# Flatworms



## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

I recently purchased a couple of torches off a well known vendor about a month ago and noticed one of the torches totally retracted/receded for about two days. Didn't look good ...

Upon further inspection I noticed something translucent/white moving and thought it was part of the torch's skin/membrane.

Decided to do a dip in Revive and to my horror when I threw it in the dip about a 50+ white flat-like worms come spewing out of the torch like a volcano spewing ashes. Totally creeped me out ! 

Out of curiosity I dipped the other torch purchased and half a dozen came spewing out .. this was after an original dip in CoralRx too and a month in my qt tank.

So I immediately dipped other surrounding corals/torches beside them and they were clean. 

Now I'm wondering if my tank is infested or confined to just the two torches ?!!!

Should I be treating the entire tank with Flatworm Exit to be safe or I'm okay ?? I'm hesitant to treat the entire DT tank with chemicals if I can avoid it.

Goes to show that even a dip and 1 month of quarantine doesn't guarantee a parasite free specimen. I'm guessing there we eggs that hatched and/or the CoralRx did not affect the flatworms orginally (?) 

Just wanted to share my experience. Could I have done anything different to catch this earlier ??

Thoughts/comments ... 

Mikey


----------



## Atomikk (Jul 18, 2013)

Pics would have been awesome to possibly ID the worms.


----------



## rburns24 (Jan 31, 2011)

-
I don't think they would be flatworms. Doesn't seem logical for a flatworm to lay 
eggs in a torch.(If by faltworms, you mean AEFW)
-


----------



## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

just scoured the net and found these pics that looked almost identical to what I saw and came out of my torches.

Should have taken pics at the time but was too creeped out and quickly flushed them down the toilet!

Euphyllia Flatworms (?) ..


Going to do another dip in a day or two and if there are more I will snap a pic if I can.


----------



## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

rburns24 said:


> -
> I don't think they would be flatworms. Doesn't seem logical for a flatworm to lay
> eggs in a torch.(If by faltworms, you mean AEFW)
> -


I don't think they were AEFW .. pretty sure as they were much bigger in size


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

Those are extremely disgusting.

I dip everyting before it enters my reef. If I had the space/equipment, I probably would setup a coral quarantine tank. 

I strongly believe in using Coral RX and also flatworm exit dips. On top of that I tend to look my frag over carefully. I did find a zoanthid eating spider - just one, at a point sometime after my dips so I just make sure I look things over with extreme care.

reading a site and apprently coral revive is a very effective way of removing them.


----------



## RKLion (Jul 2, 2014)

Those are euphyllia eating flatworms. Individually they aren't the worst but they do tend to accumulate in high numbers and smother the side flesh of their host. They slowly decimate the piece. When you dip a piece that's over infested it does look scary when so many come off at once. They do lay brown clusters of eggs that you can see and scrape off during dipping. If dipping then should dip again a week later to get any babies.


----------



## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

I just purchased Coral Revive last week and used for first time. Don't know if it is just coincidence but I did dip the corals in CoralRx before putting them in qt.

No worms came off as I said earlier. 

Will take more diligence with inspection next go around . I may have missed the eggs ... I dunno.


----------



## sully6956 (Oct 12, 2010)

RKLion said:


> Those are euphyllia eating flatworms. Individually they aren't the worst but they do tend to accumulate in high numbers and smother the side flesh of their host. They slowly decimate the piece. When you dip a piece that's over infested it does look scary when so many come off at once. They do lay brown clusters of eggs that you can see and scrape off during dipping. If dipping then should dip again a week later to get any babies.


This was my experience as well. Purchased a small colony locally. It was doing fantastic and growing new heads. Suddenly one of them shrivelled up and I could not figure out what was going on. Eventually saw one of the flatworms, pulled the colony and gave a fresh water dip, scraped the Orange/brown eggs off. And re dipped a few days later. Everything has been fine since then.


----------



## Mikeylikes (Nov 22, 2013)

Seeing one or two externally is one thing. Didn't expect to see them come erupting out of the inner guts of the torch. They were literally spewing out like it was barfing ... Disgusting and creepy to see.

I'm just worried my tank is infested now and I don't know it. 

Reason why I checked the immediate neighbours. Aside from the other torch purchased at same place the others showed no signs of infestation .... But you never know. 

So should treat entire DT to be safe? Is there any risk or potential harm as I've never used Flatworm Exit before.


----------



## RKLion (Jul 2, 2014)

Mikeylikes said:


> Seeing one or two externally is one thing. Didn't expect to see them come erupting out of the inner guts of the torch. They were literally spewing out like it was barfing ... Disgusting and creepy to see.
> 
> I'm just worried my tank is infested now and I don't know it.
> 
> ...


I wouldn't treat the whole tank as thats another can of (flat)worms lol...put the torches into isolation and usually wrasses eat the remaining at the scene. Dip and check very closely and use a toothbrush along all the body. The eggs look like brown pin head size dot clustered together in a uniform formation. They come off easy will a little scraping. You can see these guys easily as they are large and if your torches aren't doing well they are probably the cause.


----------



## RKLion (Jul 2, 2014)

These guys are common on fresh imports from the wild


----------

