Whats Crawling On My FrogSpawn????

[Thizzelle686]

So i took a really good look at my frogspawn today and noticed a bunch of very small "bugs" crawling over the tentalcles. Are these copepods or some kind of parasite, or something else. i would take a pic but you cant see them. They are very small and have a brown color to them. Any Ideas???

 

[Animal Mother]

Could be red bugs? I think they're just a problem for SPS but I could be wrong.

 

[Thizzelle686]

can anyone comfirm that?

 

[atzak]

there are lots of pictures of red bugs in the sps forum, check it out and let us know. I've never heard of red bugs on any coral other than an acro, though, so I doubt it. Does the frogspawn seem to be effected buy the critters?

 

[AIMFish]

Great ID site!

 

[Thizzelle686]

Not really, but i have seen him more fully extended.

 

[ReefMonger]

Probably a variety of flatworms

 

[digitaldego77]

I have had these same bugs, and I researched for awhile to no avail. All I could determine was that they irritated my frogspawn enough to cause visual stress. I would periodically fresh-water dip the coral, removing the bugs (so I thought) and then they would re-populate in a number of weeks. I was finally able to rid myself of these by getting a sixline wrasse. Not necessarily the best answer, but it was the only thing I could find that worked.

On a bright note, I did determine, in my experience, that these bugs did not spread to any other euphyllia. Hope this helps you out some. Sorry I can't give you an I.D.

 

[Thizzelle686]

Man this is rough! I have been considering a six line wrasse, so that might be what i do.

 

[Thhitman]

They are flatworms. They won't actually harm the coral, but will keep it deflated and unhappy looking.

Sailfert's Flatworm Exit works, but I'm sure there are others as well. I have treated two different tanks with it, just make sure and follow the directions as they release toxins in the water when they are killed, so the directions call for water changes and running carbon for a while after the treatment.`

My six line wouldn't touch them, btw.

 

[digitaldego77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11326051#post11326051 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thhitman
They are flatworms. They won't actually harm the coral, but will keep it deflated and unhappy looking.

Sailfert's Flatworm Exit works, but I'm sure there are others as well. I have treated two different tanks with it, just make sure and follow the directions as they release toxins in the water when they are killed, so the directions call for water changes and running carbon for a while after the treatment.`

My six line wouldn't touch them, btw.

I don't think these are flatworms. Of course, without a photo we can't be totally certain - but it doesn't sound like flatworms. Flatworms don't really have too much movement to them, nor do they look like "bugs". What Thizelle is describing is some sort of crustacean - tiny little bugs that resemble copepods. I had a frogspawn that was infected with both. The freshwater dip took care of the flaworms, but the small "bugs" would not die off.

Again, there may be more than one way to rid yourself of these, but it was my experience that the sixline took care of them. Also, as I mentioned, they never took to any other corals - which is good news I guess. Best of luck to you.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

IMO I highly doubt it is flatworms. Often times when people saying "bug looking things," the first thing that comes to mind are copepods and amphipods (usually slightly larger). I've never heard of copepods or amphipods harming any corals, save some stories about them eating zoas. Is your frogspawn dying? Maybe they're eating or picking at your dying frogspawn?

 

[Thizzelle686]

No its not dying, the coral is perfectly fine now, i just had noticed something crawling on it. Do you think a grren mandrin might do the job to take care of these guys?

 

[reefernavy]

I had what sounds like the same thing on my FS, used SeaChem's coral dip and have never seen them again.

 

[digitaldego77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11329291#post11329291 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thizzelle686
No its not dying, the coral is perfectly fine now, i just had noticed something crawling on it. Do you think a grren mandrin might do the job to take care of these guys?

These are much harder fish to keep than a sixline. I would maybe take reefernavy's advice. I personally didn't have too much luck with a dip, but I used freshwater only.