Are these flatworms harmful?

[shimps1]

I have a 4 week old 12 gallon tank, currently finishing a cycle. I purposely chose to do a dry rock cycle with a tiny bit of live rock rubble from a local tank, to try to prevent pests. I've spent the past month building up a good bacteria base in the tank and letting it cycle.

Right now, the only occupants of the tanks are hermits, snails, a mangrove propagule, some chaeto, and these flatworms.

I am really hoping this is a harmless flatworm species or two having a population bloom, that will return to a lower equilibrium in the tank after everything gets settled in. At the same time, it's a risk leaving them in there, and now is the best time to treat for them. I do not want to let these guys get out of control, to the point that I have to use chemicals after I add corals, fish, and more invertibrates.

This is also only a 12 gallon tank, so adding a fish to control them isn't feasible.

My first fish and coral are showing up on the 8th, next Thursday. I am thinking I will do at least 3 rounds of Flatworm eXit between now and then, followed by multiple clean water changes and running carbon.

My gut tells me they're harmless, since there is nothing the in tank right now they could be eating besides detritus and copepods. If their population is exploding right now, they obviously aren't eating stuff that I want in the tank. But if they can overpopulate to the point of choking out corals, they have to go.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tahoe61]

Thoughts, hmm. The guy selling you product says they are harmless? Isn't that curious?

Did you Google Red Planaria or photosynthetic flatworms?

 

[shimps1]

Thoughts, hmm. The guy selling you product says they are harmless? Isn't that curious?

Did you Google Red Planaria or photosynthetic flatworms?

Typo... Meant gut, fixed. No one is selling me anything.

These are not red like the Red Planaria in Google photos, they are much more brown/rusty. The photosynthetic flatworms I saw on Google are much more round than these ones.

I am leaning towards these being acoel flatworms, but I am looking for advice/experience on them in a tank, and if it is worth treating for them. I've never had a flatworm problem in a tank before.

 

[Tahoe61]

acoel flatworm

Hi guys! :) I have noticed a few flatworms and have now thx to you guys found out that it`s most likely a acoel flatworm. I have tested a few ways to kill them in a container since i dont relay like to put chemicals in to my tank. So i would like to test the effects first. So what i have...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[shimps1]

acoel flatworm

Hi guys! :) I have noticed a few flatworms and have now thx to you guys found out that it`s most likely a acoel flatworm. I have tested a few ways to kill them in a container since i dont relay like to put chemicals in to my tank. So i would like to test the effects first. So what i have...

www.reef2reef.com

Snagged a couple better pictures today.

 

[braaap]

Hit or miss. Some mess with zoas/possibly eat zoas. Some don't. A wrasse or some flatworm exit will take care of them.

 

[ScottJ]

If you don't have any fish or coral in the tank right now, I would kill them with extreme prejudice, wait for any eggs to hatch, then kill them again.

Show no mercy.

 

[KrisReef]

I have a 4 week old 12 gallon tank, currently finishing a cycle. I purposely chose to do a dry rock cycle with a tiny bit of live rock rubble from a local tank, to try to prevent pests. I've spent the past month building up a good bacteria base in the tank and letting it cycle.

Right now, the only occupants of the tanks are hermits, snails, a mangrove propagule, some chaeto, and these flatworms.

Put the mangrove in a bucket with the chaeto (remove any flatworms as you transfer) and put a light over the bucket. Maybe bring the snails along to forage on algae?

Any thought

Without food or light, these worms should fade out and perish without chemical treatment necessary, just time. Bacteria, and I would add some pods and hope the hermits help eat these worms.

They often fade out without direct effort, but sometimes they explode and become a huge problem.

 

[BubbleAlgaeFarmer]

A wrasse would love to eat them for you

 

[KrisReef]

I think these would not be happy in a KCl (potassium chloride 2 Tablespoon/gallon) dip. It might be very simple to drain the 12 gallon tank, spray some dip solution into the substrate, dip the living plants in KCl, and then rinse with a tiny bit of clean water to remove the excess KCL, and then refill and have a clean tank. IF they reappear from eggs, repeat again in a week or two, and send them all to perdition.

 

[winxp_man]

Had tons of them when my tank ran fallow because of ich. I would such some out but didn’t pay much attention to them. After putting my fish back in the DT they disappeared. I only had one angle, a bunch of tangs and a maroon clown. Have no idea who took them out. I feel all my fish eat everything. So much for my tangs being herbivores! My tangs eat my amphipods like crazy! And some of them are 1/8”!!!! At this point I have to dose amphipods for my maroon haha. It’s all she eats! I hate it!

But one fish that for sure will eat the flat worms is the melenarus wrasse.

The flat worm extermination chems can cause problems especially if you don’t have carbon going. The issue is the toxins they release when they die off in big numbers. So it depends how many you have.

 

[ScottJ]

I think the key thing here is that the tank is brand new with no fish or coral in it. Easy to pull any snails and hit it with Flatworm Exit, do a full 12 gallon water change, rinse and repeat if needed. Tank is way too small to hold anything that might eat them.

 

[saltwaterfish.com Verified Sponsor]

When in doubt, get them out. I agree, flatworm exit will fix it, and I'd suggest doing so before they multiply.