No idea... after 12y in the Hobby...

ReefdUp · Jul 10, 2020

After 12 years in the hobby, this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this, and there are hundreds of them in my tank.

My best guess is a larval sponge, but it's missing the collar cell (and since when do larval sponges have split tails?) Microscope images were taken at 80x, if I remember correctly. These "respire" - opening and closing an opening, and they do seem to have an internal anatomy more than a sponge. They appear... squishy (really technical, I know). I have more videos/photos posted to my personal website if anyone is interested.

Oh, and if you think they look like cute little strawberries, then watch the video. Good luck with those nightmares.

ReefdUp · Jul 11, 2020

Any ideas?

Vinman · Jul 11, 2020

Following along for this one!...great job with video and microscope .

JustDewwit · Jul 11, 2020

Very interesting question with awesome media. Can’t wait to find what microorganism this is

Reeffraff · Jul 11, 2020

To me these look like the cercariae stage in the life history of a trematode or fluke. Many of these are parasitic. The most familiar to humans is Schistosomiasis disease which is found in tropical freshwater areas but there are many marine examples as well.

Reeffraff · Jul 11, 2020

If I had to hazard a more specific guess I would say they are a species of liver fluke (based on the color) which appears to have a forked tail like that in Schistosoma mansoni instead of the single tail common in mammalian liver flukes.

taricha · Jul 11, 2020

Nice @Reeffraff

Intramolluscan stages of trematodes (pic)

MERKEY · Jul 11, 2020

Thank you for the lesson!!!

Reeffraff · Jul 11, 2020

taricha said:
Nice @Reeffraff

Intramolluscan stages of trematodes (pic)

Thanks. It was the uniquely shaped forked tail that gave away the general ID (plus the great images/video that were posted).

Unfortunately for the OP, there is a fairly high likelihood that they may be dealing with a parasite outbreak.

SandJ · Jul 11, 2020

They look like a mini version of a deep sea mushroom.
We find hundreds at the beach sometimes. Here is a thread I started about our beach finds...

Deep sea mushrooms....

My daughter and I went beach combing today to see what we could find after the hurricane. We love finding new things. One of our discoveries was these sea mushrooms. Never seen them before. Lots were washed up on the beach but a few were still alive in the water. They are a beautiful pink/purple...

www.reef2reef.com

ReefdUp · Jul 12, 2020

Reeffraff said:
Thanks. It was the uniquely shaped forked tail that gave away the general ID (plus the great images/video that were posted).

Unfortunately for the OP, there is a fairly high likelihood that they may be dealing with a parasite outbreak.

I think you hit the nail on the head, unfortunately. So, I was right on the video... these are the things of nightmares. Add to the horrific Google search, and I don't want to ever put my hand in the tank again!!!

Thoughts on what to do? If anything? I only have snails, crabs, and coral in my tanks (no fish), so it looks like there won't be an intermediate host (now that I never want to put my hands in the tank again...) Seriously though... anyone know about the safety of dealing with these? Should I run PraziPro? Hopefully they'll just die out quickly.

ReefdUp · Jul 12, 2020

Oh, you know, just a normal day at the lab dealing with something similar... "wear protective attire - lab coat + disposable water resistant apron, sleeve protectors, shoe covers, gloves. During this process a full face shield must be worn." Uhhhhhhhhhh...

Schistosoma Mansoni Cercariae

Obtaining cercaria-snails start shedding some time between day 40 and 50 when snails are kept at ~24°C

smhs.gwu.edu

Reeffraff · Jul 12, 2020

ReefdUp said:
I think you hit the nail on the head, unfortunately. So, I was right on the video... these are the things of nightmares. Add to the horrific Google search, and I don't want to ever put my hand in the tank again!!!

Thoughts on what to do? If anything? I only have snails, crabs, and coral in my tanks (no fish), so it looks like there won't be an intermediate host (now that I never want to put my hands in the tank again...) Seriously though... anyone know about the safety of dealing with these? Should I run PraziPro? Hopefully they'll just die out quickly.

PraziPro definitely works against adult trematodes/flukes. Not sure about the cercariae stage though. It is considered safe to add to reef tanks so it probably would hurt to do a couple treatments. If it were me however, I would also remove and replace all snails in the tank (this is by far the most likely source of the cercariae). While the fact that you have no likely termimal hosts (i.e. fish) is good, snails infected with the meracidial stage of flukes can shed cercariae daily for many weeks/months, especially if they are eating well. Out of curiosity, what type of snails do you have?

I wouldn't worry much about exposing yourself. Humans are not hosts for marine flukes. Schistosomiasis on the other hand is a definite human pathogen, hence the precautions noted in the link you posted.

