13 replies to this topic

[Sean Phillips]

As I'm looking at my week old riffle tank I notice my female rainbow darter has something stuck on its caudal fin. I've no idea what it is but since it appears to be hanging on by its mouth my first thought is a leech. All the fish in this tank are wild caught and while I did the best to wash them I could all the rocks are from my local creek so a leech could've been living on one of them as well (although I had the rocks out of water dry on my porch for about 2 weeks then boiled them multiple times). Other fish in the tank include a male rainbow darter, 2 Greenside darters, 2 Variegate darters, 1 banded darter, 5 mimic shiners, and 1 Bluntnose minnow. Do you guys know what this is and is there a need for me to take out the fish and remove the leech (at whatever it is) with tweezers or should I let it go?

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[Michael Wolfe]

it does look like a leech...

I have never taken one off of a darter, but have removed them from sunfish before.

I would be concerned with a darter as they are so small, but if you can catch the fish and do the tweezer removal task underwater, you might not stress the fish too much...

[Sean Phillips]

I spent the last 30 minutes or so tearing apart the tank and couldn't catch the fish so I guess whatever happens is going to happen.

[Sean Phillips]

The leech disappeared overnight. Don't know why or where it went but it's not on any of the fish now and the darter is still healthy so maybe something ate it off.

[littlen]

It may have had its fill and intentionally dropped off. No worries however, as it will be eaten if anything else in your tank with a mouth sees it.

[Sean Phillips]

Well after having no fish with these things for the longest time. I walk in to my Fishroom and observe my riffle tank to see that now my male rainbow darter has not 1, but 2 of these leeches on him! I haven't seen any on any other fish since my female rainbow had that one and now my male rainbow has one on his caudal fin and one on his left pectoral fin. If they don't drop off by tomorrow afternoon I'll oust likely net the fish and take them off since the make is not as fast or tempted to hide as the female was.

[Betta132]

Saltwater bath or brackish water bath. That'll make any clingy parasite drop right off. I've used it on isopods and ich parasites, and it should work quite well on leeches. It's basically my go-to solution for any issue involving any form of the phrase "eww, bloodsucking thing on my fish!"

Try a bottle trap to catch him.

Edited by Betta132, 24 February 2015 - 02:15 AM.

[gerald]

Parasitic isopod on freshwater fish?  I'd like to see that.  Did you get any pictures of it?

[Betta132]

No, it was years ago. I'm not actually certain it was an isopod, that's just the closest match I've seen. It was on a zebra danio, and it had burrowed under the slime coat and attached to the skin. Once it detached, the slime coat was bulged outwards slightly in that spot if you looked at it from the right angle, like what's left after you pop a blister. The parasite was about 1/8" long, about half that wide, isopod-shaped, white, and segmented. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was a parasite of some kind, and I knew saltwater baths work on external parasites. It dropped off after a minute or two in the saltwater and I got rid of it.

I don't think it was a worm, and it wasn't anything else I've seen. Are freshwater parasitic isopods a thing?

[gerald]

I just didn't realize there were any, until now, thanks to you and Google: 

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/226684756_Flabelliferan_isopods_%28Crustacea%29_parasitic_on_freshwater_fishes_of_Thailand