Hitch hiker worm? Leach? attaching to fish

[aykwm]

I noticed few days ago a hitchhiker that looks like a flatworm maybe, I had just started dosing prazipro, so I thought that the medication will take care of it. I tried taking photo, but by the time I went to get my phone, it was gone. Today I noticed 2 of them, one was at the top corner of the tank, and the other one was attached to the tang. I managed to remove both of them but I'm not sure if there are still more.

What should I do, I thought Prazipro was sufficient to kill them.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Well. That's rare.

#reefsquad.

 

[dbl]

Rare indeed. Maybe @Lionfish Lair can offer an opinion.

 

[Maritimer]

They're polychaetes, but . . .

Attached to a tang?!

#reefsquad, indeed! @Lionfish Lair, does this sound familiar to you?

~Bruce

 

[Lionfish Lair]

They look like epitokes.

What happened to the guy on the left.... his back end...

 

[aykwm]

They look like epitokes.

What happened to the guy on the left.... his back end...

While removing it from the tank I damaged it, but both are identical

 

[Lionfish Lair]

If you see some more, could you remove it and put it in some water? There's a feature I would look for that I can't see when they're out of the water like that. It's really hard and sometimes impossible to ID a worm from a picture. Sometimes you can immediately tell, some need to be under a microscope to be positively ID'd. Your worm reminds me of the family, Nereidae and more specifically a Platynereis.

Did you see either of them swimming?

 

[aykwm]

If you see some more, could you remove it and put it in some water? There's a feature I would look for that I can't see when they're out of the water like that. It's really hard and sometimes impossible to ID a worm from a picture. Sometimes you can immediately tell, some need to be under a microscope to be positively ID'd. Your worm reminds me of the family, Nereidae and more specifically a Platyner
Did you see either of them swimming?

Yes, when them swim they seem to try and reach the surface of the water, they love wedging themselves into corners also they are fast swimming back and forth. How can I get rid of them?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Yup, that's epitokes. You don't need to get rid of them.

 

[Maritimer]

I was surprised to see such a "head" on an epitoke - and hadn't heard of one latching onto a fish.

Learned something today! Woohoo!

~Bruce

 

[aykwm]

I was surprised to see such a "head" on an epitoke - and hadn't heard of one latching onto a fish.

Learned something today! Woohoo!

~Bruce

Yea, the rocks were from fiji, there were many survivors although the rocks stayed around 3 days outside the water. Ive seen many common hitchhikers like crabs and worms, but again some that were the first time I've ever seen or heard about. I love this hobby because of this, you always learn and see new stuff and each tank is unique and one of a kind.

Thank you for the infos

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea, the rocks were from fiji, there were many survivors although the rocks stayed around 3 days outside the water. Ive seen many common hitchhikers like crabs and worms, but again some that were the first time I've ever seen or heard about. I love this hobby because of this, you always learn and see new stuff and each tank is unique and one of a kind.

Thank you for the infos

Very cool. If you find more we'd all love to see them!

 

[aykwm]

Very cool. If you find more we'd all love to see them!

Will keep you updated for sure. I currently have a crab that I'm trying to catch but its really deep in the rocks. It is green with black claws, I read that it might be some type of an emerald crab, but I guess I need to catch it first and have a closer look.

Also, the rocks came with a lot of feather dusters and mussels. I did observe 2 snails, they were still small and without a shell, but they disappeared. Also I've never seen any alive yet, but when the rocks arrived I saw few die offs that included some brittle stars and bristle worms, I think they are the most common hitchhikers. If I see anything out of the ordinary Ill post it here.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I was surprised to see such a "head" on an epitoke - and hadn't heard of one latching onto a fish.

I actually don't think he was attached to a fish like a parasite. He was just a worm who found a surface while he was having a sexy swim. The swimming behavior is a dead give away and we know that epitokes aren't parasitic, so it was just a coincidence. Epitokes like in the group Nereididae often have prominent heads/eyes. Like there's one in particular, the Platynereis. I'm not IDing it that specifically, as that would be impossible to tell, but I'm just giving you a name to check out some of the similarities.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

If he was in the water, we might have been able to see the antennae, but when they're out of the water, the strands often lay flat to the body.

Here's a pic of the Platynereis.