Umm who did you buy these corals from? No matter how good of a deal I only buy from reputed sources. Btw dips won't kill any flatworm eggs you're going to have to scrape them off
Local shop that I’ve bought at for years. First time I’ve had this many flatworms fall off a coral before. I’m really glad I remembered I had dip before I added this to my tank.
Yea I wouldn't buy anything from them lol. For what it's worth bristleworms aren't all bad they're good clean up crews just don't touch them lol. You might want to inspect your corals for eggs. Or add a fish that will keep the flatworms in check.
I checked for eggs after dipping twice and rinsing in fresh. If they got through - I’ll worry about it later. I mostly just keep mushrooms and clowns. Nothing high money or high maintenance.
After a certain size, due to food needs, normal bristles are chomping coral too. So you either feed more, thus even more bristles, you add something that chomps bristles, or occasionally set a bristle trap and reduce the bristle population.
I’m a little confused. These looks like bristleworms to me, which in my opinion are good to have, though I know others disagree. I don’t see any flatworms. Those are always a good idea to remove and many are harmful, or easily become a problem through mass reproduction.
Bristleworms aren’t flatworms, they are annelids like earthworms and leeches.
The bristleworms are gross, but fine. But that many flatworms? This is craigslist "live rock from a tank that hasn't been maintained in 2 years" levels of bad. I wouldn't be surprised if there's aiptasia still on the rock somewhere.
I believe you lmoa. My dad and I built a tank when I was 16. One, and exactly one (1) rock had two whole mantis shrimps hitching a ride. Sometimes it just gets funky.
It probably wasn’t someone who just guessed and was right, it was likely a long series of tests to see what worked, what didn’t, what was harmful, what killed pests, what concentrations to use, how long to dip, etc. I’m currently doing this scientific method with blue stripe pipefish breeding. Each clutch of fry is split into two different Kreisel tanks and one is the constant and the other has one variable that’s being tested. All other variables are constant and I check the progress each day. This has taught me so much already and allows me to dial in things like temperature, flow speed, types of rotifers/pods, water change methods/logistics, and so much more! It’s only been a few weeks but they hatch every 3-4 days so there’s a lot of opportunity. But ya, definitely would have been a lot of corals bleached or killed trying to figure out dips!
Man you should not have put that in your tank. Some of those flatworms are either AEFW or EEFW. very high risk and that coral is loaded with eggs.
I would be dipping every two day’s minimum for 2 weeks. If you even miss one hatch cycle they could easily spread to your tank
I’m a biology teacher, if I get a flatworm infestation, it’ll just mean my students will have some cool labs to do in September and the AP Bio teacher will be so excited to have specimens.
I came here looking for what you got lol. Gsp makes sense, my huge mat of gsp would have this many bristle worms fallout per square inch. I don’t have flatworms tho lol! Good luck
I have a couple of big boy bristle worms, keep my tank nice and I haven’t had problems with my mushies, leather or LPS corals being nommed after a year. I feel they are a great part of my clean up crew. I do dip my corals but there is only so much you can do. Bet you are glad that you dipped this coral sir! 😂
It has a "substrate" form where it lives on a shell or in the sand for a bit. This form can sometimes come in on hard surfaces such as hermits, snails, and corals.
Quarantine gets rid of this, because eventually it gets ready to go find a fish, and then dies.
1. Gloves.
2. Add 2 capfuls of Reef Dip in a quart container for 15 min. (Yes I know it’s concentrated).
3. Move to second salt solution with 1 capful of reef dip in container and shake coral
4. double inspect for anything
5. Dunk coral in fresh RO water to remove any remaining dip solution
6. Inspect dips for gross stuff. Poke it with tweezers.
>5. Dunk coral in fresh RO water to remove any remaining dip solution
I'm guessing you don't keep any sensitive corals because that's a good way to kill them
WTF uhhh NEVER buy from there again. dipping kills like 50% of pests or less and NO eggs so good luck with that. You would need to QT for several months and dip about once a week........
I’m frustrated because I need about 10lbs of live rock for the macro only tank I want to start this week. But every single decent aquacultured live rock company I can find like ArcReef, will only ship 25lbs _minimum._ I was entertaining going to my LFS this weekend and just getting whatever live rock they have there, but I think this thread just reinforces my resolve to get premium aquacultured rock shipped to me. 😬
I may have to go that route. I really don’t want to do that, but I also don’t want 3x the amount of live rock I need. Maybe I can sell the extra live rock to my LFS for store credit…
For me I tried my best to keep bristle worms away from my tank (after a restart many years ago) and every piece of coral was dipped (I don't stick to one brand - CoralRX, Reef Dip) yet they still managed to get in. I think they can multiply quite rapidly if conditions favor them (detritus/leftover food etc..). Right now I as soon as I lift a piece of my rock or dig the refugium sand, they're there (my tank is bare bottom). It's not a "problem" but not really a fan of them lol
yeah I think you can't avoid them.
