Is this what's bothering my Frogspawn?

[Steve Erekson]

I've been having issues with a frogspawn for a few months and I found this little dude crawling on it today. When I say little I mean it. Tiny, tiny, tiny tiny. He's maybe 1 or 1.5mm long. This is zoomed in at 8x on my phone camera.

That's the bugger in question. He has two little antennae looking things and appears to move much like a snail would in the direction of those. Some sort of nudbranch maybe?

 

[Bryson.bobby]

Looks like it might be a red planaria flatworm

 

[Mike N]

Virtually every time I've had something bothering my euphyllia corals it's always a peppermint shrimp or an emerald crab. Have either of those in your tank?
No idea on the picture..

 

[Steve Erekson]

Virtually every time I've had something bothering my euphyllia corals it's always a peppermint shrimp or an emerald crab. Have either of those in your tank?
No idea on the picture..

I have a couple of emeralds and one coral banded, no peppermints.

 

[Steve Erekson]

Looks like it might be a red planaria flatworm

Yeahhhh that was my first thought but idk, doesn't seem like it has the same shape. Either way I'm waiting on a store to get a cryptic sixline (pink streaked) wrasse which I wanted anyway so hopefully he snacks on these if there's more.

 

[Steve Erekson]

Also here is a photo with him and a quarter if you want to see the scale of how tiny this thing is.

 

[motortrendz]

Looks like flatworm.

 

[Steve Erekson]

Wait I think I might have figured it out.
Vayssierea sp.

Seems right on the money.

 

[motortrendz]

Wait I think I might have figured it out.
Vayssierea sp.

Seems right on the money.

And what is it lol. Never heard of that.

 

[Steve Erekson]

And what is it lol. Never heard of that.

A nudibranch that feeds on tubeworms. Found him on the frogspawn skeleton which is covered in tiny spirobids and sepulids.

 

[motortrendz]

Well I guess that's good then.... but maybe he was irritating them being on them

 

[Steve Erekson]

Well I guess that's good then.... but maybe he was irritating them being on them

I'm thinking the frogspawn is getting bothered by something else. Perhaps the shrimp eating the nudibranchs off it at night is bothering it.

 

[CNDReef]

Might be the tube worms that are on it that are irritating it

 

[Steve Erekson]

Might be the tube worms that are on it that are irritating it

They're really too small to touch the fleshy bits I think

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

The photo looks like red planaria as I have them in one of my tanks. Not happy. I spent 1.5 hours sucking them out and I still have loads.

 

[Steve Erekson]

The photo looks like red planaria as I have them in one of my tanks. Not happy. I spent 1.5 hours sucking them out and I still have loads.

Maybe I'm in denial but I'm still leaning towards Vaysseirea nudibranch. I found it right among the things it eats. It has the two antennae looking things just like a nudi, it moves just like a nudi. And it doesn't really have that lobe shape like a flatworm does, and definitely doesn't have the three points. Also I just siphoned my sandbed doing a waterchange and find nothing similar which is where I would normally find lots of planaria.

 

[ot7]

I had these guys in my tank before and your picture looks a lot like vayssierea felis. theyre cute guys and dont bother corals. they look like little bunnies and stay very small. if youre still unsure just check their bellies, if theyre ready to reproduce they will have little orange/red balls inside of them.

i seem to be seeing more posts about these guys... i wonder if a popular seller has these vayssierea in their systems and is hitchhicking on corals. i hope i can find some soon again. they were cute to see in the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

To me. Flatworm is uninvited. If unsure about anything bothering your coral, always dip it to assure no pest or eggs of some sort
Rinse in RO and then return to tank

 

[Steve Erekson]

I had these guys in my tank before and your picture looks a lot like vayssierea felis. theyre cute guys and dont bother corals. they look like little bunnies and stay very small. if youre still unsure just check their bellies, if theyre ready to reproduce they will have little orange/red balls inside of them.

i seem to be seeing more posts about these guys... i wonder if a popular seller has these vayssierea in their systems and is hitchhicking on corals. i hope i can find some soon again. they were cute to see in the tank.

Yeah it does have some darker spots inside the body that could potentially be eggs. It's difficult to tell with how small these guys are.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Maybe I'm in denial but I'm still leaning towards Vaysseirea nudibranch. I found it right among the things it eats. It has the two antennae looking things just like a nudi, it moves just like a nudi. And it doesn't really have that lobe shape like a flatworm does, and definitely doesn't have the three points. Also I just siphoned my sandbed doing a waterchange and find nothing similar which is where I would normally find lots of planaria.

Iv just treated my sons 7 gallon tank with flatworm exit after spending an hour a day for 3 days siphoning before hand I think I have got them now. It's just a pain that flatworm exit isn't available from shops in the uk (not near me anyway) as its contents are illegal here so it becomes very expensive for a 10ml bottle that holds 250drops of which I only needed 4. But for your sake I hope it isn't planaria.