Flat worm???

Two of my tanks have brown flat pac man ghost shaped things in it, they stay on the glass near the top where the light is.

I can try and get a pic when I get home but they are very small (1/8" maybe a little more when they stretch out) so am not sure if I can. are they good bad or indifferent?

 

Sounds like flat worm to me Sky. Siphon out all you see with a turkey baster and get control of them before a population explosion. Or get a six line if you can. Actually I think most Wrasses will eat them but I may be wrong.

coral flatworm images - Google Search

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

That's what I was afraid of they were in my 46 but are no longer there and they are in my QT tank so will just take that down totally and clean it thourghly...
they are also in the 46's fuge which is still not connected, still since the return pump i got to connect it is being used to run my uv sterilizer atm.

Can I rinse the macro in FW or use flatworm exit on them? I don't want to loose the macro (though they may have come in on the stuff I got from someone on ebay or even on the LR who knows have had them in all the tanks I think from like day one practically, just kinda thought they wer a "pod" but that really never sat right with me)

Can I scrub the tank down, nuke the LR in the fuge and cook (literally boil the sand) and put it all back together?

Actually I haven't seen thim in the 46 since I put the Mandarins in there....mmmm....dunno.

 

Are they bad I don't see them on any of the corals?
Will they harm the corals or fish or any future non starter corals?
They are unsightly in the display fuge though since theyre on the glass.

 

The problem with them is that the population gets so high that they literally smother the corals. Also they release a toxin when they die so if fish pick at them there is the possibility of death or extreme illness. Except for wrasses which are natural predators. I'm sure there are other species but idk which.

Flatworm Exit is a good product but if you choose to go that route you will have to siphon out all of the worms you can see before you dose. This is important because it will lessen the amount of toxin released upon death. After the dosing time has passed you will still need to run carbon and do w/c's to be safe.

I wouldn't tear down. I don't think that is necessary.

 

+1 to reefmonkey


I am also going through this battle right now. I have a Blue velvet nudi that is taking care of them. the only problem with the nudi is once the flatworms are gone I will have to find it a new home for it to survive. I got the nudi from live aquaria if you want to give that route a try. Good luck.

 

Thanks for your answers I did come across this article by none other than Anthony Calfo...seems my madarins did help after all.

PestFlatwrmAnthony

I was thinking that maybe it was due to something I did wrong or didn't do...so the article put my mind at rest.

I was also thinking they may directly attack my fish and corals, good to find out they are merely nuisance critters that if kept in check are ok.

 

Flatworm Exit works well to kill flatworms once they are in your tank. But, to help prevent a future infestation of flatworms, I dip all my new corals in an iodine bath like Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure before introducing them into my tank. Understandably I get a bit paranoid about introducing things like flatworms into my display tanks.