Timelapse of Acoel flatworms irritating zoas

[Coalminer]

Zoas have been partially open for months. I set up a timelapse to see what was going on, because there were no visible irritants or pests. As you can see in the timelapse, the polyps seem to close up in response to flatworms crawling over them. I believe they are a type of acoel flatworm. There has been a population explosion since around the same time, like they’re visible crawling on the glass.

So what preys on acoel flatworms? They are so tiny I don’t know that a wrasse would be able to eat them.

 

[NJAquariumspecialist]

Those look more like some type of amphipod to me. Also it looks like you have a vermited snail near the zoas that can cause irritation. you can use some bone cutters and clip it off the rock or use some epoxy or glue and seel the opening of the vermited snail. I would use a turkey baster and daily blow off the zoas and see what comes off. Also a yellow coris or 6line wrasse could help with cleaning up a bit.

 

[Coalminer]

Yeah, I saw the vermited and that might account for the polyps on that side.

I definitely do have amphipods too, but I think they would just be a blur based on how sped up this footage is.

The worms I see on the glass have this shape and are about 1 millimeter and smaller.

 

[Coalminer]

For a sense of scale, these polyps are about 5-6mm in diameter.

 

[Klemmetsmo]

Zoas have been partially open for months. I set up a timelapse to see what was going on, because there were no visible irritants or pests. As you can see in the timelapse, the polyps seem to close up in response to flatworms crawling over them. I believe they are a type of acoel flatworm. There has been a population explosion since around the same time, like they’re visible crawling on the glass.

So what preys on acoel flatworms? They are so tiny I don’t know that a wrasse would be able to eat them.

I’m with others. They don’t look like flat worms to me. More like a beneficial pod of some kind . Btw, that’s a brilliant idea with the time laps! I’m gonna be using that trick!

 

[NJAquariumspecialist]

Looks like you have a ton of pods. try a mandarin im sure he would love it in there