Are these harmful? Please Help Me ID!! Thx

[Horace]

I have noticed these purplish looking things on my frogspawn for a while now but until just last night I didnt realize they were alive. I assume they are some sort of flat worm. When I fed my frogspawn these things went nuts and started going after the food I think. That was the first time I even saw them moving. Anyway I just took a baster and sprayed the frog spawn and in two sprays, this is what came off of the coral. Are these things harmful to the coral and other types of corals? I dont see them on anything else but this one frogspawn. Please advise what they are and if they are harmful how I can deal with them. Thx alot!

[jwaltman21]

Horace:

I think those might be red flatworms but not 100% sure. I can't remember if they are harmful, I think they might be passively (annoying to corals causing them to not extend) if the population gets out of hand.

- Jamie

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Are they like the flatworm pictured here? (... the only one that is NOT either an amphipod or a worm).




If so, they're just happy little bacteria and detritis consuming beasties ... no worries.


HTH

[Horace]

Yes it looks exactly like that actually. They dont have any red color to them. They are mainly whiteish/clear.

[Alex1]

They are flat worms - I understand that they are only harmful if they reach plague proportions ans smother coral. Mandarines and small wrasse can eat them. I used to have a few red ones, but the above 2 fish seem to have cleared them.

Salifert do a treatment, but it has its risks - check the sponsor forum on RC.

HTH

[G.Alexander]

Kurt, I have the same ones in my tank since a long time and have not noticed any harm to the affected corals. They reproduce not very quick so it is always a moderate population. I have noticed them on Xenia and some LPS like , Goniopora. I have also observed them on some genius of Acropora & Montipora , but also not problem with them as those are different ones as the acropora tissue eating turbellaria. They can easy be blown off with a baster or something like this.

G.Alexander

[Horace]

Perhaps its time to get that six line I have wanted for a while :P. If I can baste them off the coral and the fish will eat them then that would be cool. Like I said, right now I dont see any harm being done, but who knows if it is stunting growth or not. My FS has not even grown any new heads in the 7 months it has been in the tank so perhaps that is why?

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

... Salifert do a treatment, but it has its risks - check the sponsor forum on RC.

And while you're there, do be sure to find out the exact, specific identity of the active ingredient. You wouldn't want to introduce anything "risky" or unknown into your reef's ecosystem ...

... right? ... hehe ...

... not problem with them as those are different ones as the acropora tissue eating turbellaria. ...

Indeed. In fact, I like their presence within my systems. They're one of the consumers which keep nutrients cycling through the various trophic levels of the systems, particularly DSB systems.

... but who knows if it is stunting growth or not. My FS has not even grown any new heads in the 7 months it has been in the tank so perhaps that is why?

I would doubt that they've been slowing the Frogspawn's growth ... they've probably just found something tasty on its skeleton.

I've found that target feeding Euphyllia species with stuff like plankton/krill, brine shrimp, and bloodworms siginifcantly improves growth. What are you feeding them?


JMO ... HTH




(BTW, Salifert's Flatworm Exit is great stuff ... and I sleep just fine not knowing its specific active ingredient.)

[Spur2]

I have the same stuff on my Leather toadstool and xenia. I use flatworm exit treatment but they are completely disappear. I notice them in my tank for sometime now but they didn't do anything to harm my corals.

[Detritivore]

i had those too, xept they had little red tails(or heads) i got a sixline and havent seen them since.

[CAReefer]

Greetings All !



And while you're there, do be sure to find out the exact, specific identity of the active ingredient. You wouldn't want to introduce anything "risky" or unknown into your reef's ecosystem ...

... right? ... hehe ...


(BTW, Salifert's Flatworm Exit is great stuff ... and I sleep just fine not knowing its specific active ingredient.)

[Horace]

Well I decided to go with the natural pest control and got a six line wrasse. I have wanted one for a while anyway. Hopefully they start to dissapear.

[coralite]

It appears that you have the common aquarium pest known as Convolutrilba triloba aka the red flatworm. This species has a trilobed posterior and it'c color can vary from greenish to reddish. When fed in an oligotrophic (low nutrient) environment they are primarily heterotrophic and they can appear almost entirely green. As the nutrients increase and/or the feeding decrease, the animal becomes more autotrophic, relying on its symbionts for nutrition, and it becomes more red. The red color is the indication for the toxin which it produces. I believe that the potential for danger from this pest really depends on your "standing crop" of this species and whether or not is sustaining itself hetero- or autotrophically. Unfortunately, if there is a more than a moderate population in the aquarium, they can can be a time bomb waiting to go off. A sharp change in temperature or salinity that wouldnt otherwise stress the aquarium inhabitants can become a total meltdown if the flatworms die because of the cummulative toxins they release when they perish. I think the best way to deal with them if you have them is to use them as an indicator of your water quality, from an ecological approach. I am unsure how these fellas behave in a zeovit tank but judging from the picture it appears that they are occuring in the relatively non-toxic stage and so I wouldnt be too worried but should they increase in numbers and become dramatically more red, you should get concerned

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Yes it looks exactly like that actually. They dont have any red color to them. They are mainly whiteish/clear.

Exactly? ... if that's the case ... then below is the ID ...

... but just to be sure, here's some more pictures. Same guys, yes?







These images are extracted from:
Melev's Reef
http://melevsreef.com/id/kritter2.html

This tiny creature is a Flatworm - Amphiscolops sp. This type is virtually clear, and quite small. The rounded end is inflated like a sail, and stretches in the direction it wants to travel, then like a suction cup it grabs the glass and pulls the rest of its body that direction. This is a benign type and you shouldn't worry if you see any in your tank. I've seen them on and off in reef tanks as well as refugiums. ... Reef-safe.

Extracted from:
http://melevsreef.com/id/kritter2.html

These are the guys from the Gracilaria tank picture I posted earlier.


HTH

[CAReefer]

Horace, one thing that comes to my feeble mind. IF, the flatworm population gets to plague porportions, I have read that treating with FWE or they suffer some sort of meltdown, their bodies turn to goo and become toxic. I have seen a few threads here and there describing total tank crashes, not due to the FW or the FWE directly, but the resulting toxic soup caused by the massive die off.

Just my $.02
Marshal