Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Cryptocaryon Parasite

So after the setup I noticed my blue hippo tang showing signs of white dots and color bleaching of the black marking distinctive of the species.  After much research I have come to the conclusion that I need to contain the parasite crytocaryon irritans.  The parasite attacks the gills starving oxygen and also burrows deep into the fishes skin.  Scaleless fish such as tangs are extremely susceptible.  In the closed ecosystem of the reef aquarium this can become deadly quickly.  Three proven methods of eradicating the parasite are hyposalinity, copper, multiple tank transfers.

Here is my hippo tank with photos of Cryptocaryon or Marine Ich.  Photo is a bit hard to see but up close it looks like tiny grains of salt.  She is still eating and swimming but the only recourse I am resulting to is tearing all the rock out of the 180 gallon tank.  Netting them all and placing them into the 90 gallon bare tank and dose copper for 21 days with copper.  Then run the main tank without fish for 2 months so the parasite cannot reproduce and die.


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