Pest Flatworm?

[AaronFReef]

I was just doing a dip after a 30 day quarantine of my four Akros before they went into my display and in the Coral Rx portion this guy came off. I don’t see any clear bite marks on the corals but some are not in tip top shape. I only dipped once 30 days ago putting them in and not every few days as I should. Is this a problem flatworm and should I continue to quarantine and dip thirty more days? Or is this a common No problem type flatworm?

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[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Looks like a bad kind... I'd definitely keep it out if the tank.

 

[LeannaBanana]

I was just doing a dip after a 30 day quarantine of my four Akros before they went into my display and in the Coral Rx portion this guy came off. I don’t see any clear bite marks on the corals but some are not in tip top shape. I only dipped once 30 days ago putting them in and not every few days as I should. Is this a problem flatworm and should I continue to quarantine and dip thirty more days? Or is this a common No problem type flatworm?

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I'm no flatworm expert, but it looks like the Leopard Polyclad Flatworms I had in my tank, so I'd pull it!

 

[AaronFReef]

It definitely appears like a polyclad flatworm. I have one or two snails in that QT and no clams. How do you eradicate them? Do I need to worry about pulling those frags out if I dip them first?

 

[kevgib67]

The 6 line wrass and the pyjama wrass are the best at eradicating them. I’ve always had a 6 line in all of my tanks and have never had flat worms. Good luck.

 

[AaronFReef]

Hmm well I do have a six line that is QT clean but I don’t want to put him in the coral QT as it’s only been 30 days fish fallow. Manual eradication through dips it is. Can it be positively IDed as a leopard polyclad and not a coral eating one? If so I’ll risk that it was solo and didn’t lay eggs that I haven’t gotten with the dip and move the corals over into the DT onto new frag plugs.

 

[AaronFReef]

Bump. Can I get some more help on the ID? Looking for an opinion or two more to confirm it’s a Leopard polyclad. Also any life cycle or “eradication through dip” schedule info would be great! Not too many articles on the web on them. Seems a uncommon occurrence from the write ups a bit.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Bump. Can I get some more help on the ID? Looking for an opinion or two more to confirm it’s a Leopard polyclad. Also any life cycle or “eradication through dip” schedule info would be great! Not too many articles on the web on them. Seems a uncommon occurrence from the write ups a bit.

It's most definitely not something you want in your tank. Keep an eye on your coral until the 6 line is added. If you see more flatworms, or anything else you can't identify, on your frags, then manually remove the offender and dip the frag. Honestly, flatworm eggs can be almost impossible to spot and unless you just want to dip every coral each time you see one, there's not going to be a set schedule for eradication.

While your frags are still in quarantine, you can do a lot of things... Removing each coral from the plug and securing to a new one; dipping multiple times or for longer periods (per the product instructions of course); frequent visual inspection; etc.

There is a product called Flatworm Exit that is supposed to kill all flatworms but I've never used it and don't know if it also kills the eggs. Again, I can't recommend using since I have no direct experience with it.

Good luck

 

[Ashish Patel]

That's Def a Aefw

 

[Ashish Patel]

Remove all plugs. Dip, inspect for eggs. Remount, dip weekly for a month and then wait another 3 weeks and you should be clear

 

[Snoopdog]

That is a baby. What I have found it this year is that if you see one, you likely have a ton. I thought I had eradicated all of ours until we found a way to attract them that will not break the bank. We killed three this weekend already, one was around 3" but they all where around that size. Our method is to take feeding clip and put a nice hunk of frozen scallop on it right at lights out time. We go watch a TV show for an hour and check the clip when the show is over. Friday night we caught one and last night we caught two. Things we have noticed, the hermits and snails will not go near the feeding clip when there is a polyclad around. The polyclad will completely envelop the scallop and it is easy to see since the scallop is pure white. To make sure the flatworm does not break into piece we net the entire feeding clip and bring it up quickly to the surface and kill the flatworm with running tap water, it takes a lot to kill these things. And they stink, like bad!