Scrapes on my fishy :(

[jrevoman]

Any time now I think.

Jay

Alright so i have some new developments in the tank, i haven’t done the bait thing yet but i have discovered an infestation of flat worms. I noticed some of the bigger ones yesterday as i was scrubbing the glass and took this picture that the people over in the critter id forum helped me identify.

I have seen the dartfish picking at the glass and never knew what he was doing, i guess he had been eating these guys. So i pretty much cleaned them all off the glass last night, however when i woke up they were just covering it again. Hundreds of tiny white specks that i could see moving around, and sure enough when the dartfish woke up he got right to work devouring them. And boy did he put in work, he was just inhaling bunches of them, after about 30 minutes a good portion of the glass was clean just from this. So could some have been getting in his gills and causing the irritation? Could this also explain why the YWG seems unbothered?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Alright so i have some new developments in the tank, i haven’t done the bait thing yet but i have discovered an infestation of flat worms. I noticed some of the bigger ones yesterday as i was scrubbing the glass and took this picture that the people over in the critter id forum helped me identify.

I have seen the dartfish picking at the glass and never knew what he was doing, i guess he had been eating these guys. So i pretty much cleaned them all off the glass last night, however when i woke up they were just covering it again. Hundreds of tiny white specks that i could see moving around, and sure enough when the dartfish woke up he got right to work devouring them. And boy did he put in work, he was just inhaling bunches of them, after about 30 minutes a good portion of the glass was clean just from this. So could some have been getting in his gills and causing the irritation? Could this also explain why the YWG seems unbothered?

My first thought is - why didn't the praziquantel kill these? Trematodes and flatworms are fairly closely related, I know prazi doesn't kill turbellarian worms very well, but I thought it would have killed flatworms.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

My first thought is - why didn't the praziquantel kill these? Trematodes and flatworms are fairly closely related, I know prazi doesn't kill turbellarian worms very well, but I thought it would have killed flatworms.

My first thought is - why didn't the praziquantel kill these? Trematodes and flatworms are fairly closely related, I know prazi doesn't kill turbellarian worms very well, but I thought it would have killed flatworms.

Jay

Is there someone else we should get an opinion from? Isn’t this just like doctors where you want multiple opinions

 

[jrevoman]

Update: he is DEVOURING these flatworms

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Is there someone else we should get an opinion from? Isn’t this just like doctors where you want multiple opinions

IDK - most people will tell you "praziquantel kills worms" but it isn't as simple as that. Praziquantel is thought not to actually kill the trematodes, it just causes them to spasm and fall off the fish, and then they cannot reattach. It may be that these flatworms (probably Convolutriloba sp.) got knocked out a bit from the prazi, but then recovered? Still, I was surprised to see so many in a tank that had prazi treatments done.....

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

IDK - most people will tell you "praziquantel kills worms" but it isn't as simple as that. Praziquantel is thought not to actually kill the trematodes, it just causes them to spasm and fall off the fish, and then they cannot reattach. It may be that these flatworms (probably Convolutriloba sp.) got knocked out a bit from the prazi, but then recovered? Still, I was surprised to see so many in a tank that had prazi treatments done.....

Jay

The thing too is that I never noticed them the whole four months that hes been flashing for, and i scrub the glass and monitor the tank a ton, and now theyre all over. Also, WHY IS HE EATING THEM. I feed frozen once a day and he eats voraciously every time.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The thing too is that I never noticed them the whole four months that hes been flashing for, and i scrub the glass and monitor the tank a ton, and now theyre all over. Also, WHY IS HE EATING THEM. I feed frozen once a day and he eats voraciously every time.

I did not know that species ate flatworms - sixline wrasse and springeri dansels surely do, as well as some other wrasses. Here is the weird thing - you'll read about how if you kill off all of the flatworms in a tank, they can release a toxin that will kill the fish....seems counterintuitive then, that fish can eat them with impunity.

