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Flat worms?


jennifro

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I know it is hard for anyone to help with out a picture. But they are so small and my camera sucks so I can't get a good one. Sorry for that. But if anyone can help great!

 

I have some little wormy slugy kind of things on the sides of my tank. I thought they were flat worms. They are pretty small. Just a couple mm long and maybe 1 mm wide if that. most are whiteish clear. A couple have a sort of darker middle. One that I just saw was more red/brown. And he was a little bigger then the others. I though uh oh bad flat worm! So I just went to the Ultimate ID Thread to check out the flat worm picture again. Only what I have are not the same. Mine are not nearly as wide. They are more long and skinny with their back end a little forked. And they move around the side of the tank pretty quickly.

 

Does this sound like something to worry about? I don't know if they are just some of the normal pod things on the sides or if they could be baby flat worms? Or maybe even baby stomatellas? As far as I know I don't have any stomatellas in there but who knows what could have hitchhiked in! And how big are flat worms? From the picture it seems like what I have are smaller and shaped differently. I guess I don't really think they are flat worms now that I have reread what I just typed.

 

If any one has any thought they will be greatly appreciated! Thanks a bunch!

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constantocean

they are flat worms. i have suffered with an infestation of them before. the clear ones are okay. those greenish darker ones you need to remove as they can be toxic, the best way to do this is to carefully use a razor blade and slide it up the sides making sure none fall off, or to use some airline tubing to form a siphon and suck them out.

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Their shape is different from the picture in the ID thread. They are just straight. The ones on the thread seem to be sort of butterfly shaped. Also are the ones that are clear with a little dot of color in the middle bad too? To me it looks like a clear body and you can see it's stomach or something. I am so hoping those are okay. I have only see one that really worried because it was the reddish brown all over.

 

And thanks for the quick reply....i better go try to get that one out a least before I go to bed!

 

** I just had a little flatworm hunt with my turkey baster. I got about 5 or 6 which were all I could see. I am sure there are more. I will just keep checking every day. The ones with the little dot of color on them turned out to be much darker in color on there other sides once I got them into a separate container so I guess they were bad too. I moved them to their new porcelain home. They were the first things I have had to evict from my tank. :( But not the last I am sure.

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Acoels (flatworms), particularly those symbiotic with algae such as Waminoa and Convolutriloba species, are flattened out and wider when they are still and "basking"; this affords them greater surface area for maximum photosynthesis of their algal symbionts.

 

When disturbed, or on the move, the animals elongate into a more slender configuration.

 

Take a look at the group picture on my home page and you will see basking and moving specimens of Convolutriloba: http://macropyga.googlepages.com/home

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Yup that would be them! Thanks for the info. I haven't seen any more so far today. Hopefully I got it before they are too bad!

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From what I have read the clear ones are harmless. I have some of those. That being said...I still don't want them in my tank so I suck them out with a turkey baster. Every night I give the entire tank the "eagle eye" and suck up anything I see. Usually about 2-3 a night.

 

I believe the middle circle is the stomach and what they have eaten. Mine have been every shape from a pac-man ghost to almost round and everything in between. Depends on if they are moving or not.

 

I think the white ones secrete the toxin also because when I added tap water to some I collected in a cup I saw a "cloud" come out from the backside as they were dying. If you have the dark ones you might want to look into Flat Worm Exit. You add it to your tank and it kills the flatworms but you want to make sure you siphon out as many as you can first and then do a water change after so the toxins do not affect your livestock.

 

I'm not an expert so if anyone needs to correct anything I've stated then go for it. But I do know: brown flatworms...not good!!

Good Luck!

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From what I have read the clear ones are harmless. I have some of those. That being said...I still don't want them in my tank so I suck them out with a turkey baster. Every night I give the entire tank the "eagle eye" and suck up anything I see. Usually about 2-3 a night.

 

I believe the middle circle is the stomach and what they have eaten. Mine have been every shape from a pac-man ghost to almost round and everything in between. Depends on if they are moving or not.

