EEFW infestation (euphyllia eating flatworms)

Baldguy

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I prepare a dip 20 mL Bayer per cup of water and dip for 20 minutes. It’s a little bit more than the usual 15 minutes but the Bayer is very gentle on the corals. Then I dip in Reef Dip iodine-based for another 20 minutes. Then in untreated tank water for 5 to 10 minutes to rinse. Let me know if you have any questions
I think you misunderstand. No issues dipping the coral I can pull out. Just can't dip every coral and every rock.
 

bruno3047

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It will have little effect if any on eggs. Eggs must be physically removed
I think you misunderstand. No issues dipping the coral I can pull out. Just can't dip every coral and every rock.
Sorry. I didn’t read all the entries in the thread. Good luck with those little suckers. I freaking hate them.
 

onetootreefor

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Thanks to this thread Ive found my torch issue. One by one my high end torches were dying off. Probably 30+ acro colonies not a single issue but my torches dying left and right.

finally my 100+ head of frog spawn started to die one head at a time. Found this thread and dipped my last 3 colonies. This is what came off…..

question if I were to move the euphyllia to a new system will the flatworms die off without a food source? I plan to dip my colonies every 4 days.
C51B66AC-8D0F-47C5-A62B-A074E811F311.jpeg
 

BroccoliFarmer

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Thanks to this thread Ive found my torch issue. One by one my high end torches were dying off. Probably 30+ acro colonies not a single issue but my torches dying left and right.

finally my 100+ head of frog spawn started to die one head at a time. Found this thread and dipped my last 3 colonies. This is what came off…..

question if I were to move the euphyllia to a new system will the flatworms die off without a food source? I plan to dip my colonies every 4 days.
C51B66AC-8D0F-47C5-A62B-A074E811F311.jpeg
Maybe im missing something but does 'euphyllia eating...' indicate the the euphyllia IS the food source?
 

Baldguy

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Thanks to this thread Ive found my torch issue. One by one my high end torches were dying off. Probably 30+ acro colonies not a single issue but my torches dying left and right.

finally my 100+ head of frog spawn started to die one head at a time. Found this thread and dipped my last 3 colonies. This is what came off…..

question if I were to move the euphyllia to a new system will the flatworms die off without a food source? I plan to dip my colonies every 4 days.
C51B66AC-8D0F-47C5-A62B-A074E811F311.jpeg
What I have can be found on other lps and mushrooms as well as the glass and probably rocks. So removing just euphyllia won't eliminate the problem. Ime, they don't actually eat euphyllia but with huge populations they can smother the lps.
 

onetootreefor

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Maybe im missing something but does 'euphyllia eating...' indicate the the euphyllia IS the food source?
It might not be their only food source but it’s clearly a food source. My question more stems around if I dip every 4 days for 2 months and the eggs and flatworms seem to be off my euphyllia how will I get them out of tank for good.
 

Bfragale

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Just my 2-cents:

flat worm exit- doesn’t work for these.

CoralRX - did ok
Bayer- worked the best for me- multiple dips-

never tried revive for these.

but requires multiple dips- I found these also infested mushrooms and zoas as well as tourch/hammer corals.

also: six line and Coris wrasse didn’t touch them.

Good luck! It’s not a fun processes.
 

BroccoliFarmer

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Just my 2-cents:

flat worm exit- doesn’t work for these.

CoralRX - did ok
Bayer- worked the best for me- multiple dips-

never tried revive for these.

but requires multiple dips- I found these also infested mushrooms and zoas as well as tourch/hammer corals.

also: six line and Coris wrasse didn’t touch them.

Good luck! It’s not a fun processes.
I agree. I had them in my tank. Was not fun eradicating them. My melraneous wrasse did some damage but dipping and atrician is how I beat them
 

HB AL

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I went through that years ago, tried everything, finally said screw it (so much time,effort,nothing worked)
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went with no euphylia for around 1.5 years, it worked and only buy them from one trusted lfs that dips them hard, no problems since.
 

vetteguy53081

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Thanks to this thread Ive found my torch issue. One by one my high end torches were dying off. Probably 30+ acro colonies not a single issue but my torches dying left and right.

finally my 100+ head of frog spawn started to die one head at a time. Found this thread and dipped my last 3 colonies. This is what came off…..

question if I were to move the euphyllia to a new system will the flatworms die off without a food source? I plan to dip my colonies every 4 days.
C51B66AC-8D0F-47C5-A62B-A074E811F311.jpeg
Yikes
 

Hogan

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Well, my turn to battle these devils. Found the eggs on my torches last night so I hit the head with a baster and one blew off...I scrapped off all the eggs I could see and will start digging with the revive gets here!
 

DHollis26

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Well, my turn to battle these devils. Found the eggs on my torches last night so I hit the head with a baster and one blew off...I scrapped off all the eggs I could see and will start digging with the revive gets here!
Any update here? Just discovered these guys in my tank on a hammer. They had previously killed a torch.
 

vetteguy53081

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Any update here? Just discovered these guys in my tank on a hammer. They had previously killed a torch.
Post pics under white lighting so we know what type youre dealing with
 

vetteguy53081

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I didn't take a picture but i found this on youtube. These are identical to mine.

These are polyclad flatworms. They are not as bad as red planaria but can cause problems in numbers as they can and will smother coral blocking the necessary light for production of zooxanthellae which is the energy source for coral color and growth.
Siphon these guys with a 3/8" tube and discard.
You can also add a wrasse such as 6 line, lunare, yellow coris or melanurus which will eat them. Springieri damsel will also eat them and a velver nudibranch.
For next 2 weeks, look for signs of eggs which are tiny and in clusters and will need to be scaraped offf outside of tank
 

Hogan

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Any update here? Just discovered these guys in my tank on a hammer. They had previously killed a torch.
I'm still battling. They're in my frag tank so all the torches are on tiles and easy to take out. I take them out about every 2 weeks and check them. Everytime, there are are few worms on them, but there are less and less eggs everytime so I think I'm winning. They're also on my hammers.
 

Tjm23slo

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Has anyone tried a quick freshwater dip? I did this with AEFW. RODI water baste. 30 seconds buggers can’t get off fast enough. Not sure it will work with these. acros took a hit but they would have anyway. This is not a recommendation, just wondering if anyone has tried.
 

ss30

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I'm struggling with flat worms at the moment but they only seem to be affecting my torch and are leaving my hammers alone.
If I got rid of all of my euphyllia will the flatworms still survive in my tank or will they die out as there are no euphyllia in the tank?

Will they only lay eggs on euphyllia?
 

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