Torch Critter Help

[vionchi1]

Hello, everyone. Merry Christmas!! Started to notice these brown spots on one of my banana torches just recently. Has been doing fine and does not seem like it's being affected by it. Any help would be great, thanks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello, everyone. Merry Christmas!! Started to notice these brown spots on one of my banana torches just recently. Has been doing fine and does not seem like it's being affected by it. Any help would be great, thanks.

Pics are a little distant. Im wondering if flatworms. Can you ost a little closer pic?
Do they look like below?

 

[vionchi1]

 

[SocalReefer760]

Definitely flatworms. Red planaria. Dip the torches once or twice a week. That got rid of them for me when I had them.

 

[vionchi1]

Definitely flatworms. Red planaria. Dip the torches once or twice a week. That got rid of them for me when I had them.

Coral Rx fine ?

 

[SocalReefer760]

Coral Rx fine ?

That’s what I use!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Waminoa flatworms, not red planaria (red planaria have three-pronged tails) - these can be harmful in large numbers; I don't recall offhand if someone has tried Coral Rx on them before, but they be tough to remove:

Waminoa flatworms are photosynthetic (much like corals, they have symbiotic dinoflagellates living in them) and reportedly feed on coral mucus (not the corals themselves), so they tend to live on our corals - they're essentially harmless, but in mass numbers can basically smother the coral by blocking the light from getting to them.

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:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-012-0919-7
Edit: Also, I have no idea why I didn't get the notification from Erin1971Texas' tag - sorry for the delay.

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:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/eefw-infestation-euphyllia-eating-flatworms.549090/page-2Edit: 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...cimen-18-host-Echinophyllia-sp_fig2_324516348