iTrader - Leave a negative if seller gives you a piece with FW?

[jimrawr]

Wonder what you guys would do if a seller sold you a piece that was covered in flatworm without some sort of warning?

Negative/Neutral or just let it go? I dipped and they all dropped off, but I think its still pretty much common courtesy to at least let the person know that your tank is overrun by flatworms..

Also this was at an agreed location pickup, so I wasn't able to observe it in his tank, and it was difficult to spot them during pickup. Once I got home and looked at the piece out of water it was really obvious and here's a picture after the dip..

 

[lisa foster]

I would talk to the seller first see if he knew he had flatworms. Sometimes people do not even know they do. I would make sure he posts it under his sale forum so others will know.

 

[littlereef]

Well the way I see it you need to talk to the guy/girl you got the stuff from and see if he/her knew. Good for you for dipping it and catching it before you put it in your tank. I would deff. QT this coral for a little bit. What was it the screaming tree you were looking for? From what I'v seen flat worms like leather coals.I still have some frags of deff. things if you want to take a look(no flat worms).

 

[jimrawr]

It wasnt from the Screaming Tree, it was another piece and I dont want to call the person out yet because he really may not know that he has them.. But honestly when I removed it from the bag and water, you have to be blind not to see them.. Or if the seller really didnt even take a look then I can see how it would go unnoticed

 

[Takara]

i think in this hobby it's always a risk, dip and qt first,

you can easily have something hiding in your tank or something that is just sitting dormant until it ends up in another tank and has time to spring

 

[yukyuklee]

trust no one! ALWAYS dip anything you get from other people! We should all make it a habit anyways

 

[Edward]

Most people are very aware...if there were that many worms on a fray then they really would need to be blind to miss it...you never know though, I would ask the seller

 

[kevinpratt823]

Def contact the seller before you do anything harsh.
How big was the peice? If it's a good size peice the FW may be able to hide well, but fall off when the coral closes up. But looking at the ammt of worms, (and they're reg flatworms, wich would be seen on the glass now and then), If the person has even a little experience, and is on these forums much, it would be hard for them not to notice, as reg flatworms are somewhat visible, except maybe on frogspawns etc.

I just looked again, are they reg FW? Or was this an Acro? I can't tell if they have the forked tail or not, the pic is too blurry. Acro FW are almost impossible to see, until you dip a coral.

 

[jimrawr]

Not AEFW, these are regulars. They were on a softie around 3" big. Thats what bothers me that on such a small piece to have this many, his tank must be crawling with these all over. I really would find it hard to believe that he didnt know that he had them..

As to the other posters, you are right. I dont trust anyone and I dip everything. Its the common courtesy that was missing here that makes me angry and which is why I posted the question if you guys think it deserves a negative rating. I didnt want to rush to judgment either and I am waiting for his response

 

[JohnK]

Also keep in mind that although I trader is meant to be a useful means of leaving feedback, more often than not when one person leaves a negative it usually leads to the other person leaving negative feedback in response.

If it ends up being a he said/she said kind of thing, there is no means of sorting that out and usually both people end up with a black eye so to speak...

 

[Greg Hiller]

>Not AEFW, these are regulars.<

Again, I have to ask the question. Are these the red photosynthetic ones? If not, then I wouldn't even try to kill them.

 

[jimrawr]

>Not AEFW, these are regulars.<

Again, I have to ask the question. Are these the red photosynthetic ones? If not, then I wouldn't even try to kill them.

Not sure what kind of flatworm they are TBH, and I've already thrown them away. They were definitely red though. Why would you not try to kill them off?

 

[gweston]

If they are semi-clear or brown and move around a lot.. they are likely regular flatworms. The photosynthetic ones seem to move slower and like to 'flap' where they stand. They are very brown/rust red, and also have a red dot at the back end.

I dipped my corals yet still ended up with both. Luckily I identified the red flatworms VERY quickly and the one offending coral they came in on. I treated that coral and all surrounding corals with flatworm exit outside of the display tank. Only the main coral was the problem. I nipped it in the bud. The tank is clear *whew*. The reds came in on eggs, and hatched after a dip. So dipping does not mean clean.

I notified the person I got the corals from, but they never responded. He was a great guy when we met. I held nothing against him of course. This is a risk in this hobby it seems. I just treat everything new that I get.

Common flatworms seem a non-issue though. I suspect everyone has them. They also don't seem to be problematic. I do have some and have wondered whether it is worth treating the tank with chems (flatworm exit). Or just accepting it. If they aren't harmful, would they be part of the CUC?

When trading corals, I'd dip the coral myself. Then have the receiver dip again. If they can be QT'd. All the better.

 

[Greg Hiller]

>Not sure what kind of flatworm they are TBH, and I've already thrown them away. They were definitely red though. Why would you not try to kill them off? <

If they are not the red photosynthetic ones (and not the AEFW), there is NO reason to try and kill them. For the reason stated here:

>Common flatworms seem a non-issue though. I suspect everyone has them. They also don't seem to be problematic.<

Look, you can try and create a sterile tank environment. Is that REALLY what you want? There are 100's of thousands of different forms of life in our tanks. That is the beauty of the hobby. Don't get me wrong, I've been in the hobby a LONG time. I'm well aware of the problematic organisms, heck, I wrote one of the earliest articles about one. I know how to identify the problematic critters and deal with them. My systems are free of parasites that do serious damage to any species of corals. But my point is that you should not immediately try to KILL anything and everything. And certainly not immediately assume that someone did you wrong because something came off a coral when you dipped it. If it really was the Convolutriloba retrogemma (red photosynthetic flatworm) then I agree it would have been nice that whomever sold it to you would have let you know.