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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Woodlice Type Parasite on Gobys Eye!

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08 Apr 2009 18:40 - 08 Apr 2009 18:45 #1 by cianpas (cianpas)
HI Guys,

I've successfully being running my Marine setup for the past year and a half and have never had any problems as regards deaths or disease in the tank. All tests are spot on. About 2 weeks ago I introduced some star polys to the tank and fear something may have come in on them! Tonight when feeding the fish, I noticed a black Woodlice like parasite on my Green Clown Gobys Eye/Head. I've had him about eight months and never a bother. My question is what the **** is this thing? Is it an Isopod? If so how do I get rid of it? Do I remove the fish and pluck it off or is there a better way of doing this? Will there be more of them in the tank and if so how do I get rid of them?

Forgot to say, this thing is about 5mm long!

Many thanks guys.

Cian
Last edit: 08 Apr 2009 18:45 by cianpas (cianpas).

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08 Apr 2009 20:18 #2 by q547 (Joseph King)
not sure what it is but fairly certain a freshwater dip would remove it. It'd should drop right off. I'm sure someone else here might have some better advice.

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08 Apr 2009 21:59 #3 by cianpas (cianpas)
Hey, cheers for the reply.

Just to let ye know that it was definitely an Isopod. Just read a lot of treads about this thing and hopefully the following will help others who encounter this. There's no real safe chemical treatment which will kill these guys, especially if you have a reef set up. Basically it primarily attaches to slow or weak fish, hence the goby which is always lazing on a rock. It then digs in to a vein and starts sucking and can cause death after sometime if it's not removed. I removed the Goby and carefully used a tweezers to remove the isopod. This thing was really hanging in there. Felt really sorry for my poor Goby but he seems fine now and is eating ok. I hope that it was just a one off stray that came in on the Star Polyps and that there's no more of them hidden away. Will just have to be extra vigilant over the coming months.

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09 Apr 2009 00:43 #4 by serratus (Drew Latimer)
They are are louse, best removed manually!!! never actually seen them in real life, seen them in countless books/articles etc.. (been in the trade for 20+ years!!) but most visable parasites are best moved manually then pos. follow up with a dip..!! but very well discribed!!! You need to quarantine stock.. IT DOESNT MATTER WHERE IT COMES FROM!!! SHOPS CANNOT Q. LIVESTOCK!!!IT COSTS WAY TOO MUCH!! IM SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE!! (you cannot Q stock for "2 weeks" THIS IS CALLED CONDITIONING!!!!!) ITS UP TO THE BUYER TO DO IT.. RETAILERS CAN ONLY SELL LIVESTOCK THAT ARE FIT AND IN CONDITION.. BUT THEY ARE NOT QUARANTINED!!! BY A LONG WAY!!! So hobbiests by a Q tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WILL BE POS. THE BEST MONEY YOU HAVE EVER SPENT ON THE HOBBY... NO1 A TEST KIT!!!!!!!!!!
Retailers back me up....

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09 Apr 2009 09:35 #5 by cianpas (cianpas)
Cheers Serratus

I agree totally and suspected this. Unfortunately space wise I, like I'm sure many others aren't in the position to have a quarantine tank due to space restrictions. Would definitely have one though if we had a bigger gaf and agree that any of the problems I had in the past could have easily been avoided had I quarantine tank in the first place. I certainly don't blame the stockist on this one as these things need up to three months without a host to survive and it doesn't make financial sense for any stockist to quarantine stuff for that long. To be fair all my previous problems in the tank from over a year ago was due to buying poor quality fish from a shop in Dublin (won't name them). However, I have since been buying everything in Fish Antics and have never had a bother as the quality of the stuff they sell is second to none. I reckon this was just a one off and didn't come in on fish but rather on the polyps, which is where they seemingly attach themselves until finding a suitable host.

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09 Apr 2009 16:47 #6 by serratus (Drew Latimer)
Glad it sorted itself out!!! Fish Antics are a good store, know they guys for years!!! Used to manage the store in Monkstown!!!Have you ever been up to our shop Aquatic Village?

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10 Apr 2009 02:10 #7 by cianpas (cianpas)
Yep, been up to aquatic village alright. Bought my first marine tank there but wife went through the roof when I brought it home cause it was a bit of a monster. Had to bring it back!! Unfortunately I don't drive and it's a fair ol trek out, but I liked the stock up there. Going for my provisional in a couple of weeks so hopefully Ill be on the road soon which will give me more freedom to shop around.

Have a good weekend.

Cheers
Cian

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