Fish Lice (Argulus) in Tropical Fish

When dealing with tropical fish illness and disease, it's always a good idea to have a good guidebook at your side. We recommend this book as a handy desktop reference.

Tropical fish rubbing themselves against rock, ornaments or wood, is generally a symptom of something wrong. Their skin is irritated and this is the only way they have of trying to dislodge or remove whatever is bothering them. Unfortunately, if done too long, this scraping can complicate matters by creating bigger and rawer wounds that allow other diseases to attack their bodies.

One of the problems that will cause your fish to rub themselves against other surfaces, are a tiny crustacean, called fish lice, or argulus. They anchor themselves to the fish and then feed on their blood. Since it is thought they are capable of carrying disease, removal as soon as noted, is absolutely imperative. Infected fish will not only be running against things, their fins generally fold up and are clamped to their sides.

Removing lice is not too difficult, since they are usually visible to the eye, and may be in the middle of a red or irritated patch of skin. Picking the fish up gently in a suitable net, will allow you to remove the lice with tweezers, or forceps on larger fish.

Affected fish should be placed in a hospital aquarium, with a small measure of salt, and a temperature that is raised gradually to about 4 degrees above normal. The salt bath alone will often cause lice to die and fall off, but manual removal of visible ones, is still the best choice.

You may also need to treat the home tank with raised temperatures, and the appropriate medicine from your fish supply store.

Recommended! A-Z of Tropical Fish Diseases and Health Problems: The aim of this book is to help aquarists recognize signs of illness so they can identify and resolve problems. Divided into three sections, the first focuses on health and husbandry, describing the signs of a healthy fish, anatomy and general care; the second provides signs of diseases and health problems and is cross-referenced to section three, which covers the treatment of diseases and health problems. Illustrated throughout with top-quality color photos, the book is an invaluable reference for novice to experienced fishkeepers. Click here for your copy.

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