I'm being invaded!

[fishhooked]

The bottom of my tank and some of my live rock is being taken over by these little brown things. They are flat and 1/16" long and wide, Mr. Salty said that they were most likely some kind of bristle worm and are harmless. But the problem is that there are so many of them now that the entire bottom of the tank covered with them. It looks terrible!
Does anyone have any ideas to get rid of some of these guys. Will anything eat them? Should I just scoop out the CC and wash them off one handfull at a time? I am open to anything at this point. Thanks.

 

[macyjo]

can you pst a pic???

 

[fishymissy]

Sounds more like a planarian to me....the ones I had in my tank were brownish red, but they can come in various colors.....look here....
http://rshimek.com/rogue's_gallery.htm
scroll down to planarian
Sorry, but for some reason my link isn't working?????
http://rshimek.com/
Once there you have to go to marine aquaria, animal ID, then rogue gallery.....sorry

 

[nacl-h2o]

Yes, that does sound like red flat worms(planaria) thay usually look like little red or brown flakes.
Red Flat Worms(Planaria)

 

[fishhooked]

Thanks for helping me identify these things. Based on the pictures they are definatly Red Flat Worms(Planaria). Now at least I can do some research on them.
Has anyone else had any luck getting rid of them?

 

[tang_man_montreal]

fishhooked,
You, (like me), are outta luck.
All the searching I've done regarding these darn pests points to it not being controllable.
Some people say Six-line Wrasses and/or Mandarins work. Some say they don't.
There's a species of Nudibranch that might work, but doesn't last long enough in a tank, especially since it needs a tank with NO water movement.
Some say they tried an additive called Oomed, with varied side-effects. But Oomed is no longer available on the market.
Hyposalinity, No.. don't work.
High alk, maybe, but for the most part, no.
There's research pointing to a Sargassium shrimp that eats these damn Red flatworms, but these shrimp are seasonal (spring), and hand harvested in the gulf of mexico, and not commercially available.
So what do you do? You tell me. Apparently these things come and go, like tides. They appear where's there's low water circulation, and high light. You could try the wrasse or mandarin route, and if you're lucky, maybe, just maybe, you'll get one that eats these suckers.
Other than that, you could fresh water dip your rock for 30 secs. It will kill the flatworms, but also kill the coraline algae on the rock. BUT, you'll still have worms appear back on the rock since they are also in the SAND...
so basically, there's no answer that I've found. I personally am going to try the wrasse and maybe a mandarin. Other than that, you can sit back and "enjoy" your new tank inhabitants, cause like me and many other people, you're stuck with them.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Also, to add to that, you can try searching for more info with the following keywords:
Red PLanarian
red flat worm
Convolutriloba
you'll basically find the same info that I posted above.

 

[rockster]

How about hawkfish? I know they like shrimps but if they're starving and no shrimps around, maybe they may consider those worms in their next menu...just a thought.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Nope..
I have a longnose hawkfish who won't touch these things.
He does love peppermint shrimp though...

 

[fishhooked]

Tang_man_Montreal,
That is some depressing news. I already have a six-line wrasse, I have seen him pick at the flat worms once in a while, but not enough to controll the population boom.
If you do find anything that works, let me know.
Good Luck.

 

[nacl-h2o]

That's the problem with any predator control , they will not erradicat the problem and rearly do anything like truly control them if they eat them at all.

 

[fishhooked]

Here is my list of things that don't work:
Scarlet Hermits
Blue Leg Hermits
Chocolate chip star
Cleaner Shrimp
Six-Line Wrasse (picks at them once in a while)

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Well, here's my list of things that don't / were not meant to work:
Green Brittle star
Red leg hermits
Blue leg hermits
scarlet hermits
mythrax (emerald) crab
mini stars
tigertail cuke
longnose hawk (ate the shrimp)
peppermint shrimp (never had a chance to try)
Wish there was a surefire list of things that actually DID work...

 

[macyjo]

I am going to try to help--and this may be TOTALLY stupid.....here goes.
When I have needed FRESH water planarian--for science exp--etc. I go to my local h20 hole and throw in a string with a chunck of fresh red meat. Couple hours later the meat is loaded with these guys. Maybe you could manually extracted them --over time of course. maybe a chunck of meat inside a small coke bottle--keep taking it in and out.
Like I said this is just a thought--I have never had this problem--but I don't want you to have to problem either. Hope you find something that works.
Good Luck.

 

[bhav_88]

The problem with the above strategy is that it would become maintenence as regular as water changes, for there is no way in hell you can get them all out manually. You may be able to reduce their numbers until they are not visible for a while, but they will come back.

 

[fishhooked]

In my reading today I came across a discussion on a Black Rail shrimp. They apparently eat flatworms, but are difficult to get. Has anyone else heard of these or have any information on them?

 

[fishymissy]

My experience with planarians is limited. Even though I had some in my tank, it never got to plague proportions. My main way to remove them was manually siphoning them up with a gravel vac. I used a new clean toothbrush to get them off of the rocks and then sucked them up with the vac. Not real easy to do and I didn't get them all but I got the vast majority. If you do this several days in a row, you will get alot of them out of your tank that way. The few that were still in my tank dissappeared as suddenly as they came.
HTH

 

[fishhooked]

Thanks for all of the help with this problem. I have one last question about these flatworms: Are they harmfull or just unsightly? If I don't completly eradicate them now will I end up with a major problem in the future?

 

[fishymissy]

I have heard that in large amounts they can be bothersome to some corals and clams. Don't know how true that is though.....mainly I think most people find them unsightly.
To me if you can keep the population down to managable levels they're fine. They only add to the bio-diversity of your tank.
Just my .02 cents