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#1
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Euphyllia eating flatworm!
Every so often I would find bits of my frogspawn tentacles here and there around the tank. Didn't think much of it. Then today I noticed one head had a strange looking mouth. Again, didn't think much of it. This afternoon the head wasn't looking so good, so I looked closer. What I thought was the mouth was actually a white stripe running down the back of an inch long flatworm! It was eating the coral. I've never heard of Euphyllia eating flatworms. Has anyone else? I removed it of course.
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Peter Click my red house to see my tank :-) |
#2
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A very scary thought, but no, never heard of them. But it seems like there's a new parasite found every day. Been hearing something about red bugs on Euphyllia. I've witnessed some sort of pod crawling on Euphyllia, but no ill effect to the coral.
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"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." |
#3
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I'll post some pics. They are a bit over exposed from the white background, but you will get the idea.
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Peter Click my red house to see my tank :-) |
#4
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Many fish nip off ends of frogspawn. I have seen blennies angels & gobies do it... It is possible the worm is just at the scene of the crime.
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#5
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The flatworm was actually right on top of the middle of one of the heads of the frogspawn. My anthias don't touch corals.
I mean, I see no reason why euphyllia wouldn't have parasites. Everyhting else does. I'm just surpised I've never heard of them before. Here it is.....almost 1.5" long:
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Peter Click my red house to see my tank :-) |
#6
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These flatties seem more common nowadays than ever... or maybe reefkeepers are becoming more observant. In any event, here's an older related thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...a+AND+flatworm
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some common aquarium nuisances: Bryopsis,Derbesia(hair algae),Cyanobacteria(red slime), Diatoms(golden brown algae), Dinoflagellates(gooey air bubbles),Valonia (bubble algae) |
#7
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Wow, those are much smaller. Also, mine doesn't have that classic "double tail" end.
Guess I'll search for more, just in case. I was hoping this was a strange, large, isolated specimen.
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Peter Click my red house to see my tank :-) |
#8
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Not likely. I think someone in my local area had some flatties very similar to yours. They're around.
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some common aquarium nuisances: Bryopsis,Derbesia(hair algae),Cyanobacteria(red slime), Diatoms(golden brown algae), Dinoflagellates(gooey air bubbles),Valonia (bubble algae) |
#9
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Yup I found one on my hammer a few months ago. Actutally I bought a hammer with about 5 dead heads, only one head was living on it. I decided to buy it because on the dead heads, to tissue was present or anything, new buds were growing back around the edges and I found it quite interesting. Here is the thread I started for the worm. It's actutally called a polyclad flatworm.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=898264 Kelly
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trying to be someone you're not is a waste of the person you are |
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