[tommo]

I have a moray eel at work with a rather heavy case of isopods that cling to its mouth, now several treatments, including dylox have been used on these (although i havent been there to whitness this so i dont know how they were conducted) but they sill remain.

I am quite interested in trying fipronil, i can find the relevant toxicity information on it however i cant find any information relating to minium dose and solubility, also availability in one of its purer forms, in particular with none of the growth inhibitors associated with flea treatments which i feel are very likely to affect fish!

I dont want to risk it without knowing exactly whats going on when i use it but i do want to try it as a solution to this prolonged problem

Tom

[Tony B]

Is there any reason why you're not putting the moray in hyper salinity and treating with copper?

[tommo]

There are

1. Because its been exposed to both, and both simultaneously, yet still the pods continue to thrive. The ones i hydrocleaned from the substrate took over eleven minutes to die in totally fresh water and their behaviour didnt change much until the last three or four.

2. ive never found copper that effective when dealing with crustaceans like these, certainly not at levels that i would consider using for any fish

3. Because its an oldish eel, and furthermore a red sea fish which will and did become highly stressed in a hyposaline environment, it stopped eating!

Im not one for ignoring other options but id rather just have it over and done with for good. I know fipronil will do this but i need the other information.

Tom

[tommo]

I will fill some background in on this later on when i can concentrate on it

[karnivor]

Acording to Wikipedia its highly toxic to fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fipronil

[tommo]

Im trying to weigh it all up, hence my quest for more information its certainly highly toxic in a natural ecosystem but then, so are most aquatic treatments.

Tom

[Tony B]

What levels of copper did you run with hyper salinity and what was the salinity? What was the duration of combined hypersalinty and copper treatment?

When treated with just copper in normal salinity what was the amount of copper used and the duration you treated for?

[Tony B]

Milbemycin Oxime which is sold under the brand name Interceptor will work a treat, it will not harm any fish or corals but it is lethal to all animals within the crustacea genus. It will not kill any other inverts, I have treated my SPS tank for red bugs using this medication, to great effect.

You will need to get a prescription from your vet, 1800petmeds.com will ship this med to the UK once they've seen your prescription (email them a copy of it).

[bobba fett]

How about calling the national marine aquarium in Plymouth and seing if they are able to help?

[tommo]

Apparently copper concentration in both full salinity and hyposaline instances was 0.2 mg/l tony, which is liable to be 2 weeks duration, I only have someone elses word to go off at the moment on that one but even so, ive seen isopods and copepods quite happy at 0.3 which i personally would deem unsafe for most fish. and the resiliance of the pods to a total freshwater dip was quite impressive!

Its not for the UK its for my job in saudi ! should have no trouble getting hold of interceptor there i would imagine, plus we do have a site vet who visits irregularly and will be able to obtain it if we cant. thats excellent tony thankyou! sounds perfect

Tom

[tommo]

Milbemax is the same compound mixed with praziquantal, i will contact the vet later,

out of interest what dosage did you use this?

Thanks

Tom