Flatworms?

[Eric the half-bee]

I' ve got a nice toadstool leather 6 piece colony and noticed when the polyps were retracted last night, small 0.5 cm long rectangular looking "pests" atop 2 of the 6 leathers. They look like flatworms but I haven't tried to remove them. Anybody experienced this?

 

[nano427]

Take a picture if you can. If not do a search for a positive ID. There are a few ways to rid your tank of flatworms. Take care of it asap because they can reproduce rapidly and then ridding them is more difficult.

 

[DThompson]

A picture would help. Also what color was it?

 

[Eric the half-bee]

A picture would help. Also what color was it?

They were a medium brown and there was 15-20 of them.

 

[DThompson]

There are thousands of flatworms. Not all are harmful to your tank. It is not possible to tell if you have flatworms at all from your description.

Do some research.
Here is a good place to start. Look under worms and you will see a section for flat worms.
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html

If in fact they are flat worms you can use a product called flat worm exit. It works very well.

Let this be a lesson in why you should be dipping all your corals before placing them in your tank. I would also suggest a good quarantine tank.

 

[luisse25]

pictures will help

 

[kalebsaker]

If they're flatworms they should be attracted to light. Correct me if im wrong. You can tape a flashlight on the outside of your tank at night and check on it sometime in the night and should see some of them swarming the light and manually remove them or dose flatworm control. This is advice my friend gave me and i have not tested it but may be worth your time. Ive also read not all of them are bad?

 

[kalebsaker]

I also dip everything new, because i got red bugs one time on an acro.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

OK peeps, here are 3 pics from this eve. I don't see these buggers anywhere else but on the leathers and the leathers don't look harmed. Thoughts?

 

[polobreaka]

we have a lot of flat worms in my tank as well. mainly on the rocks and sand. i dont see anyone on the corals. what fish will eat them?

 

[Dave71]

OK peeps, here are 3 pics from this eve. I don't see these buggers anywhere else but on the leathers and the leathers don't look harmed. Thoughts?

Looks like flatworms to me. Flatworm Exit is a common option.

Six Line Wrasse's are said to help, but I have no personal experience.

siphon out is another option.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Is it safe to leave the flatworms alone or do they need to be removed?

 

[Elysia]

They can reproduce really fast -- and they like to sit on coral because (usually) the coral has good lighting; in this way they can "shade" a coral, to the coral's detriment. I really think that the best way to take care of them is to siphon them out -- get a piece of thin diameter rigid tubing the depth of your tank and connect it to some air line tubing. Start the siphon and just suck those flatworms out. You can make it your "water change" for the week (or month.) Reducing their numbers in this way can often reduce their numbers and make the population unstable.