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sera guide - Healthy aquarium fish

6.8 Treating crustacean infections The large group of crustaceans (Crustacea) al- so includes some species that live parasitically on freshwater and saltwater fish. In spite of their sometimes misleading names (e.g. fish louse and anchor worm) and their often un- usual appearance, all parasites mentioned in the following are crustaceans. Bloodsucking crustaceans are a threat for fish not only because of the loss of blood and the possible infection of the wounds, but also transmit different pathogens from one fish to the next one. There is an additional group of crustaceans that do not live parasitically them- selves but serve as intermediate hosts for oth- er parasites. Fish can therefore become infect- ed with parasite stages if they eat these crustaceans (e.g. copepods may be interme- diate hosts for tapeworm larvae). You can prevent introduction of these crus- taceans by not using potentially dangerous frozen and live food (all sera foods are guaran- teed to be parasite free) and being careful when purchasing new animals and plants (e.g. by quarantine measures). In case parasitic crustaceans should nevertheless occur once in a while, you can use, for example, sera baktopur for treating subsequent bacterial diseases. Strict hygienic measures such as re- peated water changes and the careful cleaning of decoration, bottom gravel and plants re- duce the population of the parasitic crus- taceans until they finally disappear entirely. In case of severe problems with parasitic crus- taceans, please also refer to the information about sera med Professional Argulol, begin- ning on page 57. Diagnosis: page 18 Treatment: see above Besides usually domestic fish louse species that af- fect pond fish, there are also tropic fish lice that occur in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. They are good swimmers that look for a fish as a host in free water and attach to its skin using their two suction cups. They suck blood (sometimes for weeks) and often change the spots they attach to while do- ing so. Some species additionally inject a toxin or an allergen, which may cause infection or in- toxication symptoms up to death. Furthermore, they may transmit pathogens from one fish to another while sucking. The affected fish are al- ways weakened due to blood loss. There are frequent secondary infections. Diagnosis: page 19 Treatment: see above The crustacean Lernaea is usually called “an- chor worm” by aquarists, as it is deeply bur- rowed in the fish skin with a branched attach- ing organ on its front end, and has an elongated body shape without any visible limbs. There are two sacs at the back end of females in which the eggs develop. The fish are weakened very much by the constant loss of blood and severe infections at the deep at- tachment spots. Argulus Fish louse / e.g. Argulus Anchor worm / Lernaea 36