ReefdUp · Jul 12, 2020

Reeffraff said:
PraziPro definitely works against adult trematodes/flukes. Not sure about the cercariae stage though. It is considered safe to add to reef tanks so it probably would hurt to do a couple treatments. If it were me however, I would also remove and replace all snails in the tank (this is by far the most likely source of the cercariae). While the fact that you have no likely termimal hosts (i.e. fish) is good, snails infected with the meracidial stage of flukes can shed cercariae daily for many weeks/months, especially if they are eating well. Out of curiosity, what type of snails do you have?

I wouldn't worry much about exposing yourself. Humans are not hosts for marine flukes. Schistosomiasis on the other hand is a definite human pathogen, hence the precautions noted in the link you posted.

Yeah, these things were a bit larger than the Schistosomiasis cercariae, so the thought of these burrowing into my skin was horrific. Thanks for trying to put my mind at ease! LOL. (Still going to have nightmares...)

My display is a 120g tank, so I have no idea how I would remove/replace all snails. I have a large variety, including some extremely small snails that I'll never find. I have astraea, ceriths (Florida and dwarf), collonistas, dwarf planaxis, conchs, nerites, stomatellas, nassarius, scutus, zig zag periwinkles, and... I think that's it.

So, it sounds like after a few months the tank should be clear on its own? Any idea if these might infect fish?

By the way, thanks so much for the ID and help. This is really neat (although I'm not thrilled...)

Reeffraff · Jul 12, 2020

ReefdUp said:
Yeah, these things were a bit larger than the Schistosomiasis cercariae, so the thought of these burrowing into my skin was horrific. Thanks for trying to put my mind at ease! LOL. (Still going to have nightmares...)

My display is a 120g tank, so I have no idea how I would remove/replace all snails. I have a large variety, including some extremely small snails that I'll never find. I have astraea, ceriths (Florida and dwarf), collonistas, dwarf planaxis, conchs, nerites, stomatellas, nassarius, scutus, zig zag periwinkles, and... I think that's it.

So, it sounds like after a few months the tank should be clear on its own? Any idea if these might infect fish?

By the way, thanks so much for the ID and help. This is really neat (although I'm not thrilled...)

Wow, that's a lot of snail diversity. I would agree that in this case removing the snails isn't a preferable option. There is a good probability that these trematodes would infect fish so keeping it fish free for a few months along with a course of PraziPro would be my chioce of approach.

fishguy242 · Jul 12, 2020

sorry to read this,following along,keep us updated,best wishes

ReefdUp · Jul 13, 2020

Reeffraff said:
Wow, that's a lot of snail diversity. I would agree that in this case removing the snails isn't a preferable option. There is a good probability that these trematodes would infect fish so keeping it fish free for a few months along with a course of PraziPro would be my chioce of approach.

It's a good thing I have no interest in fish - just coral (and obviously snails - lol). The bad thing is, I get all of my snails from the same source, so if these infect fish, I imagine a lot of people will be dealing with fish infections.

Lesson learned for everyone that has ever asked about whether quarantining snails is necessary.......... (but I would've never thought about quarantining them for months while they shed!)

edolan · Nov 4, 2022

Hello @ReefdUp I just found this thread. I just got a delivery of snails and found these trematodes. I am working out how to handle this now. How did turn out for you? Did the Prazipro treatment work?

ReefdUp · Nov 4, 2022

edolan said:
Hello @ReefdUp I just found this thread. I just got a delivery of snails and found these trematodes. I am working out how to handle this now. How did turn out for you? Did the Prazipro treatment work?

Ok, so there was a bit of a development after my last post. Dr. Pieter Johnson identified them as "likely a species of Bevisicula, such as B caribbensis described by Cable from Curacao... the cercaria stage needs to be eaten by fish - hence the conspicuous color and appearance." If you want to see the rest of his response (or any of my other photos/videos of these), they're on my blog at https://coraleverafter.org/?p=355. (Mods, feel free to remove if this isn't ok.)

Based on that and all of the other info posted above, I just stayed fishless for about six months. That's probably not what you wanted to read. I also haven't purchased any more snails after that, which really isn't a good decision, but it is what it is. I think the advice above is solid.

Best wishes with these nightmares. I'm so sorry.

edolan · Nov 5, 2022

Thanks for the update. Yes I saw that blog. I did not realize that was you. Sorry to hear you went through that. I am holding out a sliver of hope. I do know that some of these trematodes got introduced but I know that they are in the cercariae stage and that they have a short amount of time to find a host. So I started treatment with Prazipro. Hopefully this works on the cercariae stage if any are still in the water or found there way into one of my fish. Wish me luck