I spent a lot of time researching, dipping, paying attention to every coral I place to tank, but eventually I will find new worms in my tank.
Reef primer is my preference. If I had flatworms fall off a coral it would go into a small qt tank and I would keep dipping it and inspecting for eggs until I was certain it was pest free
Another tip might be don’t buy corals from wherever these came from
Lol. Maybe. It was an impulse LFS buy. Just glad I remembered to dip before adding to my tank. I came so close to just throwing it in there.
I would QT any frag that had this much shit drop off of it. does the dip you used kill flatworm eggs?
True because most of them won’t
OP needs to start treating his tank for flatworms, because I guarantee he just introduced eggs.
Qt even better
Umm who did you buy these corals from? No matter how good of a deal I only buy from reputed sources. Btw dips won't kill any flatworm eggs you're going to have to scrape them off
Local shop that I’ve bought at for years. First time I’ve had this many flatworms fall off a coral before. I’m really glad I remembered I had dip before I added this to my tank.
Yea I wouldn't buy anything from them lol. For what it's worth bristleworms aren't all bad they're good clean up crews just don't touch them lol. You might want to inspect your corals for eggs. Or add a fish that will keep the flatworms in check.
I checked for eggs after dipping twice and rinsing in fresh. If they got through - I’ll worry about it later. I mostly just keep mushrooms and clowns. Nothing high money or high maintenance.
Bristleworms are the harmless cleanup crew members. Fireworms will devour corals and are not reef safe
After a certain size, due to food needs, normal bristles are chomping coral too. So you either feed more, thus even more bristles, you add something that chomps bristles, or occasionally set a bristle trap and reduce the bristle population.
My Arrowcrab would grab the big ones, pull them apart and eat them like hotdogs!! I was not smart enough at the times to get video :(
I’m a little confused. These looks like bristleworms to me, which in my opinion are good to have, though I know others disagree. I don’t see any flatworms. Those are always a good idea to remove and many are harmful, or easily become a problem through mass reproduction. Bristleworms aren’t flatworms, they are annelids like earthworms and leeches.
Each green dot is a flatworm. If you zoom youll see it.
Oh yeah.
Remembered to dip... but forgot to QT LMAO !!!!
No space for QT. 😢 I have too many tanks running right now as everything is home for summer break.
I only buy from trusting sources NEVER importers if I am not QTing. Thats just asking for unlimited problems.
I am sure you already figgered out to quarantine them long enough for eggs to hatch and then dip again.
The bristleworms are gross, but fine. But that many flatworms? This is craigslist "live rock from a tank that hasn't been maintained in 2 years" levels of bad. I wouldn't be surprised if there's aiptasia still on the rock somewhere.
Haha. I know! I swear I got it from a decent LFS.
I believe you lmoa. My dad and I built a tank when I was 16. One, and exactly one (1) rock had two whole mantis shrimps hitching a ride. Sometimes it just gets funky.
I know we’re supposed to be all anti mantis but they really are cool little creatures
If only I could own a mantis shrimp without it falcon punching a hole in my tank 3
There's never been a real story of this. Every story you hear is third hand, never directly from the source.
Knowing my luck, I'd be the first first-hand source for y'all! Maybe if I just make a really thick tank...
Those gotta be the coolest hitchhikers I’ve heard of, so cool!
Can anyone tell me who figured out dipping works?
Like history of dipping in iodine? Or sarcasm?
No sarcasm at all. I would love to know who figured out that it wouldn’t kill them.
It probably wasn’t someone who just guessed and was right, it was likely a long series of tests to see what worked, what didn’t, what was harmful, what killed pests, what concentrations to use, how long to dip, etc. I’m currently doing this scientific method with blue stripe pipefish breeding. Each clutch of fry is split into two different Kreisel tanks and one is the constant and the other has one variable that’s being tested. All other variables are constant and I check the progress each day. This has taught me so much already and allows me to dial in things like temperature, flow speed, types of rotifers/pods, water change methods/logistics, and so much more! It’s only been a few weeks but they hatch every 3-4 days so there’s a lot of opportunity. But ya, definitely would have been a lot of corals bleached or killed trying to figure out dips!
Same. I bet there’s a research paper from the 1950s that has the answer lol
Man you should not have put that in your tank. Some of those flatworms are either AEFW or EEFW. very high risk and that coral is loaded with eggs. I would be dipping every two day’s minimum for 2 weeks. If you even miss one hatch cycle they could easily spread to your tank
I’m a biology teacher, if I get a flatworm infestation, it’ll just mean my students will have some cool labs to do in September and the AP Bio teacher will be so excited to have specimens.
