Some kind of flatworm?

charliek

charliek

Clownfish
My tank's a little over two months old, and very lightly stocked - CUC, and a small Duncanopsammia frag.

Just over two weeks ago I added an Euphillia 'Torch' frag and a single black and white Ocellaris clownfish.

Yesterday I was looking for a small brittle star that was a (welcome) hitchhiker on the Euphilia when I noticed that a grey 'patch', which I had previously taken to be a feature of the coral frag, had moved.

The reason I'd taken it to be a feature of the frag is that it didn't move at all while I was visually inspecting it, not during the drip acclimatisation process, nor during the process of testing the frag in a couple of places in the tank before finally gluing it into place...

Jdth5D8.jpg

(red circle - flatworm? green circles - eggs?)

Please forgive the slightly shonky photo - this thing's in the back corner of the tank and I had to stand on one of my children's heads to get the shot. Now that I've drawn on it, it looks like some kind of angry shouting cartoon coral with bad hair.

Circled in red is what I now believe to be the flatworm.
Circled in green are rows of nodules that I had figured to be growth artefacts of the coral, but I am now wondering if they are eggs.

It's clearly moved - elongated downward - and also lifts up and retracts when poked with needle-nose tweezers.

So my questions are:
1) anyone recognise the critter?
2) should I be concerned?
3) are those eggs?
4) *now* should I be concerned?​

Supplementary question: If I am to be concerned, what's the best course of action?

Many thanks in anticipation of any sage advice
 
It looks to be a polyclad flatworm. They are often snail eaters.

I've never dealt with them, but I seem to remember @Cumbria had them a while ago.
 
Thanks Si.

I don't want anyone eating my snails, so I'll probably scoop him out.

Anyone want to buy a possible polyclad flatworm?
 
The egg looking things would be my concern now, try and scrub them off with a tooth brush in old tank water and then rinse the coral in more old tank water but different to the one that you did the scrubbing in and then place it back into your tank
 
Thanks all!

Is there any comfort to be had from the fact that it's the only flatworm of that size (or indeed any size) that I've seen, and it doesn't appear to have moved from that spot?

This torch is the only euphillia I have, so I'll remove it and dip it...
  • Coral RX per instructions?
  • Dettol @ 0.3ml/litre for 15min?
  • Something else?
 
charliek said:
Thanks all!

Is there any comfort to be had from the fact that it's the only flatworm of that size (or indeed any size) that I've seen, and it doesn't appear to have moved from that spot?

This torch is the only euphillia I have, so I'll remove it and dip it...
  • Coral RX per instructions?
  • Dettol @ 0.3ml/litre for 15min?
  • Something else?
Click to expand...

They reproduce sexually and asexually (division) so chances are there are more. Especially with a mature specimen like that and a food source. I would treat as if you've seen lots, because in reality there are lots more in the tank somewhere...
 
Gah - okiedoke, I'll dip away!

Any particular product to recommend? I've seen a fair bit of love for Dettol.

The only other coral in the tank is a Duncan, quite some distance away. Should I be dipping that, too, or would that stress something that, presumably, doesn't interest a Euphilliaphile?
 
Last edited:
charliek said:
Gah - okiedoke, I'll dip away!

Any particular product to recommend? I've seen a fair bit of love for Dettol.

The only other coral in the tank is a Duncan, quite some distance away. Should I be dipping that, too, or would that stress something that, presumably, doesn't interest a Euphilliaphile?
Click to expand...

Personally I use Polylab reefprimer, but lots of people use dettol. Have a search on the forum for concentrations to use.

I would dip the Duncan also. Get a toothbrush and scrub the skeleton up to the flesh too. I would closely inspect to ensure you get the eggs.
 
Yes euphillia eating flatworms.

I destroyed mine with Coral Protec. It worked so well that the shop I bought the euphillia from started using and stocking it...

By the way, the shop used numerous dips on their euphillia and had to turn to Coral Protec when more popular dips weren’t working.
 
Also, to get rid of mine I dipped everything everyday for a week. I attacked all LPS coral skeletons with a toothbrush each day as well. After three days I never seen a single thing ever again but carried on for the week anyway.

I also dipped a couple of times a weeks in the following weeks just to be safe.
 
Thanks for all the tips!

Pending my getting my hands on a suitable dip, I checked on the coral under red light this evening after the tank had been dark for a while and sure enough the slippery little toerag was sniffing around the polyps - so I unstuck the frag and removed it from the tank in a tub with some tank water in it. There I removed the worm and as many eggs as I could find, with a combination of pipette and a scraper.

I also dislodged something that may have been a juvenile bristle worm or, knowing my luck, bobbit worm.

A rinse off with some more, different tank water, and it's back in the tank for the night.

Dip tomorrow.

G'night all :)
 
Well I can get Dettol tomorrow morning. Coral Protec will take a day or two.

I might go belt and braces, but then again I don't want to over stress the patient
 
charliek said:
Thanks for all the tips!

Pending my getting my hands on a suitable dip, I checked on the coral under red light this evening after the tank had been dark for a while and sure enough the slippery little toerag was sniffing around the polyps - so I unstuck the frag and removed it from the tank in a tub with some tank water in it. There I removed the worm and as many eggs as I could find, with a combination of pipette and a scraper.

I also dislodged something that may have been a juvenile bristle worm or, knowing my luck, bobbit worm.

A rinse off with some more, different tank water, and it's back in the tank for the night.

Dip tomorrow.

G'night all :)
Click to expand...
Good to see your being proactive, a bit of graft now could save you a lot of graft and tears at a later date.

Coral RX smells just like dettol to
 
Detoll 100% is the way.
.5ml per litre of tank water, stir a lot
5 minutes exactly, then dip again in another tank water dip before adding....there is a YouTube demo on this.
I do this with every LPS or SPS. Works a treat..
Never lost anything good doing this.
 
Chris_S said:
Detoll 100% is the way.
.5ml per litre of tank water, stir a lot
5 minutes exactly, then dip again in another tank water dip before adding....there is a YouTube demo on this.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris

Just to be clear, you mean "Dettol is *definitely* the way", not to use 100% Dettol :)

0.5ml per litre is stronger than most people recommend: 0.3ml per litre and a 15min bath, then rinse, is most common.

The 5mins is your dip time not the stirring time, right? So you're going stronger, but shorter time.

When you say you've not lost anything good, what *have* you lost just out of interest?
 
The Euphillia is looking happy and extended this morning, so not over traumatised by the poking and scraping.

Let's see how the dipping goes later today :)
 
charliek said:
Thanks Chris

Just to be clear, you mean "Dettol is *definitely* the way", not to use 100% Dettol :)

0.5ml per litre is stronger than most people recommend: 0.3ml per litre and a 15min bath, then rinse, is most common.

The 5mins is your dip time not the stirring time, right? So you're going stronger, but shorter time.

When you say you've not lost anything good, what *have* you lost just out of interest?
Click to expand...
Correct.. stronger and shorter time as per video above.
But either method should work.

I meant it's killed every hitchhiker I didn't want, flat worms etc.. you see a lot of dead life in the water after a 5 minute dip, which shows you it's working.
I'm not saying it's "better" than coral dips. Just a lot easier / cheaper and always on hand.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top