Any idea?

[JustinM]

I found this flatworm on my tricolor awhile back, and just removed the frag from my system, and thought all was well.

A month went by and my RP started losing PE so I basted it, and low and behold, flatworms came off, so I fragged all my acros and started dipping. Every dip, more and more flatworms would come off, but I have yet to find any eggs. I was thinking it was AEFW, but not so much anymore.

Now these FW's are populating in my tank, on rocks, next to digi's, pretty much far away from acros so I decided to do a little more research. Upon my research I found that AEFW have 1 lobe where planarians have 3 lobes. On the Live Aquaria site there is a pest sheet which says Brown Rust Flatworms have a 2 tail like appearance.

I have no idea so I am hoping someone with better ID skills than myself can give me a definitive answer. I'll post a picture of the FW on the tricolor and one which I siphoned out and got the best picture I could. Thanks.

<a href="http://s1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb339/justinm25/?action=view&current=IMG_2476.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb339/justinm25/IMG_2476.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb339/justinm25/?action=view&current=IMG_2889-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb339/justinm25/IMG_2889-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Piper27]

Doesn't look like an acro eating flat worm to me. Did you see bite marks on anything?

 

[dzhuo]

The first photo is impossible to see. It's too blue and make everything too blurry. The second picture is an Acoel flatworm which is not an acro predator. However, it will cover just about anything which makes it a pest. Your first picture can still be an AEFW though. If you have that many, you should see eggs and bite marks all over.

 

[JustinM]

No I didn't really see any bite marks and no eggs. So red planarian fw's will cover sps tricking us newer people? What really got me was the loss of polyp extension, but I guess red planarian can irritate corals.

 

[dzhuo]

Yes they will cover just about anything. If you seen them on rocks, sand bed, glass etc, they are probably not AEFW (but that doesn't mean you don't have AEFW; it just means those you seen on non-acros aren't). You can continue to dip or siphon them out or use Flatform Exit once population is reduced. Another option is go for natural control such as the Chelidonura nudibranch which feeds exclusively on flatworms.

 

[JustinM]

Yeah I was looking at those nudis. What happens when you run out of FW's though?

I don't see them everywhere either, maybe 10-15 throughout the tank, but I don't know what's in the cracks and crevices.

Next dip I do, I'll inspect the FW's better to see what they look like. Thanks for all the help.

 

[allsps40]

It looks like a normal flatworm to me. If you see no bit mark and no egg clusters on the sps. Normal flat worms will cover everything rock, sand, sps, lps and softies but wont really hurt anything. Get a few wrasses they will eat them. Sixlines a really good at in.

 

[JustinM]

I was checking a 4 line out, think they're pretty wicked looking, so is that nudi though.