Hair or parasites?

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The Royal G, is nowhere to be seen today. Likely wedged in a small hole in a rock. And likely dead?

He was the last remaining fish in the wake of the ich and flukes outbreak.

We have a 10 gallon quarantine tank, and all incomers will now go through a rigorous week in the quarantine tank. We may even institute mandatory freshwater dips on newcomers.

We are going to let the showtank remain fish free for over a month. Hopefully that's long enough for parasites to die off.

We are removing loose gravel from the sandbed.
 
Give him a few days they are pretty hardy guys and a fresh water dip might kill off the flukes if you can catch him. I'd get some sort of med though some of them can be a bear to get rid of.
hth
chris
 
I finally managed to do a little reading. Sorry about the delay.

First, it could be flukes or parasitic copepods. If it looks like a pair or hairs at each place, it's probably a copepod.

Second, external parasites like that are pretty curable. With flukes, FW dips every few days until you don't see any more will work.

Copepods tend to be more deeply embedded, and may need to be pulled out with tweezers. Then apply a little iodine, like lugol's solution, as a disinfectant.

Unlike marine ich, cleaners are apparently reasonably effective with these larger parasites. A shrimp may do the trick.

Obviously, if you want to routinely do dips, getting the guy to a quarantine tank will help a lot.

Have you found him yet?
 
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He is impossible to catch. There's a trap in the tank....he's not interested.

I have noticed him behaving differently around the peppermint shrimp. Also, the hairs have been disapearring. While some show up in other areas.

I now have a 10 gallon quarantine tank. The screening process for immigrating into the show tank is much more complicated since 4/11.

thanks for the assistance.
 
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