Billions of flatworms

[Paul B]

I was feeding the tank tonight and I said, Wow, the coraline algae is really taking off and growing like crazy. But it didn't look right. Wrong color and it seemed to be moving.
I took out my magnifying glasses and took a closer look.
I could not figure what they were until I poked one with a probe. The thing "ran" or slithered away pretty fast.
They are Acoel flatworms and they are completely covering portions of the rock. I never noticed them before and at first thought they were nudibranches but nudibranchs would never grow to these numbers in a tank.
There are thousands of these things.
Very cool. I love to find new things. I can't believe the amount of life in this old tank. There are these flatworms, amphipods, brittle stars, stomella, those little starfish (I forget their name) and almost as many tiny snails as these flatworms.
I don't know what all of these things are eating. It totally blows me away that all of this stuff is living in there.
I can look for hours with a set of magnifying glasses.
http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5836

 

[NYreefNoob]

6 line wrasse look like red planaria sp ?

 

[jcs11236]

so you are happy you have thousands of these flatworms?

 

[Paul B]

so you are happy you have thousands of these flatworms?

I am happy with or without the worms. They are kind of cool.
I like anything different that happens with the tank. It's interesting.

 

[jaa1456]

So, I guess you have added something new to your tank lately.

 

[Paul B]

There was a large LFS around the corner from my home that went out of business a couple of weeks ago. I aquired many of their corals for practically nothing. A lot of the corals were in bad shape and some are barely alive but those I got for free. If they die, I got rocks.
The flatworms may have come from there.

Due to this my tank doesn't look too healthy because you will see some half dead corals. They will either come back or I will break off the dead parts.

 

[MIKE NY]

glad I didn't take a chance with any of their livestock just bought dry goods....

 

[Boomer]

OH, common on now Paul "billions"

 

[DHaut]

Those are red planaria. They have been known to form a complete mat over corals, starving the corals of light. They also release high levels of toxins into the water when they die, so a population crash could mean a tank crash. If you like them (most people don't), then I would at least attempt to keep the population in check by vacuuming some out during water changes.

 

[Paul B]

OH, common on now Paul "billions"

Boomer OK I stopped counting at 16, but there are probably at least 20. :tongue1:

Some parts of rock I can't even see because there are so many of them.
I figure they are free aquarium creatures.
I want to do some experiments on them. I know my zapper kills them but I would have to spend the rest of my life zapping them as they are tiny.
For now they can do their thing, I won't bother them. I don't have time anyway so we will see what happens.:bablefish

 

[basiab]

Most critters serve a good purpose. I also enjoy finding new types in my tank. I have some kind of white worm. They look like the legs of the mini brittle stars. I don't really care for them but evidently there are things in my environment keeping them happy. Lately noticed some baby keyhole limpets. I guess my two big ones have had success.
I have crushed coral and I do not clean it. I rely on my critters to do that.

 

[Boomer]

Yes, Paul, they can be a real issue as Dhaut pointed out, covering coral and reducing light and/or feeding off of coral mucus. A few is OK but a plague is a NO-NO.

 

[Paul B]

I know they hate Lugols Iodine. Kills them instantly. Maybe I should replace the water in my tank with Lugols :tongue1:

If I get time I can significantly reduce their numbers with my diatom filter. It is time for a diatoming anyway, it's been about a year and these things don't really hang on real good. I collected a bunch of them and they are in seperate containers. I want to do some experimenting before they disappear, or crash the tank which ever comes first.
I am sure I have had plagues of them before I just never really noticed.
They are really cool creatures if you look at them under a scope.
I know what all the rumors say about them but I want to test that in a small tank with some local NY creatures to see if dying flatworms kill anything. I also want to try to see what they are eating and what else besides Iodine kills them. I would like to see if I could trap them, just for the heck of it.
As you know, there are rumors about everything in this hobby but I want to see for myself. Maybe next week I will just have a bare tank full of fat worms but I can't let an opportunity like this get away. :snail:

 

[Mattl22]

Before I found this site I had fw in my previous solana I kept asking at the lfs what they were but I was told that it was a good sign that I had so much life in my tank so I left them alone within a few months they took over my entire tank everyday there would be hundreds on the glass I'd clen the glass a few hrs later hundreds more my recommendation use flatt worm exit b4 it gets out of control

 

[tosiek]

Or get a wrasse to control the population. Paul there isn't much else to figure out about killing them as someone already has run your playful tests =0P. The most useful thing is iodine dips for fresh coral and flat worm exit for tank treatment. And they kill things when a mass exodus happens in your tank. There is a post somewhere on RC or somewhere about the toxin they release per flatworm per gallon of water when they die.

 

[MIKE NY]

...the red ones release a toxin when they die...enough of them can be a problem. I would slowly start decreasing their population.

 

[DHaut]

more info:

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

 

[Paul B]

Wow, you guys worry about everything. I just came back friom a nice dinner, great mussels, good wine. The worms will have to wait until tomorrow.
But I still think I will just leave them be for now.

 

[NYreefNoob]

6 line wrasse, my sh tank was becoming over run with red planaria so i added the 6 line and poof 4 days later most are gone

 

[Paul B]

I have a 6 line wrasse. I don't know what he is eating but he is always smiling.