mattybecks
Active Member
I didn't know I had these until recently. I just got back from a 3-week vacation and now I see these Isos in the early morning whilst the room is still dark, before they unlatch from the fish. (They only latch onto my sailfin tang and two tomato clownfish). They leave my group of 5 blue damsels alone, and don't seem to sit on my volition lionfish, whom I monitor the most. Sizes of the isopods range from between about 1cm to 1mm. So it seems they have been established for a while.
Whilst away, I cut the feeding schedule back to a little less than half of what I usually give, and I am thinking the drop in nutrients and food might have caused them to come out and latch onto the fish? If it works that way?
All the fish are healthy, plump, very active feeders, no lesions or torn fins. (Had them all for about a year now, when I set up the tank).
They all sleep in their respective caves/rock work/sand. (So the fish haven't moved to the surface to avoid the Isos) and dont seem to pay them any attention.
It is impossible to catch the clowns to remove the Isos, but I have been catching the tang as he is much larger, and remove between 1 and 3 of them each morning from the tang. However, I am worried that the stress the tang will face each morning will be more detrimental to his health than simply leaving them or finding another method.
My Questions:
- Should I just leave them and hope going back to a normal regime will stabilize the system again?
- Shall I add more Damsels? (Another 5?) The Isos seem to avoid the blue damsels like the plague. When the Isos leave the clowns in the early morning the Blue Damsels chase them ferociously trying to catch them before they hide back in the rock work/substrate. I have seen what appears to be the Damsels eating them when they catch the smaller ones (if the smaller ones are Isos). The Isos seem to swim quite erratically and all over the place, and the Damels are torn between chasing them and chasing each other.
- The "trap method" seems to have very mixed reviews and limited success when I searched online.
Thanks
Basic Tanks Specs:
380L (1.5m long) aquarium.
Established for a year now.
Lots of live rock work buried and protruding from a deep sand bed, with sand collected directly from the beach here (Dubai) and put straight into tank (I love all the hitchhikers and stuff that come with it, apart from these Cirolanids lol). So removing rocks to catch fish is not an option unless I destroy the tank.
Whilst away, I cut the feeding schedule back to a little less than half of what I usually give, and I am thinking the drop in nutrients and food might have caused them to come out and latch onto the fish? If it works that way?
All the fish are healthy, plump, very active feeders, no lesions or torn fins. (Had them all for about a year now, when I set up the tank).
They all sleep in their respective caves/rock work/sand. (So the fish haven't moved to the surface to avoid the Isos) and dont seem to pay them any attention.
It is impossible to catch the clowns to remove the Isos, but I have been catching the tang as he is much larger, and remove between 1 and 3 of them each morning from the tang. However, I am worried that the stress the tang will face each morning will be more detrimental to his health than simply leaving them or finding another method.
My Questions:
- Should I just leave them and hope going back to a normal regime will stabilize the system again?
- Shall I add more Damsels? (Another 5?) The Isos seem to avoid the blue damsels like the plague. When the Isos leave the clowns in the early morning the Blue Damsels chase them ferociously trying to catch them before they hide back in the rock work/substrate. I have seen what appears to be the Damsels eating them when they catch the smaller ones (if the smaller ones are Isos). The Isos seem to swim quite erratically and all over the place, and the Damels are torn between chasing them and chasing each other.
- The "trap method" seems to have very mixed reviews and limited success when I searched online.
Thanks
Basic Tanks Specs:
380L (1.5m long) aquarium.
Established for a year now.
Lots of live rock work buried and protruding from a deep sand bed, with sand collected directly from the beach here (Dubai) and put straight into tank (I love all the hitchhikers and stuff that come with it, apart from these Cirolanids lol). So removing rocks to catch fish is not an option unless I destroy the tank.
