flatworm issue

[Auryn]

i wasnt sure where exactly to post this

thank you for having this section though cause otherwise id havenever figured out what this thing is

 

I saw it today in the tank

from this site

http://www.rshimek.com/flatworms.htm

ive id it to be this

 

 

its only about 1/8th of an inch long

what should i do- should i take it out, leave it there??

 

my mother says shes seen another one in there much larger

-shes says about twice the size so i guess about 1/4" or so

 

the site says this about these flatworms "small white flatworm, which eats some of the brown flatworms found in many reef tanks (is this a good or bad thing??). It may also eat the red planarian (from my readings i take it that this is a good thing??), but this is uncertain, and experiments are being done to confirm this. This flatworm is a predator on small crustaceans such as copepods (are copepods a good thing for the tank or bad?) which it envelops with the expanded front of the body, as shown in the upper image above. The enveloped prey are enclosed in the "bag" and eaten by the mouth, which is located in the middle of the animal."

 

so should i hunt them down and take them out before they reproduce or eat something that i dont want them to??

 

please help

thanks

[RandyO]

Hate to tell you this but where there is 1, there are hundreds if not thousands. (You most likely have the Red Planaria version as they are really common lately) They are harmless for the most part unless they become of plague proportions. You need to do a lot of research before you decide on your course of action:

 

Actively eliminate them

Leave them be and they will self regulate (hopefully)

 

They are in fact going to get bad for a bit and you will find that they hate good circulation (add flow!)

 

Flatworm exit is a poison that does work pretty well but a single dosing is most likely not going to do it. 2 or 3 rounds should wipe them out. (READ VERY CAREFULLY about this technique, it can be bad for your tank if the toxin level gets to high from dead flatworms.) I personally think that the FWE does affect the sandbed critters and they will take a week or 2 to recover from the dosing.

[Auryn]

I looked at my worms again and they definately look like the guys above not the red planaria pictures on that site

 

i dont want to add any killer chemicals in there

i guess good flow is my only option

next time i see them should i pick them out?

[RandyO]

You might feel better picking them out but I am not sure you can eliminate or control them manually. Some Wrasses eat them btw. Close as I can tell that is a hit and miss

[Garf]

Originally posted by Auryn

I looked at my worms again and they definately look like the guys above not the red planaria pictures on that site

 

i dont want to add any killer chemicals in there

i guess good flow is my only option

next time i see them should i pick them out?

 

Just remove them. Take your turkey baster, and everytime you see a few, suck them out. I removed about 6 my first go, then like 6 more over then next couple weeks. I havent seen them for over a week now, but i am sure they are still around. They are easy to remove, and I put the water that i sucked out (sans flatworms of course) back in the tank.

[BKtomodachi]

GA! The white ones are no biggie, dont do anything drastic.

 

Their numbers will likely stay low and they wont be a problem.

 

If you have the acoel, thats a whole different story. And welcome to my world. Ugh.