Help ID Flat worms???

[Gonj]

I’ve got a 37 gallon live rock and live sand only things in the tank as of now is a feather duster, astraea snails, nassarius snails, and a tuxedo urchin. I recently introduced a frag of zoa but I did dip it and inspected thoroughly before placing in tank. I noticed today a little critter climbing around my sand then quickly noticed one on the glass, from what I can find I think they may be flatworms. Can someone please confirm and identify wether they are the bad kind? If so how would I remove would a six line wrasse do the trick or is that folklore? Photo and video of what I was able to fish out below thanks in advance

 

[Gonj]

The video wasn’t supported posted on YouTube:

 

[Fish Think Pink]

guess is red planaria but picture in tank would have helped more. If this is the flatworm you have, they reproduce insanely which smothers corals. When they die they emit toxins. Buy a bottle of Salifert flatworm eXit (SFE), follow directions from https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/how-to-eliminate-flatworms-red-planaria and just get to the other side of it. I've had them, have a 5" 6 line wrasse, but when he ate 2 of my peppermint shrimp he went to sump and my worms didn't even know I had got out of control. I did 2 treatments but its only been 2 weeks (4 weeks) so unknown yet if I got all the eggs. I don't know that your tank size can handle a 6 line wrasse because of their strong swimming tendencies as well as sand mess they make -- though it is cool to watch them "swim" thru sand ... or better yet, the nighttime swan dive into sand for sleeping! The not cool is carrying sand UP 24" to spray over everything - spits more sand than my old yellow jawfish.

PS - 6 line came out of sump few weeks before starting my SFE treatment to help get flatworms back under control - but a wrasse or other predator will never get ALL worms because worms can get where predator cannot reach. On the plus side, still uneaten/alive three replacement peppermint shrimp that been in sump to grow (plan was grow for 5-6 months then try again) but moved to DT when wrasse went in sump. 6 line may also eat your feather duster, snails & more. Amazing how large they can stretch jaws, and interesting to watch bash food on rock to open/breakdown - while mine happens to be mellowest in tank, I've heard its 50/50 on personality so I'm lucky there. He can outrun anyone who wants to play chase/bully game. Finally, once I've seen it give in to yellow tang who sucks up to blue neon gobies and anyone else for cleaning - but it nipped at the white spot near yellow tang tail, so not really sure it really comprehends its own cleaning nature. Cool fish. Buy with caution.

 

[Gonj]

guess is red planaria but picture in tank would have helped more. If this is the flatworm you have, they reproduce insanely which smothers corals. When they die they emit toxins. Buy a bottle of Salifert flatworm eXit (SFE), follow directions from https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/how-to-eliminate-flatworms-red-planaria and just get to the other side of it. I've had them, have a 5" 6 line wrasse, but when he ate 2 of my peppermint shrimp he went to sump and my worms didn't even know I had got out of control. I did 2 treatments but its only been 2 weeks (4 weeks) so unknown yet if I got all the eggs. I don't know that your tank size can handle a 6 line wrasse because of their strong swimming tendencies as well as sand mess they make -- though it is cool to watch them "swim" thru sand ... or better yet, the nighttime swan dive into sand for sleeping! The not cool is carrying sand UP 24" to spray over everything - spits more sand than my old yellow jawfish.

PS - 6 line came out of sump few weeks before starting my SFE treatment to help get flatworms back under control - but a wrasse or other predator will never get ALL worms because worms can get where predator cannot reach. On the plus side, still uneaten/alive three replacement peppermint shrimp that been in sump to grow (plan was grow for 5-6 months then try again) but moved to DT when wrasse went in sump. 6 line may also eat your feather duster, snails & more. Amazing how large they can stretch jaws, and interesting to watch bash food on rock to open/breakdown - while mine happens to be mellowest in tank, I've heard its 50/50 on personality so I'm lucky there. He can outrun anyone who wants to play chase/bully game. Finally, once I've seen it give in to yellow tang who sucks up to blue neon gobies and anyone else for cleaning - but it nipped at the white spot near yellow tang tail, so not really sure it really comprehends its own cleaning nature. Cool fish. Buy with caution.

Dang these flatworms sound like a headache, how would they have even gotten into my tank?

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Eggs can be so small - it just takes one egg or worm - if you read enough, these can regrow from fragments. After reading many posts online, I suspect my dip called DIP is not a quality dip. I also suspect I need to live on the edge and dip as well as cut ALL plugs off corals else add peroxide scrub. Best dipping processes take corals near death... SO overall depressed by what I've read and figure some nasties will sneak in every once in blue moon... Just need to make those blue moons RARE!

The Salifert treatment was more scary that it turned out to be... though my sailfin tang did throw up twice (suspect he ate dead worms while I was catching dead worms in early treatment minutes/hours). My second treatment I didn't even get 1 worm.... and after the hundreds or thousands at first treatment, 2nd treatment was almost anticlimactic... can't find good documentation how long eggs viable... so unknown if I need 3rd treatment and if so when...My tank is so big I go thru more than 1 bottle a treatment - bottle treats 300 gallons using manufacturers instructions, but I used more drops by following meleev's directions. I made 60 gallons for my 180g DT water change, though 15 gallons were replaced just from chasing/siphoning worms that start dying immediately and keep dying for an hour+ and then I added more drops like meleev said and more died and more chasing/siphoning dead worms trying to keep toxins down. After getting most dead worms, left tank alone for 6 hours, then changed out as much water and ran charcoal using a little QT tank hang on filter I clothespinned into my sump (have since gotten a pump for a used reactor I bought so now I can do charcoal better)

 

[KJ]

The video wasn’t supported posted on YouTube:

Images of Ghost Flatworm​

 

[Gonj]

Images of Ghost Flatworm​

So not harmful?