How Can This Be?!? A Flat Worm?!?

[Matt L.]

When cleaning the glass this morning, I made a horrifying discover in my new 90gal tank. There, dead center on the glass, was a flat worm!

I am Red/Green Colour Blind, so I can't tell you if it was red or brown, but I think it was a more brown/orange colour.

I immidiately removed it, and searched the tank for more. I found a couple on the glass clustered by the heater, but haven't seen any more.

I am startled and alarmed because I have not introduced any external corals into my systems since MACNA! Moreover, the corals that I obtained at MACNA went in the frag tank down in the basement, and I never saw any sign of flatworms in there! So aside from spontaneous generation, I can not even conceive of where the flatworms came from. My only thought is that they came from MACNA, and somehow lay dormant in the frag tank where I could not observe them for the four months until now. I'm gonna go back down and take another look, but I swear I've never seen them before in my life. Aside from MACNA, two fish were added without copper treatment from the marine center, but I doubt they could have brought the flatworms in. Oh, and live rock was obtained from Walt Smith, but it was pre-cured and used to cycle the tank.

Now, my main question is: what do I do???

I am very embarassed as a reefer to have flatworms in my system, and I feel that it impacts my ability to offer others frags.

How can I get rid of them??? I am told that flatworm exit may do more harm than good, esepcially since the tank is full of corals and clams (which could always be removed for a short while and placed in the frag tank). Also, I have only seen a dozen or so, but I do not want them in my system!

Matt

 

[LauraD]

Matt, Dont be embarrassed. We all have/will get flatworms sometime or other. I have had them in the past and have used Exit without any losses. I have taken my clam out for the treatment. Read up on the threads, follow the directions and do atleast a second treatment a few weeks later regardless. Remember, the toxins from the dead flatworms is the culprit of losses, so suck out any you see prior to the treatment and as an extra measure I sucked out the bodies during the treatment as well.
Good luck.

 

[super cook]

Do not feel bad they can come in on macro in live sand and even on your live rock.

 

[Kim]

Matt I'd get someone over to help you with the color of the flatworm. As I am sure you are aware the brown ones aren't supposed to get to plague proportions like the red ones. I have read that the brown ones will go through cycles where you will see many of them and then you don't see them anymore.

 

[Aquadiva]

Matt....lighten up guy. No need to be embarrassed. No matter how careful we are about what we put in our tanks, some "bad" stuff is bound to get through our defenses.

Assess the situation...figure out what type of flatworms they are...and attack and annihilate the buggars!!!!

 

[~Flighty~]

Take a picture and post it.

 

[Yaktop]

they have a short life cycle but are hormy buggers. cut the nutrients (food) and the the lighting for a few weeks and they'll die out on you without any ill effects.

 

[Matt L.]

Calmed Down

Thank you everyone for your prompt replies. I have since calmed down in the ensuing 24 hours. There really is no unpleasant surprise like discovering a nuisance organism infestation.

In the mean times, I ran out to Skipton's to buy some Flat Worm Exit. I haven't used it yet, though.

I only found like a handful in my main display tank, and never found any in my frag tank, which is very surprising to me because of the way I run my two systems.

I am going to test it out on my frag tank, believed to be devoid of any flatworms. If the experience with regards to coral survival is positive, then I will try it upstairs on my main display tank.

I saw only a few in the main tank, and nowhere near the infestation levels I've seen in others' tanks. As such, I believe that because the flatworms are (partly?) photosynthetic, and thus would not be hiding where the sun doesn't shine (int he tank!), then chances are I have seen the small amount that is actually present, and the toxin from the death of these few would be little concern.

I could not use it last night because, just in case, I want to have a large volume of water on hand for a change and activated carbon for the after-FWE experience.

Thank you all again,

Matt

 

[Greg Hiller]

Before you do anything rash, like treat your tank, please have someone that knows what the genuine problematic critter looks like confirm that the ones you have are in fact C. retrogramma.

Other than this species I believe all other flatworms that commonly show up in reef tanks are not a problem.

 

[~Flighty~]

If it has gone on this long without an infestation, it is a strong sign that they are not the bad guys. I've had some in my tank for many months. They come and go, but never more than 10 or 20 that I can find when I really look hard and usually less than 5. All accounts that I can find say they are good for the tank. I have seen a bad infestation of the bad ones and can understand why people overreact.

 

[Matt L.]

Is FWE as safe as they say

Thanks Greg, Cindy

I will try to post a picture, but because they are so small, it is unlikely it will come out. The flatowrms I have resemble those in Calfo's article on flatworms:

I would definitely say mine are the same shape and size. I can not tell the colour, although I would say mine are orange to brown. I have never seen them on a coral, and they seem to stick to the glass in one corner of the tank. Also, they could not be "brand new", and they must have been in the frag tank system for longer than 1 - 4 months, during this time never reaching the infestation levels I've seen in others' tanks.

I had thought that flatworm exit was relatively harmless to use, targetting only flatworms...

My anxiety and exigency stems from the concern that if conditions are more favourable to flatworms in my display system then my frag system, then I could get an infestation, or larger numbers at the very least. I am operating under the assumption that it is easier to kill 10 flatworms than 10,000, hence the desire to snuff the little buggers out now when their numbers are low.

Anyhow, if you have concerns about FWE, please let me know. I was going to experiment on the frag tank, as it is now devoid of clams, inverts, and any valuable coral.

Matt

 

[Lam]

Matt,

I concur with what everyone is saying. FWs is part of normal reefing. In my experience, they're more likely to appear with higher nutrients or new(er) systems.

However, if you do acquire the C. retrogramma species, then I would treat. I agree with Greg. It is rash to conduct chemical warfare on the natural cycle of your tank. Try to take a picture, or have someone who posess color vision identify normal versus abnormal.

Thanks for listening to my opinion .

 

[jacko]

Matt,

From what I have heard, even the problematic flatworms are only problematic because of aesthetics and overpopulation, not because they poison or hurt other inhabitants. (correct me if i'm wrong).

I would agree with others, wait until these are a problem for you. Yours have a doubling rate of about 40 days^-1
which won't be able to compete with many organisms in your tank !

 

[~Flighty~]

It isn't that FW exit kills the big things in your tank like corals and clams, it is that it wipes out a whole section of life that we don't even know is there. All of the tiny flatworm cousins that live in the rock and sand eat stuff and are eaten by stuff and contribute to the health of a tank. Wiping them all out won't crash your system, but it might have unknown consequences.

For example, my fw population increased dramaticly after I moved tanks and dissapeared within a week of seading my new sand. So they were eating something that was abundant in the new system, then they were eaten by something that lived in the sand. For me, the more life in my system that mimics the wild reef (without eating anything that I paid money for ) the better. It all fills some biological niche (my god, it took a long time to figure out how to spell that).

 

[JustDavidP]

Wow...sorry to hear about the worms... *knocking on wood* I've not seen colored FWs before. I hope you either control it, or find out that your visitors are harmless.

I love watching the clear flatworms in my fuge. You can see them eating tiny pods and such and watch it pass through them (I know...I'm a geek). Some of them actually fluoresce or glow! I've seen them only sporadically in my display tank, the last one I saw was snickered up by my mandarin.

The population in my fuge waxes and wanes with the amount of foods in the system. They are now on the way out..or down as I've removed the baby bangai from the fuge and it no longer gets "fed".

Good luck again,

Dave