Acropora eating flatworms

[Robert]

Just when your tank is loaded with sps corals, along comes a predator that will clean out your SPS's. It's not in my tank, but, a friend of mine has these worms in his tank big time, they came from a online top quality SPS dealer....I checked out the mature flatworm, clear acorpora flatworm, in my microscope and when this bugger died he/she left at least a dozen eggs behind. Wow, you kill them and they leave a dozen or more eggs to eat your SPS. The subject to this colum is, nobody that I know of quarantine their SPS, Dealers in S. A.....The Acropora Flatworm is starting to become prevalent in the U.S. ......The red bugs are easy to get rid of...
and they cause less damage to SPS... but the Acropora flatworms will eat a sps in a flash....

[Bug_Power]

also be aware of the coral eating starfish! I had a nice plating hammer coral that I picked up from houston....did fine for weeks in a buddies tank, then one day it just up and crashed one half one day, the other half about a day later...then some of his SPS's started getting eatin' from the base up.....started seeing these small (about the size of an eraser or smaller) starfish.... I SWEAR these are eating his and my coral.

[thedude]

I've heard of them as well but a good dip should take care of them I've heard. Although they don't die and drop off the coral, I've heard a normal dip method with iodine loosens them so that you can turkey baste them off. The other thing that immediately comes to mind is a treatment with praziquantel aka Prazipro which is a fluke and protazoan killer.

[JeffCo]

Well, the bad news is, this is my tank Robert was describing before. I discovered them yesterday.

About 6 weeks ago I noticed a hot pink prostata that was starting to lighten up around the base. I took out the coral and dipped it in Lugols then returned it to the tank in a different location. I didn't notice anything on it at the time. Just dipping it to be safe. This week I noticed that again it was starting to get worse and a few of the tips now had RTN'd. I did a little searching on RC and thought that it might be the dreaded acro eating flatworms. So I took out the trusty turkey baster and blasted it a few times and that's when I saw the little buggers flying off.

So basically I just took the entire coral out and examined it. I blasted it a few more times in a container and collected the flatworms. I put a few drops of lugols in the bowl and it did kill them in about 15 minutes. I looked a little closer on the coral and saw this:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/JeffCo/1-26-06/IMG_2220.jpg

As you can see the coral is completly covered in flatworm eggs. This is the only coral I can see so far that has the eggs. I received this coral in an online order about 2-3 months ago. I think it was a bali aquacultured.

[JeffCo]

I did have 2 other corals that stn on me from the inside. After checking them very carefully we did not see any eggs, but I did see a couple of flatworms on them. But they looked a little different and they were smaller. I sprayed them off with water and the lugols did not kill them, but flatworm exit did. Could these be the regular planaria flatworms?

I wanted to post here to see if any one else has any experience with these guys and how to combat them. I'm going to watch my corals very closely now looking for the signs. Do you think they were all contained to the one coral?

Also a side note, I treat all my corals with lugols and interceptor before they go into my tank. But, the eggs are something else to look out for. Just a warning to everyone else. Hopefully you can learn from my misfortune.

Here's another shot of the aftermath:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/JeffCo/1-26-06/IMG_2215.jpg

I ended up just tossing the coral because I did not want to take a chance of them spreading.

[scuba_steveo]

Ouch
That hurts to see.
That's it, I am not adding anymore sps to my tank ever again. I battled the red bugs twice and I do not want to even think about these flatworms.
Good luck with everything.
My prayers are with you.

[GaryP]

I would be interested to see if Flatworm Exit or PraziPro has any effect on them or on their eggs.

[::pete::]

I would be interested to see if Flatworm Exit or PraziPro has any effect on them or on their eggs.

I thought you were against adding chemical treatments? I know you dont mind having FW's (good or bad) !!!

Going to preach or quote something else?

[::pete::]

Ouch
That hurts to see.
That's it, I am not adding anymore sps to my tank ever again. I battled the red bugs twice and I do not want to even think about these flatworms.
Good luch with everything.
My prayers are with you.

Thats too bad ... with all that equipment and preventive maintenance. Want me to show you how?

[GaryP]

Pete,

What I said was that finding the appropriate predator for a pest is usually a better solution in most cases. I have no clue what the appropriate predator is for this guy. My best guess would be a wrasse but that's just a guess and I have no idea which one will do the job. I also said that I would avoid using chemicals except in extreme circumstances. I think this may qualify as an extreme circumstance.

[::pete::]

Thanks for the clarification!!

I was simply stating that your long winded responses seem to mostly come from quotes/others and not experience.

[GaryP]

I did a quiick search and this is what I found on this guy.

http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=17226

Calfo recommends wrasses of the Tamarind wrasses (genus Anampses) but they supposedly do not ship well and have a low survival rate. Anthais were also suggested somewhere. I don't really see any success stories here, just general recommendations.

[scuba_steveo]

Thats too bad ... with all that equipment and preventive maintenance. Want me to show you how?

lol. too funny
Thanks for the offer but NO

This is a very good thread topic...let's be kind and keep it on track.

[::pete::]

Thats too bad ... with all that equipment and preventive maintenance. Want me to show you how?

lol. too funny
Thanks for the offer but NO

This is a very good thread topic...let's be kind and keep it on track.

I dont think you think its funny :huh but anyway it was on topic and I guess I will not help and show you how not to get them again.

Oh well ...

[Richard]

I dont think you think its funny but anyway it was on topic and I guess I will not help and show you how not to get them again.


Why don't you just post it so everyone can learn?

[::pete::]

Richard
Simply because a bod said "NO"

[JimD]

Whats that got to do with the rest of us that might be able to use the information? He said HE didnt want your help. What ya got?

[Richard]

Pete, of course you don't HAVE to share anything but I'd like to know if you wanna share.

Heck, I might not even agree but I always try to steal from others experiences when I can. It's faster & cheaper than figuring it out for myself. You've got a nice tank so you must be doing something right.

Edit - can you say "deck" in about 6-8 weeks?

[Ed]

Pete,

I thought this club was supposed to be about helping each other. ;)
If you have a miracle cure, bring it on.

Alot of us would be glad to know if there is a sure fire way to keep from getting these nasty critters.

Thanks,

Ed :)

[JeffCo]

I'm probably going to setup a separate frag tank/quarantine tank that I can keep all new corals in for a month or so. This way I can monitor it without infecting the rest of the tank.

Any input is appreciated. I think anyone that has SPS corals should be interested in this topic.

[gcantu]

Well, I just purchased my first set of sps and am VERY interested where this topic is headed,,if it ever gets there!
C,mon how do you do it Pete??

[::pete::]

Thanks B that is the link I was going to post.

It is a good read from a site LOADED with information.

[TexasTodd]

The Spotted "target" mandarin gobies are supposed to help eat this particular flat worm also.

Todd

[GaryP]

Todd,

You are referring to this guy?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=554

[TexasTodd]

Yes, that's it.

Todd