Sponge may have parasites?

[MogwaiMadness80]

I recently acquired a 29 gallon Nano Cube from a friend leaving the hobby. Its a fantastic tank and well established. It has an assortment of SPS and LPS coral, Hermits, Snails, a few Emeralds, A Pajama Cardinal, Yellow Tang, Fire Fish, and Black Bar Chromie.

Everything has been doing great. Recently, one of my small snails camped out on my neon green sponge and after leaving said sponge, left behind several small .5x.25 cm thin brownish-red flat objects. All are the same shape and the sponge itself has retracted in on itself for several days. I am not sure if these are parasites or something else....Anybody have any input?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

That yellow tang is starving from that picture you posted. Very skinny. Tangs need much larger tanks than 29 gallons. Do it a favor and bring it to your lfs to help save it.

You say a few emeralds. Emerald what's?

 

[MogwaiMadness80]

The Yellow Tang came with the tank. He is a voracious eater and gets several feedings a day. That being said, I do not plan on keeping him in the tank long term as I am well aware that they are not well suited to small environments. Not sure what if anything I will replace him with....likely a goby. As for Emeralds, I am referring to the crabs. I have two of them who are rather elusive for the most part.

 

[Dmorty217]

Sounds like the Yellow has a internal parasite then. Yes ANYTHING wet can carry disease wit it if you don't QT properly

 

[RA]

Not 100% sure but they look like flat worms.

 

[Snarl]

Not 100% sure but they look like flat worms.

I 2nd that

 

[hotelbravo]

[

The Yellow Tang came with the tank. He is a voracious eater and gets several feedings a day. That being said, I do not plan on keeping him in the tank long term as I am well aware that they are not well suited to small environments.

what are you feeding him???? he needs meaty foods along with a constant supply of algae to graze on due to his high metabolism they are easy to under nourish if you cannot supply enough food for him

 

[lostintheocean]

I would give the tang to someone who can properly care for it, it is suffering. If it eats lots it needs to be treated for internal parasites, I use prazipro for this. The bright green thing is a leather coral, not a sponge. I would do some real research into how to properly maintain a tank and then how to specifically care for the creatures that are in yours. If you know the tang is a very poor fit for that tank then why keep him in there suffering?

 

[Wonton Soup]

Since nobody seems to want to help you with your actual question and instead just rail on you about an emaciated tang you inherited...

I'll oblige. In the photo you posted, the green coral in the center looks like a leather of some kind. Possibly a sarcophyton. The brown patches are in fact flat worms! Also referred to as planaria. They are on the coral and on the rocks in the background. They really have nothing to do with the snail other than they were probably riding on it and fell onto the coral when the snail did.

The coral should bound back but the flat worms will persist and grow in number and over time can irritate certain corals. You need to eradicate them with one of the many methods outlined on this site and dip all future corals to prevent getting them again.