Do flatworms just die off?

[sir_dudeguy]

Like the title says, do flatworms just die off after a while?

Reason i'm asking is because in my 29 i had a lot of flatworms for a while. But i started breaking the tank down and took all the fish out so there was just corals in. The corals are all photosynthetic so they dont need food, and there are no fish too need food, so we havent fed the tank for about a month or 2. Its just been running its regular light schedule and water pumps and whatnot.

Now yesterday i looked, and i couldnt find any flatworms anywhere. Would not feeding for like a month have a big part to play in that? Or do they seem to do this after a long time anyways?

 

[michaeldaly]

I started using a liquid phosphate remover and within a few weeks all my flatworms were gone. I'm not sure if the phosphate remover caused it directly or just the lower phosphate level.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

oh ya thats another thing i've heard...do phosphates cause them to reproduce more? Meaning if you keep those down they'll die off?

 

[Paintbug]

i know the clear flatworms just die off on their own.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

i dont think these ones are the clear ones...they looked like little whitish/cream colored ones. Pretty small... I saw a clear one in another tank, they have a sort of yellow thing in the center dont they?

 

[Krazy]

Sir_dude is talking about planaria (sp?) flatworms...

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9724678#post9724678 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
i dont think these ones are the clear ones...they looked like little whitish/cream colored ones. Pretty small... I saw a clear one in another tank, they have a sort of yellow thing in the center dont they?

look like this?
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/clear_flatworm.html

those are clear flatworms sometimes called Acoel flatworms.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ya they dont look like the clear ones in that link...i'll look to see if i still have an old pic on photobucket....gimme a minute

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ok i do have one pic....its crappy, but you can see it easy lol.

 

[Paintbug]

thats just another type of Acoel. being they have a little more color they may block light from the corals. Acoels dont usually last long in the tank.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

Sweet! Even if there's hundreds of them? So even if i do get another infestation of them like....idk 3 years from now or something, should i just let it go, and they'll die off w/in a certain amount of time? And do all of them die or just a majority but still have a few around? They never really did anything to my tank that i know of.

 

[Paintbug]

like most creatures they will continue to populate until the food supply runs out then they just die off. that has been my experience with clear Acoels anyway. a sixline wrasse may help keep their numbers down as well.

 

[michaeldaly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9725217#post9725217 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
ok i do have one pic....its crappy, but you can see it easy lol.

Those are the type I also had.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

like most creatures they will continue to populate until the food supply runs out then they just die off. that has been my experience with clear Acoels anyway. a sixline wrasse may help keep their numbers down as well.

So since i havent fed the tank for at least a month, they're probably gone? (or gone for the most part?).

I may try a sixline, but i'd rather not because yesterday and today i finally started breaking down the 29 and putting everything into the 16g bowfront. I'm just waiting for the sand to settle down before adding everything over. So my point is i dont think the sixline should be in the 16 lol. I may try one for a little bit, but we all know how hard it can be to catch fish

 

[Paintbug]

well its believed that Acoels eat copepods, so there may still be food for them. but they dont wipe out the pods before dieing off, so the pods will come back. most the time the flatworms dont

 

[sir_dudeguy]

Ok thanks! They sure havent killed off any pods...I think letting the tank sit for a month with just the corals, light, and flow has done the rock well...So many more pods than there used to be, and i never had any fish that eat them really. I just had a coral beauty and 2 O. Clowns in there, but they dont really look for pods

The sand storm is clearing up a bit in my 16 bow, so hopefully when i get home from work later today i should be good to put my live rock w/corals in there.

 

[Paintbug]

sounds good. you are lucky the the CB, mine is always stalking the rocks for pods, and algae. LOL