HOW TO: Remove Argulus Fish Lice from Goldfish and most Fish
Like 3 Dislike 0 Published on 1 Dec 2015
Argulus foliaceus are parasites which attach themselves to fish (they resemble small crabs) crawling all over fish and then bore in to the fish's flesh and feed off the fish's blood. This weakens the fish and a heavy infestation will quickly kill the defenseless fish. Argulus are often caused by a solitary argulus which has hitched hiked in from a fish farm, introduced accidentally with some live food or on wild caught fish. Argulus infections in ponds is another matter entirely.
In ideal conditions where there are lots of potential hosts and easy living the argulus can reproduce very quickly and become well established making any treatment that much more difficult, especially due to the large water volumes in fish ponds.
Argulus are often referred to as fish louse or fish lice but are not insects, as their name suggests, nor are they related to the louse that infest humans or animals... They are crustacean ectoparasites (external parasites).
Argulus will begin egg laying when the water temperature reaches 10'C or more and will continue until the water temp drops to below this level. In ponds they will reach their maximum numbers towards the end of summer.
Argulus is a common parasite of ornamental fish, particularly koi and goldfish. Approximately 100 species are recognized, but most show little host specificity.
Argulus are small flat disc shaped in appearance and a greenish to amber translucent colour and when attached to large goldfish or koi they can be very difficult to spot if not looked closely at the fish.
Argulus feed by injecting the fish with a venom from a spine, the venom begins digestion of the flesh and then the argulus uses its mouth parts to ingest the pre-digested flesh. Argulus are very mobile and do move from fish to fish, they adults are sometimes easily seen free swimming in the water volume when examined closely. The spread of disease and the wounds left by argulus are an easy route for secondary infections to take a hold.
Treatment:
The old fashioned treatment was to use potassium permanganate and although quite effective it does have several disadvantages;
- It oxidizes quite quickly in water especially if the water is full of organic compounds as ponds and aquariums are likely to be.
- It is quite a toxic compound to fish and prolonged treatment is likely to be very stressful to fish.
- Some infestations may not be completely destroyed by it which means the whole process will restart within weeks of
Treatment:
To remove a heavy infestation from a fish use a dose of 1g per 1 liters of clean water as a bathing method for a maximum of 1 minute! This will be easier and more effective than trying to remove them manually and although this is extremely effective against juvenile and adult argulus with 100% mortality it will not solve the problem in the environment. Sadly in tests using a much stronger solution of 1g per liter failed to kill the eggs of argulus left behind.
Please note that potassium permanganate will kill all the beneficial filter bacteria.
Other treatments:
Other common broad spectrum treatment such as salt, formalin and malachite green are all relatively ineffective against this resistant parasite.
Commercial remedies:
There are several safe and effective commercial remedies available worldwide. Using one of these should be the first course of action always.
Waterlife Parazin for instance is found to be 100% effective, but there are others worth trying too.
Manual removing:
As our video you can see the adult Argulus easily being removed by placing the fish quickly on a clean towel, using tweezers and working fast and safely sliding them of the fish. We use a salt solution of 50g per 100l after the removal and then treat the aquarium with a general aid and three days later performing a 50% water change and adding 20g per 100L salt.
This proved to be effective in our experiments.
Legal Notice:
Jungle Aquatics will not be held responsible for the information given above as a means of curing Argulus or be held liable for any damages which may occur using the information provided. You solely do so
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