Small worms on glass

[MikeyZo]

today I woke up to find a ton of little worms on the upper part of my glass. They are small and thin, at first I thought it was lint on the outside of the tank from cleaning it last night. Then when I realized it was on the inside, i thought my pod population exploded. Then with a magnifying glass, I realized they were little worms. They are small, like I said almost like a piece of lint, and white. I know things come and go, but curious what everyone’s thoughts are. They are hard to get a picture of cuz the camera won’t focus, but I did my best. They look thicker in the picture due to the focus, but like I said, they are like the size of lint after wiping glass, and barely bigger than a pod

Hopefully my 6 line will start to make short work of them.

 

[reefsaver]

If it's the first few months of your aquarium this is totally normal. They will disappear on their own over time. I've had a similar experience when I started about a month in. It's just because the aquarium is very sterile which is a good thing. Anything that's made it's way into your aquarium basically has little to no competitors on the food chain, and so the tank is just in total War right now which is a really cool experience to watch in itself. Over time other things on the food chain will build up and up, not to say that the competitors aren't there. They just multiple slowly. The flatworms will disappear over time and you'll wonder where they've gone. There is a product called Flatworm RX that would likely kill them all, but I honestly would just wait it out. And if you did use it you're potentially going to nuke your tank as the flatworms "could" be toxic.
One day you'll look back on these little guys and think man that was cool.
They're extremely simple organisms, low on the food chain but scientifically considered the first animals to have brains.

 

[MikeyZo]

Yeah, Im not overly worried since they all appeared at once. I had a little hydroid breakout all over my glass a while back and like you said, they o peaked and then disappeared. All the corals have been dipped, not that means something cant get past, but I figure waiting it out is better. And like I said, maybe my 6 line will enjoy the snack

Thanks for the input. I remember flatworm rx from my old tank but didn’t want to if I didn’t have to.

 

[Uncle99]

Those flatworms can be annoying, they don’t seem to cause any probs, but multiply fast. Check any LPS corals, they like torches, Duncan’s and mushrooms best.

If you use something to kill them in the DT, they ARE toxic when dying and if consumed by fish, can kill them in under 30 minutes. This unfortunately, happened to me.

Your completely correct, six lines will take some (likely other wrasses as well), but you can help by sucking the ones on the glass, every day for now.

Rigid airline tube makes that cleaning quite easy, just like a little vacum.

I’ve been using Flatworm Stop and Coral Booster in my DT for a month now and combined with my help and a 6 line, very few left.

Good luck.

 

[MikeyZo]

Those flatworms can be annoying, they don’t seem to cause any probs, but multiply fast. Check any LPS corals, they like torches, Duncan’s and mushrooms best.

If you use something to kill them in the DT, they ARE toxic when dying and if consumed by fish, can kill them in under 30 minutes. This unfortunately, happened to me.

Your completely correct, six lines will take some (likely other wrasses as well), but you can help by sucking the ones on the glass, every day for now.

Rigid airline tube makes that cleaning quite easy, just like a little vacum.

I’ve been using Flatworm Stop and Coral Booster in my DT for a month now and combined with my help and a 6 line, very few left.

Good luck.

They kill fish within 30 minutes if eaten or if eaten WHILE dying?

 

[MikeyZo]

Funny, I went back a few minutes ago to siphon some out and they’re mostly gone… mysterious little jerks lol

 

[Uncle99]

They kill fish within 30 minutes if eaten or if eaten WHILE dying?

Eaten while dying (or dead) not while living.
It’s usually the big fast eaters which may mistake them in the water column as a food item.

So my 6” blue, who would eat a cheeseburger if offered, snatched quite a few while they were coming off the corals into the water column.

Some fish just ate a few, they disappeared for days, but, happily, started back out and to normal in a week.

Those who did not touch them were unaffected.

In 30 minutes, he laid on his sized at the top, shook once, and done.

Watched that happen in real time.