hammer coral

[sterling]

hello everyone, I have a small fragment of hammer coral in my aquarium, and recently theres been this brown filament about the size of one of the hammertips. It is forsure alive as Ive seen it actually move. Does anyone know what this could be? if its good or bad? how to remove it?

thanks very much

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

from your description it sounds like a flatworm to me. any chance of a picture? if it is a flatworm, its bad, you really want to get rid of it, i have no experience with them so i cant really help you with that part. sorry, others will have to help with the rest.

 

[sterling]

Hey, thanks for the hint to what it may be. Here are the pictures of the fragment. It is the brown part attached to the tip of the hammer. Thanks for anymore advice.

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

cant really tell. experts should chime in rite about now. **cough cough nudge nudge**

 

[melosu58]

I really cant see it in the pic. Is it a clear defined object or is it a brown jelly like substance? This is what the flatworms look like

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

 

[sterling]

It is for sure a clear, defined brown object. It is flat on the hammer coral, and is dark brown with a black dot in the centre. any more ideas?

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

flatworm. cant be 100% without a better closer pic though.

 

[fijiwigi]

definately need a better pic to be positive

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I can't see anything in that picture, but from your description it sounds like a flatform. Just suck them out with a siphon tube. (But not when they're on the hammer - you could damage the polyps. Try to brush them off into the water column.) They're not the end of the earth, but can grow to plague-like proportions under the right conditions. I had quite a few hitchike in on one of my corals and with constant siphoning I was able to rid myself of them.

[Edit: OK... is the thing we're talking about just up and right from center of the colony? I think I see something flatworm-ish in that area. Has a "forked" tail? If that's what we're talking about, then yeah... flatworm.]

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

yeah thats where i see it too.

 

[austinsdad]

Guess I'm only seeing the yellow tang. Not in the 29g bio-cube is it?