Spots on Goniopora stem- flatworms?

[Silverlava]

I noticed today that there seem to be some spots on one of my gonis. The coral looks really healthy otherwise and is fully extending, but I'm concerned these might be flatworms. If they are, I know its something you want to get a jump on treating.

I can't find these spots on any other corals either. The most recent addition is a monti I bought 2 weeks ago, which I dipped before adding to the tank. I have heard dips arent effective against most flatworms though. I dont see any spots on the monti either.

 

[mjszos]

Are you able to take a clear picture under white lights? This will better help identify what you are talking about.

 

[Silverlava]

I switched the lights to white but its still a bit blue tinted. Heres some closeups I got

 

[ChiCity]

yes, those are flatworms

(this certainly is a pest of some sort and new to me… and i keep a ton of gonis. very concerning!)

 

[Silverlava]

Are they a good kind (like ghosts) or a bad kind (like acro eating flatworms)? Also not 100% sure how to treat this. The tank has a Christmas tree worm colony that I think would be sensitive to chemicals, and a frogfish that would eat wrasses. If we need to disassemble and dip everything we could, bUt I want to know if thats necessary before I go the nuclear route.

 

[ChiCity]

no, those aren’t normal ghosts, acoels
or planaria even…

it looks to me like they’re not just basking,
it looks like they’re actively feeding off of the goni

sorry man, i’ve never seen these specific ones before and i probably have a decent and fairly extensive goni collection compared to most…

you’re gonna have to run some searches

 

[Cliffy]

Are they a good kind (like ghosts) or a bad kind (like acro eating flatworms)? Also not 100% sure how to treat this. The tank has a Christmas tree worm colony that I think would be sensitive to chemicals, and a frogfish that would eat wrasses. If we need to disassemble and dip everything we could, bUt I want to know if thats necessary before I go the nuclear route.

What come of this? Did you find a solution?

 

[Silverlava]

I ended up doing a freshwater dip and they came off. The goni recovered from the dip and did well. I must have caught it early enough because I didn't see any other flatworms after that.

 

[EnterName]

I ended up doing a freshwater dip and they came off. The goni recovered from the dip and did well. I must have caught it early enough because I didn't see any other flatworms after that.

Assuming this is an egg laying species you will probably have the same problems again soon.

You would need to repeatedly dip the coral to get rid of freshly hatched ones before they can reproduce. This only works if all eggs are actually on the goni and the goni survives whatever dip you will be using repeatedly over the course of probably multiple weeks.