Help with Hammer Coral

[vlapinta]

I need some help identifying something on my hammer coral.
It looks like some kind of a bug. What should I do to get rid of it?
Any help would be appreciated.


http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/vlapinta/Hammer with bugs/



Vicki

 

[fsn77]

Technically, hammers are LPS, but here's some help all the same...
Those are red flatworms. You will want to get rid of them. If they are only on your hammer, you're lucky at this point and should act quickly. You can do a freshwater dip or Lugol's dip to get them off the hammer (about 5 minutes), with some vigorous swirling of the coral underwater. Certain wrasses will eat them, but the flatworms multiple quickly and a wrasse may not be able to keep up with their population growth. If you find them on other corals in your tank, I'd dip them also (I prefer to freshwater dip soft corals and Lugol's dip LPS corals). Red flatworms that are found on your rock, glass, or sand can and should be manually removed as much as possible by siphoning or any other means possible (but try to disturb your sand bed as little as possilbe if you have a deep sand bed). If you're completely infested, Salifert makes a product called Flatworm Exit. I've heard mixed results and reports of multiple dosings required beyond the label directions to acheive desirable results.

EDIT: Red flatworms should not be smashed or left dead in your tank, as they contain a toxin that can harm your other marine life if present in large enough quantities.

 

[vlapinta]

Where can I get Lugol without an RX? I tried to get it from a medical supply store and they would not sell it to me without a perscription. Can I try the freshwater dip? Should I use RO water and dip and swirl the hammer for 5 minutes? Any other help is appreciated because I am still a "Newbie". at this.
I noticed some smaller spots on a Riccordia. Could it be the same flatworm?

Vicki

 

[fsn77]

Red flatworms can be anywhere. The one time I had to battle with them, they came in on a rock of red mushrooms. I didn't even notice them until after I put the rock into our tank (when I thought our mushrooms were "moving"). I spent several hours that evening aggressively removing as many of them as I could that had wandered off the rock, and dipped the rock of mushrooms two or three different times to make sure I got them all off.

I ordered Lugol's solution online (Kent markets it for aquarium use). I haven't seen it in any of the LFS around my area, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's hard to find locally.

Without having any Lugol's solution, you can do the fw dip (RO water is fine, just try to get at least the temperature close to that of the water you're pulling the hammer out of; adjusting the pH of it close to your tank's is also less stressful on the coral). The hammer will undoubtedly close up, which will protect some of the flatworms. When you swirl the hammer, don't be shy. As long as you're not banging it up against the sides / bottom of the bucket, swirl / shake it as best you can. The flatworms will start to fall off and end up as a reddish goo at the bottom of the container as they start to break down from the fw exposure. You may have to dip it more than once to get them all off. I pull some water out of our tank to keep some sw available to put the coral in between dips. I now dip all corals before they enter our tank. I've found unwanted pests on corals from every lfs in our area, so now I've taken the point of view that I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[vlapinta]

How much Lugos do you mix in 1 gallon of water? Do you recommend the Lugos dip every time you get new corals?
Vicki

 

[fsn77]

The bottle from Kent says 40 drops into a gallon of water (separate from the tank ). It also says corals can be dipped for 10 - 15 minutes, although I've been sucessful with shorter periods. But, it's good to know a longer dip is still ok.

Based on my experiences, I'd recommend at least a fw dip for all new corals. I've started doing a Lugol's dip on all new LPS corals and a fw dip for all new soft corals (we don't keep any SPS corals). Dipping does also remove the good hitch hikers, and I try to save them as quickly as possible, hoping that they might survive (I toss them in our refugium).

 

[db_triggerfish]

fsn77, thanks i will also do fresh water dips on new soft corals and Kent's lugo on LPS. This is one of those post that newie reefers needs to read. But when I bring it home from lfs dip first then climate or climate with drip from main tank then fresh water dip and into main tank.
again thanks,

 

[fsn77]

I've been dipping first, then acclimating to tank conditions. The water in the bag from the lfs is usually room temp by the time it gets to our house, which is convenient since I typically have room temp fw & pre-mixed sw for the next water change already sitting around. But, I see no problem in acclimating the new coral first, then doing a fw dip. That's essentially what was happening the first couple of times I discovered a problem with bad hitch hikers on newly purchased corals that were already in our tank (before I decided to dip all new corals).