Red flatworms

[pez]

I got a coral last night at the WAMAS meeting.  Once I got home and inspected it, I noticed it has some small red flatworm looking animals on the base.  Fearing contamination, I have not put it in my tank yet.  Any thoughts on what they might be or how to get rid of them (good or bad I don't want them in my tank).  I'll try to snap a picture, but I cleaned many of them off last night with a series of freshwater dips.  Any one use that SPS dip I've seen?

 

-Tom

[ridetheducati]

Do you have flatworms or red bugs.  And did you get the coral from a trade or store?

 

Do a search for red bugs on this board and RC.  A wealth of info.

 

Good luck

[pez]

Not the acro bugs, flatworms.  They look like, and might be, planaria.

 

The piece was purchased at CC last on 10/26/02.

 

-Tom

[pez]

Here are some pictures of the flatworms that are still in the bag.  I don't see any on the coral, but being cautious.

 

 

[geofloors]

Do you know if all the tanks are connected as one big system at CC? I didn't check my purchase for flatworms. I've used the reef dip on sps but never specifically for flatworms.

 

 

George

[pez]

The coral I got was from the main tank with all the soft corals in it.  Not the tank with all the WSI frags in it.

 

From what I have read on the net, freshwater dips seem to be the only cure for flatworms.  There are certain fish that eat them, but it seems to be limited to the brown ones, not the red ones.  As always, there are nudibranchs that eat them, but they are hard to come by.

 

My acro did not respond well to the freshwater dip.  Although I just "blasted" the base with freshwater, rather than actually dipping the coral, the base has started to bleach.  I decided to frag the coral rather than risking it.  Hopefully some of the frags will make it.

 

I will keep you posted.

 

-Tom

[eddi]

Tom,

 

I was not able to make the meeting saturday night, but I did stop by CC at lunch time and picked up two corals from Leon.  I inspected both of them fairly closely and did not notice any foreign creatures on mine, but now you have me worried.

 

Please keep us posted on your situation and good luck with your acro!

 

 

Eddi