Over 3" flatworm picture taken - ID please, if possible

[ed4]

I saw this at night w/ an LED flashlight. The monti frag, near it, is a 2.5" frag. It was moving at a good pace and the best I could do is grab a pic from my iPhone.

I didn't have a hose nearby so the next best thing I could do was try to catch it with a 3" diameter plastic container. When the container went near it, the worm quickly made way into my rockwork.

Seeing this flatworm completely surprised me because I thought I had a good handle on the peripheral invert fauna in my tank. The picture is shoddy at best and any help ID'ing this guy would be appreciated.

This is the closest match I could find from Wet Web media:

I don't keep clams in my tank and everything else looks fine. No bitemarks on my SPS, no damages or signs of stress on my LPS pieces. No new pieces of live rock have been added for over 4 months, with the exception of 1-2" rock rubble which was kept in the 'fuge.

Any words of identification and/or details?

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[alfiser]

Your picture is too blurry to make anything out. The picture you posted under it is a pericelis sp..... a leopard polyclad I believe. They come from the Caribbean, Florida, Bahamas, and Indo-Pacific regions. Tere are many types that are closely related with some color variations. They are carnivorous and mainly feed on sea squirts and sponges. Many specimens are found under coral fragments or porous rocks.

 

[ed4]

Makes sense, because I've noticed a decline in my pineapple sponges lately.

 

[pagojoe]

That particular species majors on eating molluscs, including both snails and clams. It doesn't have a name, unless it's been named recently...either that, or the experts just haven't been able to correlate the live animal with the bleached specimen preserved in a museum somewhere, labeled "Holotype." There are a couple of people working on the flatworms now, so if it hasn't been named, it should be in the fairly near future, I'd think. It's one of the most well known, if not named, species.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Octoberfest]

I had one kill almost all of my snails before I could remove it.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

It is impossible to tell from the picture as others have said.

One "rookie" mistake I made back in the day- upon glancing at my tank I night I would see what appeared to be large flat worms in my tank. I had never bothered to look on the other side. They were actually Stomatella snails, whose shells are so subtle I didn't notice them at first.

Just a lil FYI.

 

[Octoberfest]

If you go off of the description he posted and the example photo it wouldn't be to hard to let him know what he has.

 

[flyyyguy]

its a polyclad as already stated. Ive had a few of them over the years and one was a clam muncher and the other two decimated my snails

here are a couple pics of one of them if that helps you confirm it

pretty cool creatures. If you can catch the thing alive I actually wouldnt mind paying for shipping and have you send it to me. Ive gotten better at photography since Ive had any and wouldnt mind taking soem good pics and put him in my q tank for a while Ive been wanting one

If you do catch it and want to see the most crazy moving critter ever...put it in a bowl of tankwater and swirl it. Its impossible to describe what they do but it is unreal and worth checking out. lol


these are all of the same worm. he was well over 4"

 

[ed4]

Thanks for the replies Don and all!

I've had 2-3 snails die within the span of a few months, but nothing unusual about the vacant shells. I guess, what I meant was that the shells weren't covered in slime, like the way I've been hearing how these worms will put these into a slime cocoon. But then again, I have an agressive clean-up-crew w/ a wide mix of hermits and the like.

My guess is that this worm has been living of Colunista (sp?) snails in my tank. Coincidentally, my Pineapple sponges are nearly gone in the display, but are growing like gangbusters in the 'fuge.

InsaneClownFish, thank you for your reply too. I've got "billions" of Stomatella in my reef that forage when the lights come out. As far as I know, these snails grow to a max size of 1.5", which some of mine are. This flatworm was huge and didn't have the antennae of Stoma's. The pic I took was with a cellphone, which was conveniently nearly. Regretfully, my digital camera was in another room.

Flyyguy, do you have any tips or suggestions to lure & catch these guys? It sounds like you might have a method of some kind I've heard that it would be best to use a hose to syphon these out, but mine hasn't been seen since.

Thanks everybody! I would love to hear more if anyone has info.

 

[flyyyguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13447910#post13447910 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ed4


Flyyguy, do you have any tips or suggestions to lure & catch these guys? It sounds like you might have a method of some kind I've heard that it would be best to use a hose to syphon these out, but mine hasn't been seen since.

no. sorry

These things move like smoke.

I think catching it with a siphon is very unlikely. Normal little tiny flatworms tht works fine. but this isnt you average flatworm.

The only way i have caught them is watchign them go into a particular rock.......and as quick as I could get that rock out of the tank. Then with a strong powerhead in a 5 gallon bucket you can usually blow them out. Or some have tore them out in pieces

 

[Octoberfest]

Yeah that's how I've gotten mine out. As soon as I saw it in a piece of live rock I pulled it out ASAP, put it in another container, then used a piece of air hose/tubing and my mouth to blow air through it and force it out.

They can be pretty, its a shame that they are so harmful.

 

[ed4]

... as what I've observed. When I went to use a small plastic container to "cup" over it, from the glass, this thing boogied out fast.

My main problem is that with over 100 pounds of porous rock mostly interlinked into each other with epoxy, I can't resort to pulling rock out.

Im still keeping a lookout for him at night, w/ 1/2" hose nearby.

 

[ksmken]

Hey guys, I found one exactly the same as the above pic's earlier tonight trapped in my filter wool. I thought it was a piece of nory.
The only way I could remove it was by sucking it up with a large turkey baster.. so I would try a syphon if you see it, good luck

 

[ed4]

Got it! Not the best pictures, but this time I had some time to grab my camera.

flyyguy, are you still interested in the flatworm? I *just* caught it. You're right, this guy is cool as hell, but a bit creepy for me. At the moment it's trying to crawl out of the container and swimming in it.

LMK!