 

I think the white ones secrete the toxin also because when I added tap water to some I collected in a cup I saw a "cloud" come out from the backside as they were dying. If you have the dark ones you might want to look into Flat Worm Exit. You add it to your tank and it kills the flatworms but you want to make sure you siphon out as many as you can first and then do a water change after so the toxins do not affect your livestock.

 

I'm not an expert so if anyone needs to correct anything I've stated then go for it. But I do know: brown flatworms...not good!!

Good Luck!

Thanks Hazmat. What does every one else think of the Flat Worm Exit. It makes me nervous to think of putting something in my tank that will kill things. I guess I will look it up and read about it but I would like to know what everyone things about it too.

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Hey Jennifro-

 

I kept hearing that you could try the flashlight trick to get the flatworms to group then siphon them out. Well today I tried it and it does work! Here is a link to the thread I posted with pictures.

 

I was nervous to try Flatworm Exit too so hopefully this gets rid of all of them :)

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Thanks Kimberly. I have never heard of the flashlight trick. I will try it this weekend. I like that idea much more then the Flat Worm Exit stuff. Thanks for the link to your thread too. The pictures were great. Will you let me know if you see many in your tank over the next day or so? Thank you agin. I feel better about the whole thing now!

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I just received the Flatworm Exit today. I mainly got it to dip new corals in. It's scary when you read the information packet. Talks all about toxins and make sure you have carbon on hand, water changes etc....

 

I'm all for natural ways. After siphoning the ones I saw for the past couple of weeks I have not seen any in a couple of days. Now the package insert for FWE says you can have more flatworms than you know cause they hide in rocks and sand. But for now since I only have the clear ones and none right now I'm not going to treat my water.

 

There are also certain fish that eat flatworms. I think it's wrasses. (Not sure on that one)

 

Thanks for the info Kimberly!

Heidi

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Thanks Kimberly. I have never heard of the flashlight trick. I will try it this weekend. I like that idea much more then the Flat Worm Exit stuff. Thanks for the link to your thread too. The pictures were great. Will you let me know if you see many in your tank over the next day or so? Thank you agin. I feel better about the whole thing now!

 

 

No problem! Glad I helped out. :) For the rest of the evening, I've only found maybe 3 or 4 flatworms on my glass and earlier before I siphoned I had a TON - dozens and dozens. I expected that and I figure I'll do it again in a day or so. Even if you go the chemical way, I heard it doesn't kill the flatworm eggs so a second dose is needed later so I'm guessing I'll definately have to do this again and again until they're all gone but I was shocked how well it worked. :D

 

Let us know how it works for ya and I'll update in my thread how many come back.

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I just received the Flatworm Exit today. I mainly got it to dip new corals in. It's scary when you read the information packet. Talks all about toxins and make sure you have carbon on hand, water changes etc....

 

I'm all for natural ways. After siphoning the ones I saw for the past couple of weeks I have not seen any in a couple of days. Now the package insert for FWE says you can have more flatworms than you know cause they hide in rocks and sand. But for now since I only have the clear ones and none right now I'm not going to treat my water.

 

There are also certain fish that eat flatworms. I think it's wrasses. (Not sure on that one)

 

Thanks for the info Kimberly!

Heidi

 

It's good to have the flatworm exit on hand anyway because you can use it in the a cup of water for dips when you purchase new corals. I know that's how my tank got infested with these things-I never dipped anything. I guess the flatworms don't like a lot of flow so it helped to turn my pump off while I had the flashlight on - I was told that they come up from under the sand. Also, most wrasses eat some types of flatworms but I guess they don't eat all of them. :(

 

I don't know anything about the clear flatworms - I had a few when I first started my tank but now all I have is brown ones which aren't good at all. Hopefully none show up in your tank.

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I have never seen more then 4 or 5 in my tank. My light isn't on yet today so I don't know if there are any now. Mine were mostly white or clear but I did have a few brown. I am hoping to try the flashlight trick during my son's nap tomorrow.

 

I will update after I try it. If I do it and none or just a few come out do you think I am safe or that is didn't work?

 

Hazmat if you dip new things in the flatworm exit do you have to do anything after? Do you rinse in FW or SW before you put it in your tank? I only have a 6 gal. With all the LR in there I think it would be pretty hard to get more then a gal or so of water out if I needed to do a big water change. I usually just dip out the water with a small container. I guess I could try to get more out with my turkey baster if I needed too. I haven't had to worry about this kind of stuff yet. My tank is only about 2 moths old.

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I have never seen more then 4 or 5 in my tank. My light isn't on yet today so I don't know if there are any now. Mine were mostly white or clear but I did have a few brown. I am hoping to try the flashlight trick during my son's nap tomorrow.

 

I will update after I try it. If I do it and none or just a few come out do you think I am safe or that is didn't work?

 

Hazmat if you dip new things in the flatworm exit do you have to do anything after? Do you rinse in FW or SW before you put it in your tank? I only have a 6 gal. With all the LR in there I think it would be pretty hard to get more then a gal or so of water out if I needed to do a big water change. I usually just dip out the water with a small container. I guess I could try to get more out with my turkey baster if I needed too. I haven't had to worry about this kind of stuff yet. My tank is only about 2 moths old.

 

Well, it's funny because on all these chemicals they do not give very clear instructions. Kimberly, remember the Chemi-clean??? The reason I bought the FWE is I went to buy a Frogspawn and it was COVERED in flatworms. The owner did a freshwater dip and tons fell off but I didn't dare buy it. So I am planning on using it for any corals that I buy. But, it does not give instructions on dipping corals. Only gives info on adding it to your tank. I would assume that you add it to the water that the coral comes in since you only acclimate them to temperature. My question is will it kill the ones that are "pulled" into the skeleton? So if the frogspawn pulls it's tenticles in and pulls the flatworms in with it will the FWE get to them?? That seems like such a newbie question :lol:

 

My tank has been up since Feb. so I'm not ahead of you!

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I never thought about about them being in anything. Just on them. Man this sucks!

 

I KNOW!!! Always something to worry about! Just like having kids, huh!!

 

I picked up a frogspawn today and I did use the FWE. I'm sure I overdosed it! Left it sitting in the bag for over 30 minutes in the stuff. Nothing came off of it. But it did come with a nice aiptasia on it :rant:

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I KNOW!!! Always something to worry about! Just like having kids, huh!!

 

I picked up a frogspawn today and I did use the FWE. I'm sure I overdosed it! Left it sitting in the bag for over 30 minutes in the stuff. Nothing came off of it. But it did come with a nice aiptasia on it :rant:

Were you able to take care of the aiptasia before you put the frogspawn in?

 

I am thinking frogspawn might be my next addition. I need something to spice things up and add a little color!

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Nope! Didn't even notice it until it was in my tank then I saw it's creepy brown arms waving in the water. I hate aiptasia. Easy enough to treat though as I can lift the frag out of the sand and treat the aiptasia with Joe's Juice. It's when they are upside down on your rock that they are hard to get to!!

 

The Frogspawn is really cool looking. The LFS had both frogspawn and torch. At first I was leaning towards the torch and then decided on the frog. The lady at the LFS called her co-worker and his opinion was that the frogspawn was hardier. Since my tank has been only up since Feb. They had a really nice green candy cane too but I didn't want to add too much too soon so I thought I would wait.

 

And no flatworms! Although I did siphon out about 8 of them (still clear ones) before I did my water change Saturday!

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I saw 2 flat worms today but haven't had time to deal with them. I should be able to try the flash light thing tonight and do my water change that is a little over due.

 

I have 2 LFS that are pretty close to my house. The closest one that I always go to is a little on the price side so I haven't really considered getting a frog spawn from them. The LFS is a just a bit further away. I have only been there once but they had some really good looking ones. I hope their prices area better. I was still cycling my tank when I went so I didn't really know what a good price was for anything. I can't wait! I haven't had anything new for about 3 weeks and my tank is on the empty side. I really want something nice and colorful. I think frog spawn will be just right!

 

Good luck with your aiptaisa! I haven't had to deal with any yet thank goodness!

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I just tried the flashlight trick. I did see 2 clear flat worms today. When I did the flashlight thing I got about 12. Most of them a dark color. I left the flashlight on for about an hour. But I forgot to turn the filter off. I am hoping this just mean that there aren't that many in there hiding. I will try again Wednesday night.

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I just tried the flashlight trick. I did see 2 clear flat worms today. When I did the flashlight thing I got about 12. Most of them a dark color. I left the flashlight on for about an hour. But I forgot to turn the filter off. I am hoping this just mean that there aren't that many in there hiding. I will try again Wednesday night.

 

I feel for you!! I can't stand having things in my tank that aren't supposed to be there!! Maybe I'm just a control freak. The aiptasias are driving me crazy. I think I'm going to have to break down and buy a Peppermint Shrimp. Shrimps creep me out! But everytime I treat the aiptasia they end up coming back in different places. I just found another one!! :angry:

 

Guess I'm going to have to get me some rubber gloves for when I put my hands in the tank! I think I would freak if the shrimp jumped on me omgomgomg:scarry:

 

I know how hard it is to not have much in your tank. I'm sure you said somewhere but what is in there now?? Maybe you might want to think about the Flatworm Exit if there is nothing in there. That way you can get rid of them before you get a bunch of livestock and worry about the toxins.

 

Just a thought.

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That is a good idea to try the FWE now. I do have 5 sexy shrimp that I love. I also have a polyp, a thing that looks like a xenia but isn't (I have it written down but can never remember the name, a small blue mushroom, a small ric, a pipe organ coral, a green star polyp, and my CUC of 2 left handed hermits, 2 red legged hermits, and 4 snails. I guess I have more then it seems like when I write is all out. I still haven't researched the flatworm exit yet but I guess I better. This morning I counted about 8 flatworms and 4 of them were the bad color!

 

I already have gloves for my tank. I just go some pink rubber dish gloves that go almost to my elbows. The work great for my little 6 gal tank. I can reach all the way down to the bottom with out anything seeping in. All of the little hydroid jellies and flat worms and other "pods" in there freak me out! My mom has a peppermint shrimp that she loves! I think he eats out of her hand. But she does wear gloves!

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All of the little hydroid jellies and flat worms and other "pods" in there freak me out!

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol: Me too!!!!!!

 

I have a 34 gallon. I think I will need to get gloves that go over the elbow.

 

I have the instructions for FWE. It says it's safe for corals, inverts, fish etc...

It mainly says to siphon out as many flatworms prior to treating as possible. Have carbon on hand for after. Treat and then siphon the flatworms as they die to prevent the toxins from staying in your tank.

Emphasized getting out as many as you can before and after treating. Guess the toxins from the flatworms is pretty bad stuff! It says don't underestimate the amount of toxins put off by the dead flatworms!!

I don't know what is worse!! Having them or getting rid of them!! That is how I felt when I treated my tank for the cyno algae.

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I just tried the flashlight trick. I did see 2 clear flat worms today. When I did the flashlight thing I got about 12. Most of them a dark color. I left the flashlight on for about an hour. But I forgot to turn the filter off. I am hoping this just mean that there aren't that many in there hiding. I will try again Wednesday night.

 

Yay! glad it went well for you!

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Thanks for all the support Haz and Kim! It is good to know I am not alone in this!

 

Hazmat sorry for being such a newb but when it says to have charcoal on hand is that like just the charcoal bag thing that goes in with the filter? Just a new one of those? Or is there another kind that I add in after the FWE?

 

And maybe you should just get a nice rain coat to go with your over the elbow gloves just to be sure! 34 gals seems pretty big next to my little 6er! It seems like you might be able to fall in! I don't going snorkeling either for the same reason. To many things in there! And now I know more about the things you don't really see!!!!

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