Flat Worms?

Sparkss · Mar 15, 2023

I just got in a couple of coco worms from an online store, the water in the bag the cocos came in appeared to have a lot of (dead?) flat worms (red planaria).

2023-03-15 11.50.58 - cocos w-flat worms.jpg

My questions are if anyone else concurs that they are flat worms and if they can "infect" the coco worms (IE: take up residence in the tubes) to where they would make their way into our tank. I read of a couple of attempts to use flat worm exit w/ a coco worm in the tank, but they did not all have "happy endings".

I have drip acclimated the cocos then dumped the old water and put them into a clean container with all fresh tank water, waiting to see if any "new" flat worms show up on the bottom of the container. Any suggestions or ideas about how to handle this? Thanks!

blaxsun · Mar 16, 2023

Being "worms" as well, it's hard to sometimes treat coco worms without inadvertently harming them as well. If you have a separate tank for quarantine (observation) that's always an option.

Sparkss · Mar 16, 2023

blaxsun said:
Being "worms" as well, it's hard to sometimes treat coco worms without inadvertently harming them as well. If you have a separate tank for quarantine (observation) that's always an option.

Thanks, that was my concern as well. I have them in a fresh container, but struggled to keep it warm overnight. The cocos are out and seem fine this morning. I have been sparsely drip feeding phyto and they definitely respond to it. I do not see any "spots" on the bottom of the container this morning. I need to read up to see if flat worms lay eggs, but I thought that they reproduced more so through fission/splitting. I did order some flatworm exit to have on hand, just in case I feel that it is needed. I am not sure how long I can keep this container environment viable (for observation purposes), but am going to stretch it out as long as I comfortably can.