SPS pests and treatment options
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TheGreekReefer
In Memoriam
I would like to add the Eunicid Worm as a sps pest. This guy was eating my expensive acros
TheGreekReefer
In Memoriam
I got mine out yesterday. Traps do not work. Steve Weast from the Oregon Reef told me traps are a waste of time. Steve pulled two worms out of his tank, one was 5ft and the other 7ft. OMG He told me there tail usually doesn't leave the burrow. Only way to remove it is to find the rock it burrows in and remove the rock. Thank you Steve. I know it sucks but trust me well worth it. These worms can grow very large, mine started eating expensive acros. Not cool. We as reefers put all this time, energy, and money into creating an environment that will support these beatiful acropora not create gourmet meals for a worm.
Here is how you do it. Stake out the tank at night with a red flash light. I used a red flashlight and a couple of clip-on desk lamps with red bulbs in them. Light the tank up nice and good. It took me several nights to find its home. Be patient.
Now do what you have to do to get the rock out. Me I had to cut coral that had fused the rock in place. Pull the rock out, please use gloves, us a syringe and inject Club Soda into it's lair. LeslieH works at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. She is an expert in worms you can find her here on Reef Central. She told me to use club soda and boy does it work. After a few injections into the hole it crawled out of there fairly quickly. Thank you Leslie.
After he crawled out I started to inspect the rock to make sure it was safe to put back in. I saw another one. *** I injected more club soda in and kind of pushed it out. When it dropped out I noticed it didn't have a head. I couldn't believe it. It left its tail behind to regenerate into a new worm. What an incredible survival mechanism.
Everyone who has one remove it. They might be harmless at first but as they get older their appetite changes and they start munching on coral. Trust me you want no parts of this. Get it out as soon as possible.
Here it is
Close up of its face
Here is how you do it. Stake out the tank at night with a red flash light. I used a red flashlight and a couple of clip-on desk lamps with red bulbs in them. Light the tank up nice and good. It took me several nights to find its home. Be patient.
Now do what you have to do to get the rock out. Me I had to cut coral that had fused the rock in place. Pull the rock out, please use gloves, us a syringe and inject Club Soda into it's lair. LeslieH works at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. She is an expert in worms you can find her here on Reef Central. She told me to use club soda and boy does it work. After a few injections into the hole it crawled out of there fairly quickly. Thank you Leslie.
After he crawled out I started to inspect the rock to make sure it was safe to put back in. I saw another one. *** I injected more club soda in and kind of pushed it out. When it dropped out I noticed it didn't have a head. I couldn't believe it. It left its tail behind to regenerate into a new worm. What an incredible survival mechanism.
Everyone who has one remove it. They might be harmless at first but as they get older their appetite changes and they start munching on coral. Trust me you want no parts of this. Get it out as soon as possible.
Here it is
Close up of its face
kevins72chevy
New member
man i got crabs or bugs too what works the best
v1...rotate
A Reef In The Sky
I got mine out yesterday. Traps do not work. Steve Weast from the Oregon Reef told me traps are a waste of time. Steve pulled two worms out of his tank, one was 5ft and the other 7ft. OMG He told me there tail usually doesn't leave the burrow. Only way to remove it is to find the rock it burrows in and remove the rock. Thank you Steve. I know it sucks but trust me well worth it. These worms can grow very large, mine started eating expensive acros. Not cool. We as reefers put all this time, energy, and money into creating an environment that will support these beatiful acropora not create gourmet meals for a worm.
Here is how you do it. Stake out the tank at night with a red flash light. I used a red flashlight and a couple of clip-on desk lamps with red bulbs in them. Light the tank up nice and good. It took me several nights to find its home. Be patient.
Now do what you have to do to get the rock out. Me I had to cut coral that had fused the rock in place. Pull the rock out, please use gloves, us a syringe and inject Club Soda into it's lair. LeslieH works at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. She is an expert in worms you can find her here on Reef Central. She told me to use club soda and boy does it work. After a few injections into the hole it crawled out of there fairly quickly. Thank you Leslie.
After he crawled out I started to inspect the rock to make sure it was safe to put back in. I saw another one. *** I injected more club soda in and kind of pushed it out. When it dropped out I noticed it didn't have a head. I couldn't believe it. It left its tail behind to regenerate into a new worm. What an incredible survival mechanism.
Everyone who has one remove it. They might be harmless at first but as they get older their appetite changes and they start munching on coral. Trust me you want no parts of this. Get it out as soon as possible.
Here it is
Close up of its face
Fascinating!! How are they introduced into the aquarium, via live rock or corals?
TheGreekReefer
In Memoriam
My best guess is that it came in on live rock
dan223
Custom User Title
I would like to add a pic of a "critter" I found today that was one of three that I removed from an Acro frag that had been loosing tissue over the last 4-5 weeks the loss was rapid to start, then seemed to slow ( at this slowing point I had moved the frag to the bottom of the tank away from the 250w ) I'm not sure if its releventI was unable to take better pics of it , but to describe it ,it had a pointy clear tail almost the same lenth as its body which was a transperant darkish brown with darker parts to the head and tail reigion.
the drill bit is for refference it was a 5/64ths
It I belive has been feeding on the acro for over a month now does anyone know what this is. Oh no other Acro frags show signs of damaged tissue
Ive seen these on 2 acro's 1 oregon tort that was slowly going downhill. When I checked the corals out after lights were out these bugs were cruizing around the 2 acros that were dying. Ive seen a couple other posts from people regarding them but no one seems to know exactly what they are. I tried to get a pic and couldnt they are so small. Its hard to see in your pic, but your description of them is dead on.
shelburn61
New member
I just realized today that I have AEFW. So glad to read this b/c I don't have the time or space for a full eradication plan. I'm hoping can keep the population near zero with dips and some wrasses.
What's the best med to reduce numbers in the display? Fluke tabs? Anyone tried Prazi-pro (praziquantel)?
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So this wouldn't have been a problem for a healthy coral? Or the healthy tissue left on that coral?
I recently discovered AEFW's
did not know why mys sps's were suffering, until i hit on these threads, but I have had all of the symptoms for months. I can now tell why my Neon Pseudochromis and striped Pseudochromis are the fattest and happiest pseudo's in the state. They must have been munching away, and keeping them in check.
I have now added a six line wrasse and a fairy wrasse. The addition of the new fish must be decreasing the flatworm load, because my corals are coloring back up. Also my to pseudochromis are out and actively hunting more- they must have to try harder with the new fish competing for worms.
When i think the worm load is at a minimum, i am thinking about dosing with Fluke out medicine.
did not know why mys sps's were suffering, until i hit on these threads, but I have had all of the symptoms for months. I can now tell why my Neon Pseudochromis and striped Pseudochromis are the fattest and happiest pseudo's in the state. They must have been munching away, and keeping them in check.
I have now added a six line wrasse and a fairy wrasse. The addition of the new fish must be decreasing the flatworm load, because my corals are coloring back up. Also my to pseudochromis are out and actively hunting more- they must have to try harder with the new fish competing for worms.
When i think the worm load is at a minimum, i am thinking about dosing with Fluke out medicine.
Montipora eating nudibranchs
Montipora eating nudibranchs
Discovered something unusual about one of my montiporas ...after careful
inspection I found it was had several monti /nudis and the eggs. I removed two frags that were close together plus I inspected 3 others but did not find any sign of them being infected..
What is the the chance that I got them all by removing the infected frags from the tank?
Do you think it would be best to remove all the motiporas from the tank and keep them quarantined for two to three weeks? Thanks for your help.
Montipora eating nudibranchs
Discovered something unusual about one of my montiporas ...after careful
inspection I found it was had several monti /nudis and the eggs. I removed two frags that were close together plus I inspected 3 others but did not find any sign of them being infected..
What is the the chance that I got them all by removing the infected frags from the tank?
Do you think it would be best to remove all the motiporas from the tank and keep them quarantined for two to three weeks? Thanks for your help.
Do you have AEFW's? If so there is no in tank treatment.
For Montipora Eating nudibranch, here is a good article for them: http://www.reeffarmers.com/tracygraynudi01.htm
There always manual remove too.
quarantining all monti would be a good idea. I don't think 2 weeks is long enough. I seems the their egg hatch in 2 weeks time. I would say that a longer quarantine period would be better.
