Curious what fell off during dip

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

just dipped my first batch of corals, saw a lot of stuff attached to the plugs and falling off in the bowl. Just curious what these are. I only dipped in coral RX, no one had any Bayer around me. I was able to get most of the frags off of old plugs and either mount to new plugs or glue directly to the live rock. But there were 2 or 3 I couldn’t get off with a scalpel. Should I be concerned with those plugs in the tank based off of what’s in these photos and videos?

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

Couldn’t get the videos to upload, but there are two things, a long white thin worm thing that could up into a ring, and the little black things look like flatworms?

Big G · Feb 10, 2018

Best guess from the picture is the worm is a Polychaete - Dorvilleidae (Bristleworm) Good guy that's a herbivore. Here's a clearer pic. Does it look like this?

Screen Shot 2018-02-10 at 11.08.04 AM.png

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

Big G said:
Best guess from the picture is the worm is a Polychaete - Dorvilleidae (Bristleworm) Good guy that's a herbivore. Here's a clearer pic. Does it look like this?

Kind of, yeah. It was wrapped around a frag plug that I popped off, it’s sitting in the Rinse bucket right now, is it worth trying to get it off the plug or tossing the plug in the tank so it can climb off? Is the coral RX going to kill it, it doesn’t look so hot at the moment

How about the black flat slug looking things? Flatworms? If I’m not going to have any SPS in the tank do I need to even worry about eggs they may have left behind? Or will anything that hatches just starve to death?

Big G · Feb 10, 2018

You want to be a bit careful with the worms. A lot of them look kind of alike, especially when small. Here's a link where you can look over the choices and then decide if you want to let it loose into your tank: https://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/
Need a better & closer pic of the other black critters. But similar critters are on the attached link as well.

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

Well the little black things definitely have the shape of the various flatworms, but they are much darker than any of the example pictures. I don’t think the bristleworm made it... so I guess that ones a moot point...

Big G · Feb 10, 2018

The only flatworms that are good/benign news are "ghost" worms. If they are dark . . . X'm

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

Big G said:
The only flatworms that are good/benign news are "ghost" worms. If they are dark . . . X'm

yep, about 3 fell off in total and died, but I'm a little worried they might've left eggs behind. I wasn't able to get the old frag plugs off of 3 of the corals, 1 is totally encrusted around the plug, the others just wouldn't pry off and i was worried about damaging them so i gave up. should i fish them out of the tank and try harder?

Maggie321 · Feb 10, 2018

Did you scrub the plugs with a toothbrush? I try to scrape the things off when I can't remove the plugs. Lately when I go to my LFS I ask which ones are fresh or can they just chop a new frag off the mother colony. She is usually happy to oblige and will tell me which frags are the freshest mounted. They seem to be easier to remove from the plug when they are fresh. If I have to put the plug in the tank, I scrub it good. Really really good.

Big G · Feb 10, 2018

Dodgersfan said:
yep, about 3 fell off in total and died, but I'm a little worried they might've left eggs behind. I wasn't able to get the old frag plugs off of 3 of the corals, 1 is totally encrusted around the plug, the others just wouldn't pry off and i was worried about damaging them so i gave up. should i fish them out of the tank and try harder?

Some like to do multiple dips. Dip, rinse, wait 5-7 days. Dip, rinse, wait 5-7 days. Dip, rinse, wait 5-7 days. Or setup a coral/invert qt and dip them and observe them in the coral/invert qt for 76 days.

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

Well I don’t have a frag tank for quarantine, but this is a new tank and my plan is to start off with a fallow period Before adding fish. I know that’ll take care of any fish parasites, I’m just not sure about coral Parasites.

Big G · Feb 10, 2018

The dipping (I prefer Bayer) will take care of the coral parasites, but it won't kill any ich/velvet that has possibly encysted on the frag plug/rock. Thus the need to qt all incoming corals and inverts: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-invert-quarantine-time-frames.334584/

Dodgersfan · Feb 10, 2018

Big G said:
The dipping (I prefer Bayer) will take care of the coral parasites, but it won't kill any ich/velvet that has possibly encysted on the frag plug/rock. Thus the need to qt all incoming corals and inverts: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-invert-quarantine-time-frames.334584/

Well if coral RX will take care of any coral parasite eggs I should be in the clear, like I said it’s a new tank, no fish, and I’m going to run it fallow for the first 76 days.

Big G · Feb 10, 2018

Dodgers fan in Atlanta? You must be lonely. LOL

Dodgersfan · Feb 11, 2018

Big G said:
Dodgers fan in Atlanta? You must be lonely. LOL

Nah, not really. This town is like 80% transplants. The new braves stadium is pretty nice, and they suck so bad that tix are super cheap. So far I’ve been to see them play the Dodgers and the Mets, it looked like a home game for the visiting team both times