Argulus aka Fish Lice

Fish Lice, or Argulus

Different names for the same parasite. This is a crustacean parasite, meaning it's a lot like a little crab. Little? Yeah, it's about 1/4 inch in diameter and they are EXTREMELY agile. I plan to upload a movie with these, so you can see it.

This parasite is commonly seen in the Fall of the year. Folks call me and say "My fish has a freckle."

Hmmmm A freckle? Well that happens sometimes it's called Shimi, and hard water causes it.

The next day, they call back. "Remember that freckle? Well it moved."

So, moving freckles.....Argulus!

Here again, if you can see the parasite, you can kill it with Dimilin. Dimiln's wonderful stuff but sometimes hard to get. As of this writing there's probably 3-4 different commercial "Dimilins" including: Anchor Control, Anchor's Away and Express IDI. Heck you can even get a labelled liquid "Dimilin" from API at the pet store most places.

I discovered *another* completely safe treatment you can get from your local Vet for about four bucks - (Program) but all the open-minded 'non doctors' in rec.ponds once assured everyone that it would kill your fish, (of course they did not even try it) and the company that makes it would rather not have it mentioned. Tough luck. Dimilin is dosed at 0.5 to 1 ppm or one gram per thousand gallons. The article on Program, which has been used effectively now for seven years, is in this web site.

-Erik Johnson

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