What Type of Flatworms Are These?

[nickkohrn]

I recently noticed these flatworms in my tank. Their population has grown quite rapidly. I used Salifert Flatworm eXit a few days ago, and I did witness some of them floating away into the water column, so they were, at the least, stunned by the treatment. Today, they are all over the glass and PVC fittings, but they are not on any of my corals. Are they a photosynthetic type of flatworm?

 

[mfinn]

It appears to be red planaria.

 

[sullyman]

That is the non aefw flat worm, but the populations can explode. If you do flat worm exit be careful many times there are a lot more worms than you see

 

[TheGulag]

It appears to be red planaria.

I don't agree with that at all. Red planaria has a 3 lobed structure. What is pictured above does not.

 

[mfinn]

I don't agree with that at all. Red planaria has a 3 lobed structure. What is pictured above does not.

Yeah, you are probably right.
I've been wrong before.


But what was your answer?

 

[mfinn]

I recently noticed these flatworms in my tank. Their population has grown quite rapidly. I used Salifert Flatworm eXit a few days ago, and I did witness some of them floating away into the water column, so they were, at the least, stunned by the treatment. Today, they are all over the glass and PVC fittings, but they are not on any of my corals. Are they a photosynthetic type of flatworm?

What type of corals do you have @nickkohrn ?

 

[nickkohrn]

What type of corals do you have @nickkohrn ?

I have SPS (Acropora sp. & Seriatopora sp.), LPS (Euphyllia sp., Acanthastrea sp., Homophylliasp., Favites sp., Micromussa sp., Duncanopsammia sp.,
and Echinophyllia sp.), and a single soft coral (Discosoma sp.).

 

[KJ]

I recently noticed these flatworms in my tank. Their population has grown quite rapidly. I used Salifert Flatworm eXit a few days ago, and I did witness some of them floating away into the water column, so they were, at the least, stunned by the treatment. Today, they are all over the glass and PVC fittings, but they are not on any of my corals. Are they a photosynthetic type of flatworm?

Acoel brown flatworms.

 

[nickkohrn]

Acoel brown flatworms.

I just read through a few threads where these are the topic of conversation, and my observations mimic those of the creators of the threads.

 

[AdamB]

I thought I had about a 100 flatworms but when I treated with flatworm exit I found out that I had a million in my tank! Treated every 3 days and then added a melanurus wrasse and have not seen 1 since

 

[JFleur]

My yellow wrasse ate up all the flat worms in my tank

 

[TheGulag]

Yeah, you are probably right.
I've been wrong before.


But what was your answer?

Other than saying a brown flatworm I couldn't remember the exact name(that the other person mentioned) at the time. I just knew that it wasn't RP based on having some of those same type of flatworms in my tank before adding a wrasse that is now quite chunky.

 

[JBKReef]

Not the best photo, but I’ll get some microscope photos tomorrow.

are the RP flatworms?

If they are or are not, would a dip in Coral RX , refresh, or something similar kill them or do I need to go flatworm exit?

 

[ddelmonaco]

+1 for wrasses they will keep things under control. However it is necessary to manually remove as much as possible and would recommend a full strenght dose of flatworm exit along with water change and run carbon for a few days. You can do a repeat treatment if necessary. Also would recommend at/during the time of manual removal with airline siphon or turkey baster to dip any corals with infestations. Typically see these guys gravitate heavily to mushrooms, toadstools and other stationary LPS corals