UFO or just part of Fungia anatomy?

[sammy33]

UFO = unfriendly object

I have this nice Fungia plate coral that has been slowly declining over the past weeks showing tissue necrosis "down to the bone". I have tried to feed it directly with cyclopeeze, bits of brine or mysis and it still seems to be going downhill. I became suspect of what was happening as most all of my other corals are thriving in this tank.

I have often heard stories about un-noticed predators wreaking havoc on corals. These are usually nocturnal animals that only come out at night after the lights go out and the hobbyist is sleeping. I turned the lights off early tonight and basically staked out the tank (also looking for a rogue crab). This is what I found on my Fungia after I flipped the lights back on:

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I have read that some Fungia are mobile and use part of their anatomy as a "foot". Is this the Fungia's foot or some sort of nasty mega flatworm. Leave it up to me to get punked by the biggest flatworm in the world. This must be the Cloverfield monster of my tank?

The rogue crab left this evidence behind:

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:doh:

 

[reefscape]

wow

 

[kzoo]

Holy cra* that looks like some sort of crazy flat worm. I think you have cornered the market on flatworms now. You sould close your shop and just reproduce those.
I will look but there is a some thing I have seen on RC about those.

 

[kzoo]

Ya thats were I saw it ^^^^^^^^

 

[victor626nj]

get it out now before it gose back nto hidding take the lost of the fungi but get that think out

 

[sammy33]

I took the fungia out and dipped it in a freshwater dip as I had no TMPCC or other Rx. I acclimated the coral for about 30 minutes to the FW dip and the worm just melted basically turning to slime. The coral is now in my frag/qt system and will hopefully recover.

My best guess is that this worm was maybe feeding off this coral? If this Fungia bites the dust this will be the third brain coral I have lost recently. Hopefully I got rid of the cause. :huh:

 

[glxtrix]

Yeah I'm going to say it was def feeding off the brain. good thing you found him.

 

[platyplakia]

Could it be this?
Sponge/Asc. identification 9/29/05
Is there any chance you could identify this splendid sponge for me? At
least I think it is a sponge--it appears to have siphonophores. The
photo was taken in the Red Sea
<A nice pic... of an ascidian, sea squirt... Please see here: http://wetwebmedia.com/ascidians.htm">http://wetwebmedia.com/ascidians.htm </a>
Bob Fenner> <p style="text-align:center;">[IMG]http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AscidianPIX/ascidian%20id%20wwwm3.JPG" alt="" />

 

[jmaneyapanda]

That is absolutely a flatworm. Looks like a polyclad, but it likely isnt up to any good. Since you found it on the fungia, Im guessig its feeding off the fungia.

 

[budsreef]

Wow, Sam I didn't know anything like that existed, but I think I have one in my 24G. The other night after the lights were out I was looking at the tank with a flashlight and kept catching glimpses of what I thought was the foot of something big, but could never see what it was the foot of. After seeing yours I'm sure that is what I have as well, just a foot. Now I need to figure out how to get it out of there.

 

[FutureInterest]

That is crazy.

 

[sammy33]

The fungia is looking awful today. The side that I found the worm on is even worse than it was last night. I am hoping this guy survives as the colors were really starting to shine on this coral.

I have three other brains in the tank and have seen no signs of stress or tissue necrosis so hopefully I have solved the problem by nuking this little monster. :unsure:

 

[FutureInterest]

There may be more than one :sad:.

 

[skriz]

WOW! For being so nasty, the sure do look good!