Flatworms?

[jrpage]

Hey there,
I've got these little tissue-like round worms (?).
They've appeared on the glass a time or two and if you push them off they kind of twist through the water until they land elsewhere. any ideas on what they are and if they are a problem to my tank?
Thanks!
Rhonda

 

[bigarn]

Do a search at the top of the page for Flatworms and Coepods. See if you can identify them. IMO it's one or the other.
By the way....They're both good.

 

[thomas712]

What color are your flatworms? Red? = not good.

 

[thomas712]

look like this?

 

[bigarn]

Never knew that. Why are the red ones NG?

 

[tizzo]

Yeah, or the brown ones...those aren't good either.

 

[tizzo]

Lemme see if I can get this right...
Flatworms eat dead coral tissue, kinda like coral exfoliators. Good so far... But in the process of doing that, their wide flat body keeps light from getting to the coral, and they multiply really fast so they're existence will cover and eventually kill a coral.

 

[bigarn]

:notsure: :notsure: Why?

 

[jrpage]

well mine are a reddish brown and they seem to love my coral. What can be done if anything?
Thanks for all the responses BTW.
Rhonda

 

[tizzo]

I am going to try a spotted mandarin when my supply of flatworms increases. There is also Flatworm Exit by Salifert they say works great. Or you could continuously syphon them out with a turkey baster to keep the numbers low.
Word of caution though, if you use the Salifert's product, syphon out as many as possible first and be prepared to run a lot of carbon 1 hour after the treatment. The flatworm releases toxic chemicals when it dies.

 

[dragonboy]

I had a few I use flatworm exit and I haven't see any since then.

 

[thomas712]

Blow them off with a turkey baster once in a while. If your tank is infested with them then I would definatly be running carbon anyway.
Salifert does make the flatworm exit as mentioned or you can get a couple of these:

 

[infalable]

I used flatworm exit and it worked perfectly, with no adverse efects on my reef critters.

 

[jrpage]

Thomas that's beautiful.......What is it?
I've only seen a handful in my tank so I wouldn't term it invested. It just bothered me to see them on my colt coral. I will siphon for awhile and see how that goes. Thanks for the advice on carbon and remedies everyone.
Rhonda

 

[thomas712]

Its a blue velvet nudibranch, they only eat flatworms.

 

[jrpage]

Thomas - That is one cool critter. Is he yours? Are they hard to manage? I've heard that you need to be really careful with them.

 

[tizzo]

https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/132638/what-do-i-need-for-a-nudibranch

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by jrpage
Thomas - That is one cool critter. Is he yours? Are they hard to manage? I've heard that you need to be really careful with them.
Yeah he was mine, I had two of them. Follow the thread that Tizzo put down for you, then there are a couple of others in that thread you should follow. They should answer your questions.