tang has been glancing, and has lack of appetite.. he's been good for about 4 months in my 40 gallon breeder, moved him to my 75 gallon which has 2 clown fish that have been in there for 5 months, they also displayed minimal appetite during that time, but otherwise appeared normal.. figured I was just over feeding and they were eating left overs while I wasn't watching..

so.. this is the best picture I can get of it:

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd285/Mishre/59d1700f-7c8e-4e95-a6a1-646f91439a24_zpsifz47wq5.jpg

I noticed 3 all right next to each other near it's dorsal fin a few days ago.. I dosed Parazi Pro On sunday.. now I only see the 1.. he is glancing, I'm assuming he is knocking them off, and then they reattach.. He still eats some.. but about 1/4 what he was in the 40 gallon. (feeding nori) what's interesting is he still picks at the rocks/glass for algae quite a bit.. just ignores frozen foods and nori for the most part.. (slowly picks at it.. takes nearly 2 days to finish nori he used to finish in a couple of hours)

Any thoughts?


think it's flukes?

[Mishri]

I dosed all fish with parazi pro soon after I got them.. but I only did 1 treatment.. think the eggs survived and continued to infect the fish in their gills? Re-dose next Sunday?

[Newsmyrna80]

Prazi does not kill the eggs. Redosing 5-7 after the initial dose is recommended as per the instructions on the bottle.

[Mishri]

cool thanks.. saturday I'll re-dose...


The instructions say not to dose again for 3-5 days though :D

[ThRoewer]

Looks like an Anchor Worm (Lernea spp.) - though it's not an actual worm but a crustacean arthropod. It can be removed with tweezers.
This would be one of the parasites where a cleaner shrimp could actually help...

[Mishri]

haha.. I went searching for a cleaner shrimp and cant find one... parazi pro doesn't seem to be working...

edit: just ordered some online.. think there is much risk of ich assuming I "rinse" them off first?.. I'd guess that tomonts could be on their shells correct?

I put rinse in quotes because id be rinsing them in tank water that I siphon out of the tank.. into a bucket.

[Mishri]

well.. skunk cleaners don't seem to be doing anything to help him.. though he hangs out and tries to get the cleaners to clean him up.. wherever they are on his body he holds it towards the cleaners.. they are really small shrimp though, so maybe just too small to tackle them? couldn't find any large ones.. he seemed to be doing better soon after I added them, and I have seen them cleaning him.. but he isn't eatting well anymore.. ignoring nori, only eating mysis, and only sparingly.

I'm considering a freshwater dip.. only problem is catching him will be tough, as he hides in the rocks all the time.

[Mishri]

well good news, took awhile, but the skunk cleaners finally cleaned him up nicely, he is out and active, fattening up again. Looks good. Thanks for the advice, probably saved his life.

[MitchSutherland]

Good to hear!