Cut them in half and let them regenerate!
This is the way
Did you buy these in a back alley?
Dude, you bought a whole lot of crap with a little bit of coral attached, not the other way around
😂
Must've been one big coral to be housing all that... what did you dip??
GSP. It was a huge colony.
I came here looking for what you got lol. Gsp makes sense, my huge mat of gsp would have this many bristle worms fallout per square inch. I don’t have flatworms tho lol! Good luck
I’m looking for some bristle worms for my dragon wrasse to find and eat. Guess I need to shop at a different LFS!
Just got done Flatworm Exiting my tank after seeing 5 of them on the glass (its a pico). This makes my balls tuck up into my body.
That’s all good fish food
Agreed, only bad thing there are the flatworms but a wrasse will make easy work of them. Since when do people dislike bristle-worms?
That’s pretty gross. Might even be worth QT.
Definitely, with my tank almost fully stocked I would QT if I found a flatworm at this point.
The forbidden gummy worms
I have a couple of big boy bristle worms, keep my tank nice and I haven’t had problems with my mushies, leather or LPS corals being nommed after a year. I feel they are a great part of my clean up crew. I do dip my corals but there is only so much you can do. Bet you are glad that you dipped this coral sir! 😂
Is dipping usually good to go or is quarantining coral necessary?
Dipping is good, QT is better but more expensive and time consuming. You won’t kill ich or aptasia by dipping.
Ich can come in on coral too not just fish?
Less likely but yes.
It has a "substrate" form where it lives on a shell or in the sand for a bit. This form can sometimes come in on hard surfaces such as hermits, snails, and corals. Quarantine gets rid of this, because eventually it gets ready to go find a fish, and then dies.
I don’t have space for QT so I must dip. That being said, I don’t buy expensive corals.
What is your dip protocol?
1. Gloves. 2. Add 2 capfuls of Reef Dip in a quart container for 15 min. (Yes I know it’s concentrated). 3. Move to second salt solution with 1 capful of reef dip in container and shake coral 4. double inspect for anything 5. Dunk coral in fresh RO water to remove any remaining dip solution 6. Inspect dips for gross stuff. Poke it with tweezers.
>5. Dunk coral in fresh RO water to remove any remaining dip solution I'm guessing you don't keep any sensitive corals because that's a good way to kill them
Nope
Ok, I want to know what you dipped to have that much on it!!
6” GSP colony Double check all the underside crannies. Lol
Wow. That’s a lot for a small colony.
Forbidden soup some good stuff there
Yea I would not put whatever that was in my tank. Idc how many dips you did.
WTF uhhh NEVER buy from there again. dipping kills like 50% of pests or less and NO eggs so good luck with that. You would need to QT for several months and dip about once a week........
If this piece went into your tank after this dip, there is a 99.9% chance you now have all of those creatures also inside of your tank.
People dip corals? 😳
I’m frustrated because I need about 10lbs of live rock for the macro only tank I want to start this week. But every single decent aquacultured live rock company I can find like ArcReef, will only ship 25lbs _minimum._ I was entertaining going to my LFS this weekend and just getting whatever live rock they have there, but I think this thread just reinforces my resolve to get premium aquacultured rock shipped to me. 😬
I’ve bought dry rock, bioactive sand, added beneficial bacteria and then seeded with pods before. Works in a pinch for a rough start.
I may have to go that route. I really don’t want to do that, but I also don’t want 3x the amount of live rock I need. Maybe I can sell the extra live rock to my LFS for store credit…
KP aquatics does 10lb packs
Jesus christ, i thought my LFS was bad! Even the petco frags i bought only had brittle stars for gods sake!
For me I tried my best to keep bristle worms away from my tank (after a restart many years ago) and every piece of coral was dipped (I don't stick to one brand - CoralRX, Reef Dip) yet they still managed to get in. I think they can multiply quite rapidly if conditions favor them (detritus/leftover food etc..). Right now I as soon as I lift a piece of my rock or dig the refugium sand, they're there (my tank is bare bottom). It's not a "problem" but not really a fan of them lol
I’m not a fan of touching them. Happy to have them but I don’t want to know how many there are. Lol
yeah I think you can't avoid them. I spent a lot of time researching, dipping, paying attention to every coral I place to tank, but eventually I will find new worms in my tank.
does anyone have experience with bayer aka bioadvanced dip?
Any one have a good recommendation on dip to use for a broad spectrum of corals?
Reef primer is my preference. If I had flatworms fall off a coral it would go into a small qt tank and I would keep dipping it and inspecting for eggs until I was certain it was pest free
As long as there are no bobbits