I saw this thing crawl out of one of my rocks during coral feeding, I swiftly took it out but am concerned on what it is please help I.d this thing for me ,thank you.
I saw this thing crawl out of one of my rocks during coral feeding, I swiftly took it out but am concerned on what it is please help I.d this thing for me ,thank you.
probably a Cirolanid isopod, some species are parasitic on fish, if you don't want to kill him keep him in quarantine for 2 months, the parasitic ones die without a live host. the scavengers can survive the quarantine if fed regular feed items
Ok apparently Sphaeromatids are beneficial and just scavenge.in part i outlinwd in red says they can roll up in a ball and identify them tjis way.but just googled Cirolanid isopod and very interesting and says if get some that attach to fish and suck fishes blood,easiest way is to remove all fish to qt and keep " one sacrificial fish" and as each parasite attaches itself to the fish you net the fish and remove parasite with tweezers and put fish back in tank.( says paraaites mainly nocturnal so check just before lights on )
This method seems kind of cruel to the " sacrificial fish " hopefully someone else has a better way.
But defo worth a google to get full information or search on this forum.
Actually king aiptasia says above parasitic versions die without a host.but wish you luck and hope you got the Sphaeromatids versions . ( the female one without tentacles)
Im new to reef keeping and i have all these interesting creatures to encounter and probably freak out thinking is this a good or bad guy lol