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

I did not know that species ate flatworms - sixline wrasse and springeri dansels surely do, as well as some other wrasses. Here is the weird thing - you'll read about how if you kill off all of the flatworms in a tank, they can release a toxin that will kill the fish....seems counterintuitive then, that fish can eat them with impunity.

Jay

Do you have any links to info about the toxin they release? Been reading a bunch about ghost flatworms but barely seen that mentioned, i would just like to know more about it. Would that just mean when the last one in the tank dies it releases the toxin?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Do you have any links to info about the toxin they release? Been reading a bunch about ghost flatworms but barely seen that mentioned, i would just like to know more about it. Would that just mean when the last one in the tank dies it releases the toxin?

No - it is just anecdotal, from people that have used drugs to kill of flatworms all at once, and then had severe toxic reactions....

Jay

 

[jrevoman]

No - it is just anecdotal, from people that have used drugs to kill of flatworms all at once, and then had severe toxic reactions....

Jay

Hey Jay…does this guy look healthy to you? I found him sleeping kind of tucked into the rock last night instead of in his cave, and then i started thinking he looked kind of skinny and I’m having flashbacks to the tail spot blenny…

 

[jrevoman]

Also still monitoring the tank, no new changes, haven’t done the bait for the possible copepods yet as my sleep schedule has been wack the last few days

 

[Cthulukelele]

Ghost flatworms are generally harmless and considered tasty by most reef inhabitants. You tend to only see them in large numbers in young, fishless, or understocked tanks as they're eaten so readily. The red planaria flatworms are the ones people talk about toxins with and are also much less likely to be considered delicious snacks by your fish and thus can grow to plague proportions. A lot of wrasse still find red planaria yummy though

 

[jrevoman]

Ghost flatworms are generally harmless and considered tasty by most reef inhabitants. You tend to only see them in large numbers in young, fishless, or understocked tanks as they're eaten so readily. The red planaria flatworms are the ones people talk about toxins with and are also much less likely to be considered delicious snacks by your fish and thus can grow to plague proportions. A lot of wrasse still find red planaria yummy though

Thats good to hear, my tank is young and understocked so it checks out

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey Jay…does this guy look healthy to you? I found him sleeping kind of tucked into the rock last night instead of in his cave, and then i started thinking he looked kind of skinny and I’m having flashbacks to the tail spot blenny…

Looks ok to me, but shouldn’t it be in a burrow? Is it breathing fast?
Jay

 

[jrevoman]

Looks ok to me, but shouldn’t it be in a burrow? Is it breathing fast?
Jay

Pretty sure his breathing is okay, I’ll check when i get home from work but yeah thats the first time ive ever seen him not in his cave at night. I also added a candy cane pistol at the same time as him, but I’m not certain they have paired, or even if the pistol is still alive. It was only about a quarter inch, maybe even smaller when I added him. I haven’t heard him click at all and the goby is always alone, I don’t think he even has a burrow, but i cant see into the cave much so I’m not sure.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Pretty sure his breathing is okay, I’ll check when i get home from work but yeah thats the first time ive ever seen him not in his cave at night. I also added a candy cane pistol at the same time as him, but I’m not certain they have paired, or even if the pistol is still alive. It was only about a quarter inch, maybe even smaller when I added him. I haven’t heard him click at all and the goby is always alone, I don’t think he even has a burrow, but i cant see into the cave much so I’m not sure.

How is it eating?
Jay

 

[jrevoman]

How is it eating?
Jay

Well, not nearly as much as the dart fish but he eats a good bit at feeding and then i see him picking around throughout the day

 

[jrevoman]

Okay, did the bait in the mesh bag, only thing i saw was this guy. Picture is bad but i saw it a few times clearly in the camera and it’s just a regular copepod

 

[jrevoman]

@Jay Hemdal i don’t want to speak too soon but i haven’t seen any flashing in three days now

 

[jrevoman]

@Jay Hemdal i don’t want to speak too soon but i haven’t seen any flashing in three days now

Im gonna give it another week, but if its still all good do you think i can go ahead and add the possum wrasse after that?