Hey everyone! This will be the thread i will be posting my observations of the polyclad flatworm i will bopefully be recieving this week! I will discuss what im doing as far as caring for it and once i figire out how to add pics there will be plenty lol. If anyone has any questions or comments by all means post them on here and i will attempt to answer them if i know it :). A few questions i do have for any polyclad survivors or current victims, do you seem to notice anu preference in the kinds of snails they eat, ive heard of unconfirmed reports of them preying on hermit crabs, urchins or other non mollousk inverts can anyone attest to this or add to the list of things theyve been caught killing and or eating, last but not least has anyone heard of the other colorful or tropical species of polyclads entering into the hobby either being sold or on live rock(work eaters not the bryozoan eaters)
Official captive polyclad flatworm thread.
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Shadowbass
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About how many did it eat within the span of you having it
Claus84
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I would lose a trochus every week or so but I had hundreds of stomatella that were spawning constantly so it's hard to say. I don't think you will need to feed live snails though as I caught one of mine eating a frozen prawn, I had read that they will eat leftover food too but not sure
Claus84
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Unfortunately I have been reduced to about 4 stomatella living in my sump, bought some peppermint shrimp and they wiped them out very quickly! They seem to be pretty common hitchhikers though so you could probs get some off some decent live rock. To my knowledge there are no known predators of polyclads within the range of species found in the hobby as they are supposed to be extremely toxic, maybe some non reef safe fish may have a go at them like wrasse etc. I was hoping peppermint shrimp may take care of any juveniles for me but I never saw it happen
Shadowbass
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The alien has arrived! I dropped a freshwater pond snail in with it and it immediately wrapped around it but it lost interest within a few minutes and dropped the shell, i let it acclimate to its tank for 30 minutes and it took some coaxing to get it out of its container but it quickly slithered to the small rock pile ive got in the tank, i will give it a few days before trying to feed it again. Still looking into an interesting diurnal tankmate that wont get eaten or eat the worm, maybe a single coral banded shrimp or a few peppermints or sexies.
reef life
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In my previous PolyClad infestation, I found they loved Astrea Snails. It seemed over time they became smarter by never leaving the rocks and keeping some part of their body wedged in a crack to prevent from being totally siphoned out of tank. I'm Glad to be Polyclad FREE!
Shadowbass
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Ok so update, i have learned they are very similar to their land counterparts in a number of ways
1 they are very cryptic and just because they are out dosnt meqn they are looking for food
2 they need a larger environment then what they can fit in and ill explain why later
3 they can dissapear without a trace no mqtter how hard you look for them
4 this is the most important and key to number 2, they shed mucus wherever they go which normally wouldnt be an issue in a large tank with numerous surfaces however just like their land counterparts their slime contains toxin which i could see when a nassarius snail came into contact with the flatworm and could not properly come or retract itself back into its shell for at least an hour but the effects wore off, but back to the main point. This toxic slime appears to be able to affect the worm if left unchecked just like the land version and i had to move it to a temporary holding tank when i noticed it out in the open during daylight and it appeared to be tangled in its own mucus and struggling. I checked the rocks and there is now a very thick layer of mucus under the rocks. Not entirely sure if it will survive but its looking better then it did last night, may attempt dividing it when i get home
1 they are very cryptic and just because they are out dosnt meqn they are looking for food
2 they need a larger environment then what they can fit in and ill explain why later
3 they can dissapear without a trace no mqtter how hard you look for them
4 this is the most important and key to number 2, they shed mucus wherever they go which normally wouldnt be an issue in a large tank with numerous surfaces however just like their land counterparts their slime contains toxin which i could see when a nassarius snail came into contact with the flatworm and could not properly come or retract itself back into its shell for at least an hour but the effects wore off, but back to the main point. This toxic slime appears to be able to affect the worm if left unchecked just like the land version and i had to move it to a temporary holding tank when i noticed it out in the open during daylight and it appeared to be tangled in its own mucus and struggling. I checked the rocks and there is now a very thick layer of mucus under the rocks. Not entirely sure if it will survive but its looking better then it did last night, may attempt dividing it when i get home
Claus84
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You probably know already but I have read that at least some species contain tetrodotoxin so if you aren't already I would wear gloves when working in the tank, no expert but I suspect getting some of that in any open cuts or breaks in the skin would not be a good time!
GL with it, I must admit I have no love for these things having lost cuc to them but hope you figure out how to keep yours going
Shadowbass
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Ive seem what they can do so i completely understand and thanks fir the headsup! Ive mostly just been using long metal tweezers like ones youd use to feed snakes, honestly im not sure if its going to suvive just checked and i thought it was dead until i poked it and it started moving.
Claus84
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Just a thought and not sure on your setup but are you running anything that could help reduce any waterborne toxins like carbon, purigen or polyfilter maybe?
Shadowbass
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He died unfortunately, it was strange how he died. First his mouth opened and alot of white goop came out and then he split down the center and as soo as he did this the water turned a milky cloudy color and he continued to move for about 2 days so i thought if i kept the water clean hed maybe regenerate but i went to check on him the 3rd day and he was a pile of mush. I now know i need to have alot more surface area, hiding spots and filtration to help keep its toxins and slime in check.
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