Saltwater lice, fleas???

[1911_guy]

I read the thread on hitchikers with that crazy picture of the bloodsucking parasite. I have hundreds of tiny clear/white things that look like fleas in my tank. They are too small to take pictures of and too small to identify. A week ago I saw 4 of them crawling around on a piece of LR. Haven't seen them til today. There are hundreds of them crawling around on my glass and through the sand. My live sand looks like something ate all the nutrients out of it or something. There are holes all through it that i can see through glass. What are they and what can I do.
Over the last few days my temp has gone from 83 to 74 to 91 and slowly coming back down to hopefully 78. I am working on my temp issue. My salinity has fluxed alot too. I am rebuilding my sump and have parts on order for a QT.
My DT is 75G with 80lbs. live sand and 85lbs. live rock. Everything introduced to my tank has come from LFS. I have 3 astrea snails and 3 very small hermits. I had a black tail damsel that got ich and without a QT established I decided to dispose of him (sorry...RIP) before the ich went into stage 2. The only other animal I have is a small blenny, which is in shock from the water/salinity changes.
I have been using tapwater for 10 months and am finally switching to RO water. Yesterday I did a 15% water change with RO water.
What are these little guys, are they harmful, if so what do I do?
Thanks-Kevin

 

[clownfish4]

They are copopods they are great to have dont worry I have them and so do many many other tanks they are just natural "bugs" if you want you can get a manderin goby. They eat the copopcods. You have to get rid of that ich thought or all fish will die.

 

[1911_guy]

Thanks,
I found another thread with some pics and the little guys MAY be isopods which Thomas712 says are good for the system. In my case I may want to get a few more fish that will feed on them before they become not so good for my system.
I really do want to get my QT up and running before I add any fish or corals to my system.
How can I be for sure that the ich is gone? I don't see any signs of ich on my blenny right now. According to threads written by Beth and others, it would be a good idea to quarantine my blenny and let my DT sit with no fish for up to 6 weeks to be sure ich is gone before adding any livestock.
Any other suggestions?

 

[beth]

Yes, likely typical LR tank micro creatures, not a fish disease.
I agree with the QT. I'm assuming you haven't really treated the fish for ich, yet?

 

[1911_guy]

Originally Posted by Beth
Yes, likely typical LR tank micro creatures, not a fish disease.
I agree with the QT. I'm assuming you haven't really treated the fish for ich, yet?
Yes and no. The damsel that showed ich is gone, RIP. No, I have not put any chemicals into my DT for treatment and don't plan to. My blenny shows no signs of ich at this time. My QT should be up and running by Friday, just waiting on some equipment to arrive...then I have to cycle it.
What would happen if I filled the QT with water from my DT, placed the prefilter sponge from my overflow box in there for biomedia and then put in my blenny? This is the only thing that confuses me. Would I still need to cycle it with my DT water or would it already be cycled? Thanks
P.S.-If the blenny shows signs of ich by then I will medicate as necessary or perform hypo in my QT.

 

[beth]

Do some heavy garlic feeding for the remaining fish. 3x a day target feeding. Take a look at the post on garlic in the FAQ Thread.

 

[1911_guy]

Originally Posted by Beth
Do some heavy garlic feeding for the remaining fish. 3x a day target feeding. Take a look at the post on garlic in the FAQ Thread.
Thanks Beth. The blenny is the only other fish I have. I've read your homemade fish food with garlic thread. Nice. Blenny's are mostly vegetarians I think so I'm not sure how to add the garlic to his food. I feed him Bio-Blend Herbivore diet by Marineland Labs.
Would it be okay to use your method with squash or zuchini with the garlic rub? I've never hand fed a fish before so I'm a little unsure how to do this. I hand feed my hermits krill with tongs, will this work with a blenny? Thanks again.

 

[beth]

You must have seen the recipe. Look at the last post in the FAQ on garlic....you should be able to add this to herb food. In fact, if you can get your fish to actually eat the minced garlic, do that as well!

 

[1911_guy]

Okay, so both the garlic and the garlic juice is to be used after smashing it, correct?
I'm just thinking that using a turkey baster or anything else may frighten him. I'll just have to try and see, huh? :thinking:
I should be able to feed him this in my DT, so I'll start tomorrow after I can get out and get some garlic.
One more thing while I have your attention, you mentioned using "aged salt water". What do you mean by "aged"? Am I supposed to premix saltwater and let it sit for a few days before using it? :notsure: