Hey thanks so much psteeleb!! I agree entirely. I've seen those exact same four types of polyps extended just didn't know how to articulate as well as you.
I believe I just found my problem. Da Da Da Da!!!! I have AEFW's!!!!!!!!! yahoo!!!!!!!
Why yahoooo!!!!! Becuase I haven't been able to get to the root of my lack of PE on my millies for over a year and a half. I now have something to treat!!!!! There's hope in sight!!!!!
I have no idea how I aquired them though. I QT everything and put all my corals through a rigorous dip twice before adding them to the DT (I do a lugols dip for 20 min, FWE dip for 20 min, then a revive dip for 5 min). After each dip I examine the water carefully for any critters and if anything is suspicious they go back into the QT for treatment. However, these little guys slipped past me. I've seen many types of FW's but never any this small. They are about 1/4th of a mm long and really blend in easily with bits of detritus.
I truly just got lucky in seeing them. I took out one of my smaller millies for some dips and started with a FWE dip. I blew on the coral with a pipette but saw nothing come off. I saw bits of detritus from the rock and saw nothing suspicious. After about 10 min I saw a little critter crawling on the bottom. It was tiny and moved relatively fast (1/2cm per second). Since it moved so fast and was so small I nearly overlooked it and thought is was some sort of little pod. After looking and finding nothing else I siphoned him out with my pipette and put him down on a white plate to hit him with the flashlight and magnifying glass. I couldn't believe it. Of what little I could really see, it was dark brown and light brown, shaped like a rocket and had one little tail on each side extending out behind it (common FW shape except very very tiny). After blowing on the coral for another 10 min I saw another fly off so I sucked him up and sure enough it was the same thing. In all, I only saw about three or four come off my 3 in millie and these tiny little guys could have easily been overlooked. I tried my damndest to get a pic but there was just no way becuase they were so small.
I'm really surprised at how fast they could move. I've seen lots of FW's up close and these guys moved much faster than any I've seen. I'm baffeled by it's speed but I'm sure it's a FW. The flat body with two little wings at the end is a dead ringer.
Holy crap I still can't believe it!!
I'm not sure this is the problem causing all the rest of my corals PE issues but it gives me something to finally treat my millies for!!!
FWE here we come. OK steer me in the right direction if I'm wrong. FWE directions say one drop for each gallon. I've got roughly 160-180 gallons net. I'm going to treat for 250 to cover it good (I've never heard of any major issues with using too much FWE - within reason. I always dip my corals in 10X that strength for 20 min and they've never shown a negative reaction). I'll turn off the skimmer for a few hours after I dose the tank. What I know of the treatment, it's best to remove any FW's as they are seen dying so they don't poison the tank. I don't think I'll actually see many to siphon out but I'll look.
Should I leave the carbon in the whole time or take it out for a few hours after treatment???
Dang, it's crappy to have flatworms but it's really nice to have something to treat my millies for their lack of PE. It's really sad, they are pretty much just skeletons - not nice fluffy millies like you see in all the pics.
OK that will be my focus for the time being and I'll see how the rest of the corals react after treatment.
but you will find corals do like what kalc has to offer over CA or 2 part even if used very sparringly. I think it's mostly PH related but there may be some chemical they like
You know, I thought that same thing but thought I was crazy for thinking it. It simply boiled down to ca and carbonate/bicarbonate. It doesn't matter how the corals get it as long as they get it consistently without too much alk fluctuation. In the back of my brain I always thought there was just better growth and overall health in tanks that dose kalk. That is really why I wanted to initially experiment with various ca/alk supplementation. After some instability with my kalk dosing I dismissed it as a poor supplement for me to use with my current dosing equipment (Ironically I needed to buy two expensive dosers to dose my two part with great precision). I may very well try dosing a single gallon of kalk slowly each day. That will help prevent major fluctuations as my primary supplementation will be from two part, but may give the corals that boost in pH or some mystery element that they seem to like so much with kalk dosing.
Can't say it enough. Thanks everyone!!!!
If you have any other suggestions for treating my PE issues or guidance for my FW treatment please chime in. I'm actually in the middle of a 420 gallon build and it will give me a good opportunity to QT everything all over again and be sure it's healthy before entry into the new DT.
Jeremy