Causes: Fish lice are known to ride on the feathers of birds. Their eggs also hatch on plants and other pond materials. They are also known to be carried on amphibians. Fish lice are easy to spot on your pet fish. They have eight legs and look like small dark little oval dots that are crawling around on your fish. These parasites are flat and have suckers that attach to the fish. Their mouth pierces the skin, where they begin to feed on the host fish.
Fish lice look like small pale crabs moving around. Once they attach, your fish becomes a host to these lice until they swim to another one to feed or mate. The travel from one host fish to another is how these lice spread bacterial and viruses in an aquarium and ponds. Fish lice are primarily a problem in outdoor ponds as opposed to an indoor aquarium. This problem is usually brought to into indoor aquariums on fish that were in an outdoor pond at one time. Fish lice are also brought in on wild fish when adding them to an aquarium. There are at least 100 known species of Fish lice, which are also known as Argulus.
Symptoms: An appearance of lice causes a lot of irritation to the host fish. There will be visible inflammation on your fish in areas where the lice have been. This inflammation shows up as red spots on the fish. The affected fish will also become stressed, aggravated and restless. This pet will begin to rub up against the glass of an aquarium or other objects in its surroundings to try and get the fish lice off of its skin. These signs indicate that the affected fish should be examined for fish lice immediately.
Treatment and Care: Fish lice may leave its host and swim to another but does not remain unattached for long periods of time or they will die. You may be able to pick the fish lice off of your pet with a pair of tweezers. This seems to only be a viable option if you have larger fish and can handle them properly. There are several treatments for fish lice and a few products that can be purchased from a pond shop to treat your fish and kill the lice. A number of products contain an insecticide that helps to attack the live parasites. Some effective products include Dylox, Masoten, Malathion and Trichloracide. One popular way to treat fish lice is by using a product called Dimilin. It is best to contact a licensed veterinarian who can diagnose and help you to properly treat fish lice.
Preventive Measures: A quarantine process is an important step that some pet fish owners should not ignore. This can be common among younger men and women and owners who do not have large aquariums and thus practice fewer precautions. However, the quarantine process is a simple and effective way to prevent the presence of fish lice. If you already have pet fish and have purchased a new one, keep the new one away from your main tank until you are certain that it is healthy. If you quarantine the new fish for one whole month, this will help to find out if it has fish lice or other diseases before spreading in your main aquarium.
During the quarantine process, inspect the new fish to learn whether or not it has lice. It may be easier for pet owners with indoor aquariums to prevent the threat of fish lice than those with outdoor tanks. Pet fish owners who maintain outdoor ponds should also quarantine new plants before adding them. It is also important to limit access of birds and other animals to your pond.
