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Polyclad Flatworm


PiscesFish

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So, I was looking at my hammer coral the other day and i thought that it's flesh was doing something weird but i kept a close eye on it anyways since the two heads that it's on wasn't exactly extending as big as it was before. This morning, I looked and it wasn't in the same spot and it was moving. I already suspected a flatworm before but I wasn't too sure so I looked on google for a picture that looks just like the one on my hammer coral. So, here's my questions. . .

 

Are they asexual?

 

How fast does it lay eggs?

 

Is it actually eating the hammer coral?

 

Where would it lay its eggs?

 

How would i get this creature out? Tweezers?

 

What would happen if I accidently split this creature? Will it excrete some kind of poison into my tank?

 

I have a picture attached of what it looks like but it isnt my picture. It's about the size of. . . I want to say the diameter of a quarter or a bit smaller.

 

post-80025-0-94090100-1410629424.jpg

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Dr.Brain Coral

Its not eating your hammer if its a Polyclad. Ill let more experienced reefers guess what it is. But If it is a Polyclad I would just leave it. They eat snails and clams which if you have clams you would want it out but if not hey there snails, who cares. They can be a pretty fascinating creature.

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Its not eating your hammer if its a Polyclad. Ill let more experienced reefers guess what it is. But If it is a Polyclad I would just leave it. They eat snails and clams which if you have clams you would want it out but if not hey there snails, who cares. They can be a pretty fascinating creature.

 

Well. . . I have a derasa clam. . .

 

 

What else do you have in your tank such as cuc and fish? I had a frogspawn munching peppermint shrimp. I don't think the polyclad would bother your coral.

 

I have. . .

 

Fish:

 

Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse

Linear Blenny (still trying to catch him. nipping on some of my corals)

Clown Fish (Keeps trying to get my clam to host him)

Chalk Bass

 

Coral:

Torch

Frogspawn

Octospawn

Hammer

Cabbage

Toadstool (or Devil's Hand)

Kenya

Galaxea

Branching Cyphastrea

GSP

Orange Monti Digi (I think)

 

Inverts:

BTA

Derasa Clam

 

CUC:

1 Nassarius Snail (if I spelt that wrong then sorry)

Hermit Crabs (just the regular ones. Nothing special like scarlet legs or what-not)

Snails (I have no idea which ones. I go to my LFS and i ask for snails and they grab me some.)

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I was thinking maybe a peppermint shrimp or maybe some sort of fish like an angel eating it. So I am out of ideas unless it is something that came in on some rock. That blennys should be an herbivore and leave the corals alone unless it was misidentified. The snails are all probably reef safe.

 

The crabs maybe walking on it and stealing food from it.

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I was thinking maybe a peppermint shrimp or maybe some sort of fish like an angel eating it. So I am out of ideas unless it is something that came in on some rock. That blennys should be an herbivore and leave the corals alone unless it was misidentified. The snails are all probably reef safe.

 

The crabs maybe walking on it and stealing food from it.

 

The whole thing of it being eaten by fish or inverts are out of the picture because I knew that I dont need to worry about that. What I'm worried about is that in the picture attached, there's those two teardrop looking organisms that has the same color as the part of the euphyllia that the polyps would extend and retract from. That's the same thing that's on my Hammer Coral at the moment. I just need some questions answered especially about them being asexually reproducing and laying eggs, and what they eat.

 

Also, the blenny isn't an herbivore. It's an omnivore. It eats mysis shrimp as well as algae around my tank.

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You need to find out what type of flatworm to find out what it eats I haven't found an exact match yet. The ones I have found are hermaphrodites so all you need is 2 for them to reproduce. They lay eggs and most don't have a larva stage.

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