What the heck is this guy?!?!?!?!

[lerch]

Okay i was heading out to work this morning and i saw this guy on the glass. he was maybe 1/8" long, white almost translucent, he had a light brown yellow lump in the middle of him (gut), he had to appendages like feet of his back, and his front/mouth was wide and gulping like swallowing water, with two small apendages like eyes or antenna off his front.

while i was watching him he split off his back and bamm, there were two of them!!! the second one quickly ran off to the back of the tank

here is a pic, sorry it is so blurry it was on my iphone, i will get a better pic in a day or two if needed

thanks
steve

[HN1]

Can't tell for sure from the pic, but I think it's a flatworm.

[melosu58]

Sure does look like a flat worm to me. My info is home about them. I`ll post it when I get home.

[lerch]

it is a flatworm

how bad is this, what am i in for?????

what do i do?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

[HN1]

FltwmID

Does it look like the one pictured next to the 8/13/03 posting?

[melosu58]

They do not need to be in your tank. Plus they will reproduce in epidemic proportions.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Suck 'em out with your next water change.

[HN1]

If it's the same type I had, I'll have to respectfully disagree. Mine just subsided and disappeared as the tank began to mature.

How long has this tank been running?

[melosu58]

That`s OK. I respect your opinion. But I have seen corals decimated by the flat worm. Not in my tank but in other`s tanks. I would get rid of them if it was me. Of course this is my opionion.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Let's just say that they have the ability to reproduce to plague-like proportions, given the right conditions. I think that's a fair statement...

I too had some when my tank was about a year old. Hitchiked in with a torch coral. I didn't worry about them for a while, but eventually I could see they were gaining traction. Decided to start sucking them out at every water change (they're pretty dumb critters) and slowly turned the tide on them. Eventually couldn't find them anymore. No death and destruction... but if I ever seen them in my tank again, they won't get a free pass, that's for sure!

[HN1]

Wow. I guess I got lucky with the variety I had. I have much less experience than the two of you and try to limit my inputs to what I've personally seen or actually researched in earnest. My flatworm population disappeared in direct proportion to my pods getting eaten by a wrasse. Once the pods were gone, the flatworms went away entirely. I won't be chancing that again though. We're getting ready to upgrade and you can be sure when we do, any worms I see won't last long!

[Kurt_Nelson]

Don't limit your input HN1... we've all had experiences and they're all valid. Just like everything else in this hobby... "your mileage may vary." What works for some, doesn't for others. With flatworms, they'll only become a nuisance if they have food to eat. Normal food chain stuff. Tweak one part of the food chain and you get results somewhere else. Sounds like that's what happened with you.

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by Kurt_Nelson

Don't limit your input HN1... we've all had experiences and they're all valid. Just like everything else in this hobby... "your mileage may vary." What works for some, doesn't for others. With flatworms, they'll only become a nuisance if they have food to eat. Normal food chain stuff. Tweak one part of the food chain and you get results somewhere else. Sounds like that's what happened with you.

I agree please dont limit your input HN1. I consider you a very knowledgable guy and we all have different experiences that everyone needs to know about. There is no one way to do things in Sw aquaria. Keep up the good work and keep posting those experiences. IMO experience is the best teacher. Not links,not advice but EXPERIENCE.