Id Help Please

[Homy77]

Hey everyone

Over the past couple of months I’ve noticed these little dots on my soft corals

At first I thought it was just a weird discolouration on my shrooms but then i noticed them all over the place

I can’t find anything on the net that describes what I’m seeing in order for me to treat

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Josh]

I would dip your coral, ive never heard of pink flatworms but that'd be my guess

 

[Pistol]

looks like flatworms
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...0i67k1j0i5i30k1j0i8i30k1j0i24k1.0.kqS-7pcgtFk

 

[TORX]

These are pest Flatworms - more specifically - aeolids - that tend to gather upon the surface of mushrooms, for example. While they may look like guests, they are definitely not helping the mushroom live. it is possible these feed upon the mucous of the coral, and are a general eye sore. They can be carefully siphoned off the object with airline tubing, or you could treat the tank with Salifert's Flatworm eXit. These are definitely unwanted.

 

[Josh]

watch out using flatworm exit, the nutrient spike from their die off will kill coral

 

[TORX]

watch out using flatworm exit, the nutrient spike from their die off will kill coral

Completely agree. Years ago I had a flat worm issue. Some wrasses will help, but that is a real bad infestation. Before you treat, suck out as many as you can and be ready for a decent size water change afterwards.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Shooter000]

And there's just as many you see as you can't see

 

[Homy77]

Thanks guys

I hadn’t realized that these were alive until today when I knocked one off a shroom by mistake


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Homy77]

So an update...

About 3 weeks ago I treated with flatworm exit and followed their instructions exactly

Siphoned before and after treatment, then ran carbon in my sump where the drain enters to ensure all water went through the carbon. The worms went all psycho trying to get away, sat back and waited

About 30 mins later my tank looked like it was snowing inside there were so many dead flatworms

This is when I had the worst thing that could happen to my tank start

My fish all started to die one by one.

I lost 8 large fish in total

I lost my blue tang, powder blue, sailfin, yellow, purple, copperband and royal gramma all within an hour, the purple actually lasted until the morning but he was the last to pass

I was devastated

My corals were all fine and my smaller fish, clowns, Benggai Cardinals and yellow coris all survived

I’ve done 4 50% water changes since and all my parameters are back to normal after a week

Now I’m slowly starting to restock

This has been one hell of an experience

Warning to all to ensure that you take out your larger fish before dosing this stuff as it zaps the oxygen out of the water and adds massive toxins from the dying flatworms

Hopefully someone learns from my mistakes




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TORX]

That is a horrific story and a major case of more then you can see. I thought I had a lot in my last tank build, but the water never clouded over. Sorry to hear about the losses. I hope people take this story into consideration while taking care with flatworm exit.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Kman]

I am not a fan of this product because of this issue. There is always more flatworms then you can see so things easily get out of hand after treatment. Sorry about your loss.

 

[Luke.]

Sorry to hear , in my option , I do believe in flat worm exit , I’ve used it before and I did work but I for some reason used it waayyy to often “to be sure” and lost a lot of coral , thankfully no fish , but dammnnn you had alootttt I had maybe 50-100 (in my 40 gallon) this was about a year ago , tbh idk what I would have done if I had as many as you did , I could definitely see the issue there bud , hope all is well , glad your turn around is comming and now is the time to re do something in your tank differently then before , hopefully for the better ! Keep your head above water ! Good luck to ya !

 

[Kman]

If I myself were to use a product like this I would first manually remove as much as possible over a few days and then use it. Even then it would have to be a last ditch attempt and I have exhausted all other options. When I first got into this hobby there was no reef safe medications or products like this to treat stuff. I have carried the you just never really know the full effect a product like this can have in your reef mentality over the years. It has kept me safe so far. More times then not when I have used stuff like this it has bitten me in the butt. So unless I am super desperate I tend to not use them.