Worm pic, very clear :eek:

[Chaitika]

Wicked pics, Yuchia! Thanks for sharing the info.

 

[Cohazard]

The 12" palmas palmas I got recently was covered in them. I treat all new WC bichirs. Even if it's from a pet store, if it looks wild caught, I treat it.

 

[CDM]

Get a bright LED flashlight and inspect your fish. They can be easily treated if you catch it.

What kind of LED light? (You meant LED light, right?) I have never try inspection by LED. I'll try that next time.

 

[FishGoneWild]

What kind of LED light? (You meant LED light, right?) I have never try inspection by LED. I'll try that next time.

Get one of these Coast LED Flash Light. They're a lot brighter than your conventional flashlight and guarantee to last 1000 hours before you have to change out your batteries. You'll definitely see the fish better with this light.

 

[Tongue33]

WOW!

 

[loach43]

Wow, hope I don't ever get any of those hitchhikers on my fish. Amazing macro photography.

 

[CDM]

Two more photos of the 2nd stage of the process toward death:

 

[davo]

Crap these guys really do the damage. They do effect other fish then I take it?

 

[Infblue]

Crap these guys really do the damage. They do effect other fish then I take it?

i'm glad you asked, i was under the impression that Macrogyrodactylus polypteri is specific to polypterids, but since i wasn't sure, i decided to do a little search, and it turns out there are now 9 described species, and 1 still undescribed. Some of the species were named based on the type host they were found on. e.g. M. polypteri, or M. clarii.

it seems they are host specific. e.g. i didn't see anything saying M. polypteri was found on clarias/heterobranchus catfish, or M. clarii on polypterus. but then again i wasn't look too hard.

Also there are now three species found on Polypterus, with M. polypteri the most common i presume and the earliest known, and M. simentiensis the newly described, and another yet undescribed.

btw CDM, what made you think yours were M. simentiensis and not M. polypteri? i honestly have no clue which is which

 

[CDM]

i'm glad you asked, i was under the impression that Macrogyrodactylus polypteri is specific to polypterids, but since i wasn't sure, i decided to do a little search, and it turns out there are now 9 described species, and 1 still undescribed. Some of the species were named based on the type host they were found on. e.g. M. polypteri, or M. clarii.

it seems they are host specific. e.g. i didn't see anything saying M. polypteri was found on clarias/heterobranchus catfish, or M. clarii on polypterus. but then again i wasn't look too hard.

Also there are now three species found on Polypterus, with M. polypteri the most common i presume and the earliest known, and M. simentiensis the newly described, and another yet undescribed.

btw CDM, what made you think yours were M. simentiensis and not M. polypteri? i honestly have no clue which is which

Yeah, it's hard for me to distinguish both too. A friend of mine who is studying bichir in a research team of collage confirmed that's simentiensis. Currently, I accept it, though he maybe wrong.