Check out this cool critter I uploaded to my youtube channel –
You need to watch it with sound. I had a bit of a chuckle when the client described it as resembling his wife! Not quite the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, but it could be his twin!
Can you identify this bug in the wet preparation? It’s apparently a transversotrematid, possibly Prototransversotrema steeri. It’s one of the few digeneans (they have an indirect life cycle via an intermediate snail host) that are ectoparasitic, living in the scale pockets (and for this reason, they are wider than they are long). Because they’re not exposed to the water, bath treatments won’t work. Oral praziquantel might be more efficacious, although it is unlikely to spread in an aquarium without the snail host. It’s not a common freshwater fish critter and this is why it has taken me over 10 years for my first encounter. There’s a species called T. haasi that has an especially broad host range among the Indo-Pacific reef fishes.
The two black spots are its eyes and between them is its pharynx/mouth. The loop with fluid moving through it is the gut, and it’s called a cyclocoel.
The information provided above has been the combined responses of Drs Marty Deveney and Al Dove. Thanks guys!
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Vet Path), MANZCVS (Aquatics), MANZCVS (Pathobiology), DipPM.
Veterinarian | Adjunct Senior Lecturer Murdoch University | WAVMA Communications Committee Member |
Secretary Aquatic Animal Health Chapter – Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS)
The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia, AUSTRALIA. Mobile Veterinary Service for fish and other aquatic creatures.
http://www.thefishvet.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)421 822 383
