Flatworm / Black Bug ID's

[mginster]

Flatworm ID:

This AM I noticed many flatworms on my frogspawn colony. The colony has shown 0 signs of stress (its closed up due to lights off). From google searches they kind of look like Waminoa or Red Planaria. I have Coral RX, Lugols, Witch Hazel, etc. What would work best? I do not want to flatworm exit the entire tank.

Black Bug ID:

Any idea what the small black bugs could be on my cyphastrea? Lately it started STN, but it appears witch hazel stopped it. I did notice these bugs this AM also.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Black Bug ID:

Any idea what the small black bugs could be on my cyphastrea? Lately it started STN, but it appears witch hazel stopped it. I did notice these bugs this AM also.

Black Bugs is probably the actual ID here - there's a good chance they are parasitic "pods" parasitizing your Cyphastrea:

a few different treatment methods for them. I haven't used any of the methods myself, but you should be able to find feedback on at least some of them on the forum here:

Aquarium Corals: Stony Coral Parasites: Red and Black Bugs: Identification Guide, Preventive Measures, and a Review of Treatment Protocols

This article is but a small tool for use by serious hobbyists in answering many questions.

reefs.com

Flatworm ID:

This AM I noticed many flatworms on my frogspawn colony. The colony has shown 0 signs of stress (its closed up due to lights off). From google searches they kind of look like Waminoa or Red Planaria. I have Coral RX, Lugols, Witch Hazel, etc. What would work best? I do not want to flatworm exit the entire tank.

I can't see these clearly enough to be sure, but Waminoa seems like a good guess to me:

Looks like it may be a Waminoa sp. - they are known to feed on the coral mucus rather than the coral itself of corals in the family Euphylliidae, as well as mushroom corals. Theoretically, in large numbers these guys could cause problems for corals like stated in the quote* below:
"Apparently, acoels can harm corals by smothering them, which may hinder their respiration, feeding and sediment shedding capacities."

*The link the quote was taken from:

Tissue loss in corals infested by acoelomorph flatworms (Waminoa sp.) - Coral Reefs

link.springer.com

The only confirmed effective method of removal that I'm aware of is a repeated dip and cleaning method (pull any infected corals from the tank, dip them, scrape off any worms/eggs that stay on through the dip, repeat as needed). It may be more effective if you can to dip, scrape, and then put the corals in a different, uninfected tank to wait out the starvation of any eggs/worms in the infected tank, but this may not be possible. The link below has some other ideas you can explore if you'd prefer, but I have no idea if they're effective or not:

EEFW infestation (euphyllia eating flatworms)

Dip them using coral revive. They peel off in seconds using it. I’ve tried other stuff but nothing works even close as good as revive. They spaz right out in seconds and come off the torches Flatworm exit doesn’t work on these at all...

www.reef2reef.com

Edit: Also, here's a link that shows some more known host corals (I would assume these will host on just about any coral they can get too to be honest).

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Photographs-of-Waminoa-specimens-and-their-hosts-a-Specimen-18-host-Echinophyllia-sp_fig2_324516348

 

[mginster]

Black Bugs is probably the actual ID here - there's a good chance they are parasitic "pods" parasitizing your Cyphastrea:


I can't see these clearly enough to be sure, but Waminoa seems like a good guess to me:

Thank you for all the info! Dipped them both yesterday and flatworms are still there, will dip again in a few days.

 

[mginster]

Planning my next dip…the Coral RX got some of them but i still see plenty that didn’t let go.

I see some suggest a FW dip for just like 30 seconds and they almost instantly let go. Does anyone know if it’s safe to FW dip frogspawn? Scrap that, reading more shows it’s only tolerable with zoas and some softies.

I do have another tank (qt) that is a full setup with LR/sand I could use flatworm exit on, but I have heard that doesn’t always work either and is a lot more work.

I do have Lugols and see some stating good success.

 

[mginster]

Iodine dipped and that was a night and day diff in the amount of flatworms that came off vs Coral RX. However at recommended strength (40drop/gal) and at around the 8 minute mark tentacles of the Frogspawn swelled up like a bubble and were brown color and it started to expel Zooxanthellae. Quickly moved to my tank water bath and the few tips eventually broke off. This AM the coral is fine and open as normal, but I guess Lugols can be harsh and angered it a bit, but at least cleared most (not all yet) flatworms.