What are these?

[ATinPGH]

A bunch of these showed up in my tank today. Any thoughts on what they are and if they are undesirable or not?

Thanks.

Aaron

 

[SushiGirl]

Flatworms. They look like red planaria, which are undesirable.

 

[Mark 75g]

Fatworms. Get to aqua world and buy FLATWORM EXIT and start treating your tank. They will take over your tank and look ugly.
Buy atleast 2 bottles and do multiple treatments over a week or so time period.
I did this and treated every 2 days for about 2 weeks because of eggs and cycles. I think I finally got rid off them after a second go around.

Please buy a small hose long enough to reach to your sump. Put a mesh bag on the end and create a siphon. Get as many out as you can before treating or your tank will crash.

FOLLOW DIRECTIONS TO A TEE

 

[AHDOnline]

+1 You will need to rid of them fast and alert whomever you got coral from that might be infected if that is the case.

Using flatworm exit is pretty reliable if you follow the directions as they release nasty toxins so sucking out as many as you can before and then sucking out the dead will help. You will want to also run carbon

 

[krshlln300]

Does anything eat them?

 

[AHDOnline]

SOMETIMES six lines, some mandarins. Odds are they will reproduce and take over your tank before they can all be eaten, after they starve your corals of nutrients and kill them

 

[vr697getta]

some wrasse will but not fast enough to wipe out all of them. again use FLATWORM EXIT run carbon alot of it.i have used it before and it worked great and all my corals and fish survived.
if you recently purchased a coral thats probably where they came from.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I kinda liked mine... I dunno where they all went. Maybe it was the 1ppm Phosphate that did them in.

Dave... is that clam still available?

 

[ATinPGH]

Thanks for the replies. Flatworm exit is in my immediate future.

 

[Jabberwock]

I have these in (sometimes) plague-like proportions in my 24 gallon nano tank... I tried Flat Worm Exit (and it works), but I got lazy with repeat treatments and let them rebound back. Now I just siphon many of them out on water change days to keep the population from going critical and crashing the tank... They've kind of become part of the nutrient control system in that tank. I also don't trade any of the corals in that tank without an up-front forewarning and a coral dip - and I indicate that the dip might not effect any eggs that might be part of the frag. In addition, I do not bring anything from that tank to any frag swaps/raffles for fear of inadvertently passing on the headache and NOTHING goes from the nano to my main tank. Oddly enough, that skimmer-less, planaria infested tank grows zoas and the more common sps like crazy, all with PC lights - probably due to the more frequent/larger volume water changes, but I'm sure also in part due to the flatworms munching up additional nutrients....

If it was in a larger tank that I couldn't access with a siphon line so easily I think I would be more interested in eradicating them using Flat Worm Exit... Good advice above. You will need multiple bottles and several treatments - and the faster you act, the more likely that you will get them all. If you let this go, you will probably need a few more bottles/treatments over the course of weeks/months (and the stuff isn't cheap!). Definitely a difficult pest to deal with.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I would concentrate on mechanical removal instead of chemical. While the FWE works, there are problems (easy to research). A small filter bag and power head can be used to vacuum them up and return the water to the aquarium.

 

[ATinPGH]

I siphoned out a hundred or so and then did the Flat Worm Exit. They started dropping pretty quick and I did my best to siphon them out as they floated. It looks they they fried a couple of mushrooms but otherwise everything looks to be doing ok. Thanks for all the help.

Aaron

 

[vr697getta]

watch your skimmer, it will produce alot more skimmate during this process. well atleast mine did and it was jet black and smelled even worse than normal. good luck

 

[Mark 75g]

Aaron,
remember, you need to treat every other day or so for about a week to week and half. I did my first treatment and thought everything was ok , but they appeared about 2 weeks later. You need to break the egg cycle. I just treated again about a month ago and did it about every 2 days for a week and a half. I have not seen any since.

 

[ATinPGH]

Thanks Mark.

 

[Mark 75g]

no problem good luck!!!!!!

 

[Big Dog]

Interested in knowing if there are any side effects from the treatment on tank parameters or inhabitants?

 

[ATinPGH]

So far nothing out of the ordinary. Even the mushrooms that did not look happy at all yesterday have opened up with a little bit of white goo on their edges. All other coral and livestock, including crabs and snails, are doing fine. Skimmate is about on par with before the treatment as well.

 

[Mark 75g]

Big Dog, there usually is not unless you do not get enough out by vacuum. If you have alot in there your coral can get stressed out or you can kill things.

I just treated and my JOE THE CORAL turned a pale color and after about 2 weeks is finally starting to color up again.

Thats why I stress buying a small hose and vacuum out as many as you can. If you have alot, I would recommend vacuuming out for multiple days before you treat.

 

[Big Dog]

Well thank goodness I don't have them. If it ever comes up though I won't need to ask those questions. TY guys!