Invisible acro-eating flatworms

[Achilles Tang]

I noticed a few corals not doing well... tissue receding, browning up, polyps not opening as it should.

Especially the efflos.... and a Fiji table acro specimen.

An investigation.... and an old friend of a different species have appeared.... acro-eating flatworms.

First visible sign... egg patches, this one under an efflo.

[Achilles Tang]

Zooming in on the eggs. They are coloured brown.

[subxero]

Wonder if any Fishes will eat up these eggs

[RAV-65]

Ewww...

AT, wat's the next course of action u intend to take?? Maybe can share it with us... would like t know wat I should do it I ever encounter this problem...

[Achilles Tang]

Can you spot at least adults on this efflo?

[Achilles Tang]

circled.

[RAV-65]

circled.

Damn... I would never have spotted them...

[Achilles Tang]

A green acro colony that was green was turned browner and browner and was receding over months.

I wondered why.... finally, I reached in and turned it over... #$*(&!

[Achilles Tang]

Shocker coming right up!

[Achilles Tang]

Flipping it over, just out of the light... were loads of adult flatworms.... the invisible acro-eating ones.

[Achilles Tang]

would you have thought this patch to be a flatworm?

[Achilles Tang]

Some of the infected colonies.

[Reefaholic]

Gosh... these is really nasty

Recently i got one aquacultured, and Luckily when i put it on the sand bottom before gluing it and found so many roaming flatworms on its body.

Quickly take it out and dip in fresh water. within 10 secs all float up and died. Then there goes my sps too the next day.

Better be safe than sorry. Lost one better than lost all.

[Achilles Tang]

Leaving them to dry out... jelly blobs.

[Achilles Tang]

Dried out on my efflo.

[CalciumReef]

Would dipping sps with salifert flatworm exit for example be a good measure to remove any possible flatworms before introducing the coral to main tank?

[Achilles Tang]

A freshwater dip for one of my Fiji green table corals.

[Achilles Tang]

The aftermath of the FW dip. At least 50 flatworms of different sizes have dropped off the bottom of the coral.

They were almost invisible to the eye.

[RAV-65]

Did the FW dip get rid of all the flatworms? or did some still managed to cling on??

[Achilles Tang]

I think they all died. Result: One highly stressed SPS coral.

Here back in my tank... releasing flourescent green zooxanthellae....

[Achilles Tang]

It has browned/bleached instantly....

[Achilles Tang]

I'm expecting to lose it at the worst or have a very brown coral for a few months at least.

[RAV-65]

It has browned/bleached instantly....

Awww man...

Tink I really gotta inspect properly when buying SPS next time... I'm always too excited...

[Achilles Tang]

Gosh... these is really nasty

Recently i got one aquacultured, and Luckily when i put it on the sand bottom before gluing it and found so many roaming flatworms on its body.

Quickly take it out and dip in fresh water. within 10 secs all float up and died. Then there goes my sps too the next day.

Better be safe than sorry. Lost one better than lost all.

A good reason why we should all have quarantine tanks to hold all new specimens for at least 3 months. 3 months is what I hear most people recommend for such flatworms to complete their life cycle to adulthood from eggs.

Sadly, this is not a luxury or practice that most of us follow... with such consequences.

The upside to this is that those with green-spotted mandarinfishes, six-line wrasses or leopard wrasses may find them feasting on these flatworms (NOT the red planaria) IF they spot them.

I guess a good countermeasure is to observe each specimen closely for negative changes, suspect the worse and try to spot for parasites such as these.

The eggs can be scrapped off with a sharp knife and you can kalkwasser paste the adults if you have the time. If not, a dip with Lugols iodine (may not work for some species) or flatworm exit or Freshwater Dip may kill them (with risks to corals).

Bottomline: I HATE FLATWORMS.

[RAV-65]

A good reason why we should all have quarantine tanks to hold all new specimens for at least 3 months. 3 months is what I hear most people recommend for such flatworms to complete their life cycle to adulthood from eggs.

Sadly, this is not a luxury or practice that most of us follow... with such consequences.

The upside to this is that those with green-spotted mandarinfishes, six-line wrasses or leopard wrasses may find them feasting on these flatworms (NOT the red planaria) IF they spot them.

I guess a good countermeasure is to observe each specimen closely for negative changes, suspect the worse and try to spot for parasites such as these.

The eggs can be scrapped off with a sharp knife and you can kalkwasser paste the adults if you have the time. If not, a dip with Lugols iodine (may not work for some species) or flatworm exit or Freshwater Dip may kill them (with risks to corals).

Bottomline: I HATE FLATWORMS.

Thanxs for the good advice... guess this should be an awakening call to me... been too careless so far when buying SPS...