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So i recently aquired acro eating flatworms in my 240 and its been about three weeks now. I have been keeping up with my coral dipping and they are now on the verge of being eradicated. Hopefully no one will have to experince these pests but if so i wanted to shed some light on the situation.
first off i have had red bugs which are a walk in the park and monti nudis which proved to be very difficult. I find these worm buggers to be somewhere in bw in the eradication difficulty.
I have noticed a couple things about the acro flatworms. first off, salifert does not seem to be very effective. what does work is tropic marin dip. it does not have to be super strong but will loosen the flatworms up after about 5 minutes so they can be blown off and after the reccommended 10 to 15 they are struggling to live and die. also everyone says that there can be eggs on the rocks around the coral like monti nudis but i find it to not be the case in both situations. in both situations i experienced the adult organism eating the flesh off the coral to the bare skeleton on the base or a shaded part and laying eggs directly on the exposed coral skeleton so the larvae or whatever do not have to go far for food. also, the life cycle of the flatworm may be longer than expected. I have been "gluing over" all eggs of infected corals but have purposely watched one batch and its been over 10 days and nothing has happened. also, since my last dipping about 8 days ago, i have not found one new patch of eggs.
in conclusion, i beleive that with regular dipping and egg inspection, these pests can be easily eradicated. it is a pain to remove and dip all acros but if they are worth saving they must be dipped. there are also rumors that they do not eat certain species of acros but that is not true as well. they have attacked almost all species in my tank except my green and blue slimer and they even wiped out two flesh colored milis! I will keep everyone posted on my progress and also thanks to everyone that has helped.
first off i have had red bugs which are a walk in the park and monti nudis which proved to be very difficult. I find these worm buggers to be somewhere in bw in the eradication difficulty.
I have noticed a couple things about the acro flatworms. first off, salifert does not seem to be very effective. what does work is tropic marin dip. it does not have to be super strong but will loosen the flatworms up after about 5 minutes so they can be blown off and after the reccommended 10 to 15 they are struggling to live and die. also everyone says that there can be eggs on the rocks around the coral like monti nudis but i find it to not be the case in both situations. in both situations i experienced the adult organism eating the flesh off the coral to the bare skeleton on the base or a shaded part and laying eggs directly on the exposed coral skeleton so the larvae or whatever do not have to go far for food. also, the life cycle of the flatworm may be longer than expected. I have been "gluing over" all eggs of infected corals but have purposely watched one batch and its been over 10 days and nothing has happened. also, since my last dipping about 8 days ago, i have not found one new patch of eggs.
in conclusion, i beleive that with regular dipping and egg inspection, these pests can be easily eradicated. it is a pain to remove and dip all acros but if they are worth saving they must be dipped. there are also rumors that they do not eat certain species of acros but that is not true as well. they have attacked almost all species in my tank except my green and blue slimer and they even wiped out two flesh colored milis! I will keep everyone posted on my progress and also thanks to everyone that has helped.
