Flat worms on torch

[acan-man]

Hi all,

My new torch coral has been receding and withdrawn. All parameters are normal and everything else looks great. I pulled the torch and did an iodine dip and found these flat worms on the base. Any idea what they are specifically and if they might be the cause? Either way they have been removed. Glad I found them before they got moved to the display.

 

[Reefer1978]

Yes these are euphyllia-eating flatworms. You are not out of it yet, as they lay eggs that are not penetrated by dip. I've dealt with something similar in December, treatment method for me was weekly CoralRX dip for 6 weeks.

 

[GtiKyle]

Polyclads. I fought those on a torch of mine too.

Use a dip like CoralRx, or revive. Also, there's probably eggs on the skeleton, so you'll need to scrape those off. Dip it another week after this, and then do the same. You'll have to break the reproduction cycle of them. We went through about 4 weeks of this to eradicate them.

Good luck

 

[acan-man]

Thanks all for the ID. Is once a week enough, or should I be more aggressive? Also now that I've removed the larger ones, should the Torch start to bounce back?

 

[GtiKyle]

Thanks all for the ID. Is once a week enough, or should I be more aggressive? Also now that I've removed the larger ones, should the Torch start to bounce back?

It will bounce back, but be vigilant. Just keep a close eye on it. I'm not entirely sure on the frequency, but we were able to break the cycle weekly.

 

[acan-man]

Great, I'll start weekly and after a month if I'm still finding them, I'll move two twice weekly. What is the travel capacity of these? There is another hammer in the QT, should I start to treat it as well? They weren't close together, and the hammer looks fine. Also any idea on how long the worms can survive off the euphyillia? ie can they travel across rock and sand to infect another coral?