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Control/eradication of parasitic leeches on captive sunfish?


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#1 Guest_capman_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 04:19 AM

A few months ago my kids set and I set up a 90 gallon tank for sunfish that they caught. We have several good sized pumpkinseeds and a few smaller bluegills and a green sunfish.

We recently realized that several of the fish have what I am fairly certain are parasitic leeches. They seem to only be present on the pectoral fins (but perhaps we just can't see them elsewhere?). We removed several larger ones with forceps, but it looks like there are more, and there appear to be smaller ones, suggesting that they are reproducing in our tank.

Have any of you encountered these small leeches (stretched out the big ones are nearly as long as one of my smaller fingernails, or maybe not even that big, and they are sort of a grey color, blending in with the pectoral fins and almost looking like enlarged fin rays). They seem to stay in one place on a fish's pectoral fin for days or weeks (at first we thought the first one we spotted was simply a damaged fin ray resulting from aggression from tank mates, but when it stayed looking the same for several weeks we realized it must have been a parasite).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how best to get rid of them from the fish and from the tank?

Does Clout work for this? Or Fluke Tabs?

Thanks

#2 Guest_hmt321_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 07:34 AM

procede with caution before you add any medication to your tank, do a ton of research. some of those meds have copper in them (will kill snails, and inverts)

I am not sure how to procede, someone on this sight will though.

#3 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 07:54 AM

One of the best methods of Leech removal on a fish is a simple salt dip.
Mix up some water with salt (any type salt will do even table salt) to a specific gravity of 1.012 or so.
Dip the fish in this for about a minute. This has always worked for me well and it avioids having to use medication.

Thing is though.. Fish leeches are incredably prolific and tend to remain off the host fish during reproduction. The young will inhabit plants, sand and gravel while waiting for a host animal to come by. To wipe them out of the tank without using a medication repeat the above just in the whole tank. It is a good idea to remove the fish and other inhabitants from the tank during treatment

#4 Guest_capman_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 08:30 AM

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have a further question:

Presumably these leeches produce eggs that are in some sort of cocoon (like earthworms). Are these as susceptible to being killed by the salt as the leeches are otherwise?

Fortunately, there are no plants in this tank yet, so we will be able to do a pretty harsh treatment of the tank itself. I suppose we might disrupt nitrification (I don't know how sensitive freshwater nitrifying bacteria are to salt), but I guess we could move an established sponge filter in from another tank following the treatment.

Thanks again.

#5 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 10:15 AM

Do you have any inverts in the tank? If not, I think it would be easiest to use a prepared copper medication. After you are sure -very sure- that the leeches are all dead, do some big water changes and you can introduce inverts after that.

Do note, though, that some medications can stain the silicone in th tank blue. It goes away after a while, though.

#6 Guest_capman_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 12:52 PM

No inverts, though I might want to use the tank at some point in the future for a marine/reef system, and I would not want to take the risk of having copper contamination (e.g. in the silicone). Copper does sound like it might be a good way to go though otherwise.


Another question:

Does anyone know how long these leeches can live without fish to feed on? (I realize the answer will likely depend on the species of leech...I'm sure there must be a number of different species out there that are similar to the ones on my fish).

#7 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 01:32 PM

No inverts, though I might want to use the tank at some point in the future for a marine/reef system, and I would not want to take the risk of having copper contamination (e.g. in the silicone). Copper does sound like it might be a good way to go though otherwise.


Another question:

Does anyone know how long these leeches can live without fish to feed on? (I realize the answer will likely depend on the species of leech...I'm sure there must be a number of different species out there that are similar to the ones on my fish).


There really are just hundreds of leech species and I'm sure there is great variation in each of them.
In my experiance with one species of Piscicolid leech they can very easily go a year without feeding.

On the question of salt and thir eggs....This is a very good question.....I'm really not sure.




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