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Old 03-08-2016, 11:59 PM
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Default The Feeding Pipette of Death for flatworm control

Quote:
Originally Posted by Myka View Post
Those are definitely flatworms. They will move, but some species are much more active than others. I'm not sure which species you have - some are predatory mainly to corals, some are prone to plague-like population explosions, and some are harmless. First things first, I'd check very closely that there aren't any on your corals. I'f the corals are clear, I'd keep an eye on their population, and if everything seems ok I'd just ignore them. Of the harmless flatworms, their population will wane and flux, and under normal conditions they aren't usually a problem. If they are on your corals, that's an entirely different matter. If you're noticing their population increasing quickly, that's a different matter too. If they are quite tiny - like 2 mm or so, then they are probably one of the harmless types, though I've had one occasion where a tiny type was infecting a Brain Coral (nothing else). I gave it a couple dips a week apart, and didn't see them again.
Thank you for the heads-up - I scrutinized all of my corals really carefully, even using the nanoscope and I don't - so far - see anything on them. My bubble coral has been struggling lately and I noticed a few kind of spots on it, but can't match that up with what I see on the glass. I plan to look into whether it's safe to dip the bubble coral and see if anything nasty is shed.

As for size, they are about 2mm in "diameter" and a light pink colour in the brighter light.

On day one, I decided to remove them manually using a feeding pipette (thank you, Canada Corals!). I put tap water into a container to squirt them into, and suctioned them off one by one, getting as many as I could see. They did move when prodded with the tip of the pipette. They were mainly concentrated in the upper left front corner and side wall, and widely scattered when it got to be more than six inches from the corner. So I feel like I got the majority of them - didn't see any of them anywhere outside about a ten-inch distance from that corner.

On day two, they reappeared but this time there were a lot fewer and it didn't take long to remove them.

Day three was today, and I estimate there were only 20 or so.

So we will see what tomorrow brings.
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