Chilodonella?

Have problems identifying an organism? Ask for help here.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
janvangastel
Posts: 533
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:05 pm
Location: Huizen, Netherlands
Contact:

Chilodonella?

#1 Post by janvangastel » Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:26 pm

One of my aquarium fish (Uaru Amphicatoides) is sick. Two visible symptoms are a lot of mucus on the skin and heavy breathing. I have been searching the internet and the symptoms are consistent with a chilodonella (a ciliate) infection. I took some of the mucus (floating in the water) and inspected it under my microscope. I found some ciliates that might be chilodonella, but I am not sure abouit that. I made a small video, to be seen here . I hope someone recognizes this ciliate.

Bruce Taylor
Posts: 986
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:34 am

Re: Chilodonella?

#2 Post by Bruce Taylor » Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:50 am

It is a ciliate, but clearly not Chilodonella. It looks a lot like Tetrahymena, actually. I had to rewatch the video on a better monitor to see it, but the mouth is visible from around the 8 second mark, and is consistent with a hymenostome, and in the right location for Tetrahymena. The shape and movement are quite reminiscent of histophagous free-living members of the genus I've seen.

I can't say if this is the infective organism, because I don't know anything about fish pathology. For what it's worth, a quick search shows that species of Tetrahymena do parasitize fish: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/bi ... etrahymena

User avatar
janvangastel
Posts: 533
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:05 pm
Location: Huizen, Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Chilodonella?

#3 Post by janvangastel » Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:59 am

Thank you for your answer. Interesting literature.

Post Reply