The Hunt for Red Planaria Flatworms

[Big Mistake]

I have been aggressively siphoning Red Planaria Flatworms from my little 10-gallon tank.

What I have noticed is their population is going down faster than I am siphoning.

I suspect the urchins and snails do in fact eat them - at least the little RPFs.

But the clean-up crew can only eat so many per day.

Urchins and snails (and Red Planaria Flatworms?) go along and scrap the biological film off surfaces so at least the little RPFs would be unavoidably consumed?

The Red Planaria Flatworms do like to be out in the light so maybe photosynthetic like corals? I never see them in shadow. No hidden population in cracks and crevices.

They have sort of fallen below detectable levels with normal eyesight.

I use a coral feeding tube baster/syringe at the end of the siphon hose to reduce the water flow and give me more time to target and siphon up RPFs.

Declaring success against RFPs would be a ...

-Big Mistake

 

[ptrahan]

No mistake here. 75 gal sps/zoas/inverts/fish. Siphoned for weeks. FWE dose, water change, carbon. They were killed. They came back. Repeated siphoning and FWE/WC, carbon. They were killed. Re-dosed 6 days later. Four months later and they have not returned.