What is this???

taintstick · Mar 8, 2017

Alright so I found these guys on the front of my mushroom tank. I'm thinking nudis, maybe monti/digi eating nudis... noticed a couple the other day, last night noticed tons of them. Started to get them out just in case, but I recently put a monti and fragged digi in to recover, then all on glass.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 8, 2017

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/651 red planaria.

Labridaedicted · Mar 8, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
http://www.melevsreef.com/node/651 red planaria.

This. They can reproduce crazy fast and cover all the surfaces in your tank including coral which eventually kills it. Seen some tanks completely inundated with them

Tahoe61 · Mar 8, 2017

The one FW that truly gives me a lot of pause. What fish are in the mushroom tank, Damsels and Wrasses will eat them. They are also photosynthetic.
Sometimes you need to encourage fish to eat them by with holding food for a day or two and then blow the FWs off surfaces in front of the fish. Consider a reduction in photo-period or complete black out. When red planaria die they release a toxin, it's important to remove as many manually as you can, remember there are many many more you can not see. I have seen them take over every tank in two LFS, needless to say I never bought from those stores but I saw many unknowing hobbyist buy.

Labridaedicted · Mar 8, 2017

Hoevens Wrasses (Halichoeres melanurus) does a good job on them.

If I remember correctly, the blue lined nudibranchs' also eat them but I think they only eat planaria, so they would starve afterwards.

Mnk9569 · Mar 8, 2017

I had a falco hawk that ate them I just kept vacuuming thru a nylon strainer pump water back in tank they usually came out after lights were on for awhile if I remember right just sucked them off the rocks with vacuum hose 1/2 in tubing

taintstick · Mar 8, 2017

Wow!! Thanks all!!
Do they just cover the coral or eat coral too? All coral in general? I have no fish in the tank, just hermits and snails to stay clean. Yea I guess they came out like crazy cause I did a random day of blackout. I guess I'll buy a wrasse for the tank, to eliminate any nudis or these guys pop up. Weird because everything in that tank came out of my display and my display doesn't have any of them. Hhmmm going to have to keep an eye I guess.

Mnk9569 · Mar 8, 2017

They can cover coral to keep it from getting light and they become plague proportions fast no think water nutrients feed their multiplying been awhile I still see one every now and then I have 2 strawberry dottyback s. In the tank I read somewhere that they ate them to hawk jumped out a couple months ago and they haven't taken over so something has to be eating them I guess good luck. I just kept syphoning them every time I saw them on the rocks usually there is a few in same spot so it's a little easier

taintstick · Mar 8, 2017

I guess I can also dip all my rock with coral, then remove all the rock without coral to place in a bucket. Been wanting to get that rock out for some time so now is the time. Also going to do a WC in which I'll siphon out these guys first.
Again thanks everyone for the quick responses!!
Thanks Salty for the reading material!

Mnk9569 · Mar 8, 2017

You could if your not worried about killing anything they get in every little crack and hide they are toxic if they die or ya smash them in your tank they stain the nylon strainer I used if I left them in there dry and they died

taintstick · Mar 8, 2017

Well I don't want anything to die off lol, I have some nice shroom colonies. I'll just get a wrasse or something to eat them guys.

Mnk9569 · Mar 8, 2017

Diligence just suck up as many as ya can and don't over feed you will eventually get them out takes a bit but

taintstick · Mar 8, 2017

Mnk9569 said:
Diligence just suck up as many as ya can and don't over feed you will eventually get them out takes a bit but

Awesome! Thanks! Glad they won't eat coral but definitely going to keep and eye out. I'll just suck them up one by one. I rarely feed that tank. I use water from my main display for that one and it does very well.

Mnk9569 · Mar 8, 2017

Yeah like I said just strain water you can pump it back in I have like a nylon filter sock it catches them but lets water flow out I forgot what size micron it is bigger holes then my sump ones I know marine depot sent it by mistake when I ordered my regular ones

taintstick · Mar 9, 2017

I went ahead and siphoned out as much as I could last night, maybe somewhere around 60 of them. Since I didn't have the bag on hand, I just siphoned them into a bucket and threw them out. Worked out well and will see how many there are when lights kick on today.