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Marine Virology, Marine Bacteria, Marine Mycology, Marine Protozoans, Invertebrates, Marine Plankton, Live Rock, Live Sand, Sponges (Porifera), Stinging-Celled Animals (Cnidaria),
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/The
Conscientious Reef Aquarist
The Pros & Cons of
Hitchhikers in the Reef Aquarium, part 3
To: Part 1,
Part 2, Part 4,
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By Bob Fenner
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Red and more clear small pest flatworms on hard
(Scleractinian) and soft corals can be debilitating if your
livestock is otherwise compromised or if theyre in too
great a number (Waminoa here on a Plerogyra in the wild,
the brownish one in captivity is said to be
Convolutriloba retrogemma). Another clearish
species infests the genus Acropora. Both cause damage by
shading out light and likely feeding on the corals
endosymbiotic algae (zooxanthellae). Look for tissue loss
and brownish egg masses.
Best avoided through quarantine,
possible pH-adjusted freshwater Dips/Baths. Biological
controls possibly include some small wrasses of the genera
Pseudocheilinus,
Halichoeres and
Macropharyngodon;
Callionymids/Psychedelic gobies, and Headshield Slugs of
the genus Chelidonura.
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Pyramidellid
snails, as their name implies are conically shaped
usually white and only a few millimetres in length. These
are principally problems with Giant Clams, Tridacnid
species, feeding on their mantles by night, hiding out
around their bases/byssus by day. Detection is easy with a
sharp eye and a flashlight during the evening, and your
Clam/s may show evidence of damage, not-opening during the
day. Removal and brushing of the entire shell (outside the
system of course) is the suggested means of controlling
these pests. The Banana and Green Wrasses of the genus
Halichoeres (H. hortulanus and H.
chloropterus), and smaller lined wrasses (genus Pseudocheilinus are
good predators of Pyramidellids.
Right: An infested Clam and the
Eight Line Wrasse (P. octotaenia).
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Box
snails,
Tulip Snails,
Limpets and so many more
predatory snails are generally large enough to be seen and
best removed physically if/when detected if causing
trouble. Do be on the look-out for their egg masses and
remove these promptly as well.
Shown: At left a really big Limpet,
Lottia gigantea off the coast in San Diego,
Calif.
Below: A Sundial Snail common predator
hitchhiker on Zoanthids.
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To: Part 1, Part 2, Part
4,
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