I Just Did Battle With A Giant Flatworm!

[waterfaller1]

Giant Flatworm~ Round One
Carole~ Got A Good Chunk Of Him
Ok so I do recall reading over the years,that these things grow as big as a dinner plate, and are bad bad news.I found one about the size of my palm over a year ago.
I was just looking in the tank with a flashlight,doing my morning sneak peak at the tank.{lights are out} and I see this thing partially sticking out from under a rock..my heart starts racing.I start to think..what is the best way to get this thing? This one is huge,thinner than a piece of paper,transparent..but sort of a light greenish yellow..with specks all over it.So I go get a fine net and a steaknife and I stab this thing the best I can. Imagine what an octopus would do if you stabbed it...that's what it did..it started writhing and twisting.I only got about 3" of him..the rest got away.So,then I am thinking..what makes them so bad? This thing has to have been in the tank for years.Hmmm..only real significant loss has been some snails and a few LPS. So I guess I need to start reading over what I can about them again,because I forget what the deal is.Do you know about them,or had experience with them?

 

[waterfaller1]

Nevermind..check this out...:eek2:

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060222/Note2.asp

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060218/worm.mov

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/index.html

 

[waterfaller1]

This looks closest to it so far.

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~bu6/flat0174.html

 

[bjonesjr1]

That is very interesting article their waterfaller1, enjoyed watching the film, thanks for the secound link, have alot of reading to do now...

good luck on catching that thing...

 

[Amphiprion]

Generally, polyclad flatworms are very specialized predators, feeding on some source, such as coral, polyps, sponges, etc. If you haven't had any real significant, recurring losses over the years (other than what could potentially be attributed to other problems), then I wouldn't worry too much. But as I said, they generally only feed on one thing, so I doubt that it ate both of the things you listed (and quite possibly none of them). I would observe it longer to see if there is any actual predation on beneficial organisms.

 

[waterfaller1]

Do you think if I took my snails out it would starve it out?

 

[Amphiprion]

Are you sure that is what killed the snails? It sounds kind of cruel, but put a snail in there near it and see what it does (if it pounces on it, yank it and the snail out). Too many snails end up starving for lack of proper types of algae, so that could potentially be the problem there.

 

[waterfaller1]

Well..it's the only thing I can really say is missing.As a matter of fact..all my stomatellas,some recent additions of Trochus,ceriths and nassarius are gone.The only ones still in the tank are a few regular turbos {they stay up on the glass..hmmm} and some mexi turbos.I also just put some nerites in yesterday..they are still there.

 

[aquaconnect]

I had something similar to that, but it ate clams, and killed my maxima's before I found it. Came is as a hitchhiker and I thought it was cool, until I saw it murder.