fatoldsun
New member
...because if you have expertise with these I'm sure you're not too happy about it....
anyway, I was wondering if anyone could help me ID these flatworms
The pics are under the microscopes x4 lens
System is a 90g+40sump (with ~20g devoted to a refugium) and is about 3 months established. Although all the rock is older "“ about 100 lbs came from a 55 that has been running for a few years and the remaining 75-100 lbs was housed in a drum with heat and flow while the new setup was pieced together. Livestock is a yellow tang, a maroon gold stripe clown, a brittle star and a CUC. The CUC is the only new addition "“ added in two parts over the last 3-4 weeks. [I have no coral of any kind (yet, getting a hammer frag from a friend tonight) and certainly no SPS so I can't see it being AEFWs since they never had any food in this system]
The flatworms are only visible on the fuge glass, apparently eating algae. These are tiny "“ the largest among them is about the size of a small grain of salt and hard to see -- with the naked eye they appear white but under the scope they look to have clear bodies with greenish-brown cell clusters - maybe the digested algae? Sorry for the layperson terminology "“ I am far from a scientist. (I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
) Besides, I'm still dealing with my wife making fun of me for buying and using a microscope for this hobby which she admittedly fails to "œget".
Anyway I'm trying to narrow down which particular variety of flatworm I am lucky enough to have. I'm not sure I want to do anything aggressive like flatworm exit if they are nothing but a nuisance and I can expect them not to migrate to my DT. No sense in adding a wrasse to the fuge b/c it will feast on all the other pods and likely just ignore the flatworms. I researched a blue velvet nudi (if I could even find one) and it seems their specialized diet is limited to the red flatworm variety. If these are the "œwhite" variety most of what I have found says they are harmless but the magnified pics of the white flatworms appear to be truly white and there are white to the naked eye as I mentioned but magnified they are definitely not. Some of the other varieties are said to wax and wane in population naturally. Also, these are far too small to see anywhere except the front glass with a strong light behind it "“ I imagine they are prevalent everywhere - this is just the only vantage point I can get close enough to see them. If they are on the rubble in the fuge, forget about it "“ no way I could ever see them at this size...
MANY THANKS FOR ANY INPUT!!!
anyway, I was wondering if anyone could help me ID these flatworms
The pics are under the microscopes x4 lens
System is a 90g+40sump (with ~20g devoted to a refugium) and is about 3 months established. Although all the rock is older "“ about 100 lbs came from a 55 that has been running for a few years and the remaining 75-100 lbs was housed in a drum with heat and flow while the new setup was pieced together. Livestock is a yellow tang, a maroon gold stripe clown, a brittle star and a CUC. The CUC is the only new addition "“ added in two parts over the last 3-4 weeks. [I have no coral of any kind (yet, getting a hammer frag from a friend tonight) and certainly no SPS so I can't see it being AEFWs since they never had any food in this system]
The flatworms are only visible on the fuge glass, apparently eating algae. These are tiny "“ the largest among them is about the size of a small grain of salt and hard to see -- with the naked eye they appear white but under the scope they look to have clear bodies with greenish-brown cell clusters - maybe the digested algae? Sorry for the layperson terminology "“ I am far from a scientist. (I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
) Besides, I'm still dealing with my wife making fun of me for buying and using a microscope for this hobby which she admittedly fails to "œget". Anyway I'm trying to narrow down which particular variety of flatworm I am lucky enough to have. I'm not sure I want to do anything aggressive like flatworm exit if they are nothing but a nuisance and I can expect them not to migrate to my DT. No sense in adding a wrasse to the fuge b/c it will feast on all the other pods and likely just ignore the flatworms. I researched a blue velvet nudi (if I could even find one) and it seems their specialized diet is limited to the red flatworm variety. If these are the "œwhite" variety most of what I have found says they are harmless but the magnified pics of the white flatworms appear to be truly white and there are white to the naked eye as I mentioned but magnified they are definitely not. Some of the other varieties are said to wax and wane in population naturally. Also, these are far too small to see anywhere except the front glass with a strong light behind it "“ I imagine they are prevalent everywhere - this is just the only vantage point I can get close enough to see them. If they are on the rubble in the fuge, forget about it "“ no way I could ever see them at this size...
MANY THANKS FOR ANY INPUT!!!
