red flatworms??? taking over my tank

[seefish]

Hi All

can anyone tell me how to get rid of the very small flat red sluglike critters-- they are all over the rocks, the glass and I am wondering if they are attacking the polyps? two of them have been closed up for almost a week now. is that normal??

thanks for any help

Maria

 

[jenniebutterfly]

they very well could be attacking, they are known to mess with corals. best thing to do is to syphon out as many as possible with some small airline tubing, then add salifert flatworm exit and continue to syphon them out. they are toxic when they die so if you can remove corals such as polyps and do a freshwater dip on them for about 10 minutes you can kill them. just stick them in some fresh water the same temp as your tank, same ph if possible, and swish them around every minute or so. not a good idea for sps though.. fishtown has flatworm exit

 

[cali_reef]

I had good luck with sixline wrasse eating them.

 

[seefish]

thanks Jennifer and cali.

Im pretty new to this, so I dont know what flatworm exit is, but I guess I'lll find out when I get it! I like the idea of getting a predator-- but when they're gone what'll he eat? and here/s a dumb question, but are sps's zoos? I dont have any hard coral growing in my 20g tank-- just soft -- xenia, zoos, and 2 fish, a shrimp and some crabs.

thanks again very helpful

 

[glipper69]

no sps are not zoo's
sps stands for Smll polyp stony - i.e. acropora
LPS - large polyp stony - i.e. welsophylia
zoo is just a polyp coral - i.e. zoo
leather is a leather- i.e -finger leather

good luck,
Frank

 

[ShaunW]

They could be the zoanthid eating nudi? just the baby forms. Have you checked your zoanthids for them? You would find them on and around your zoos.

Check this thread and pictures out.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=496210