I think it's Planaria

[scs]

Over the last few weeks have noticed small(1/8 inch) reddish brown shapes on the glass. They are shaped like a shield, wider at the top with a point in the center tapering toward the bottom. Sound like planaria? Now I see it's on the rock and in the substrate. Have read that 6 line wrasse will eat it. Anything else that I could or should do to resolve the problem? Don't want to let this get out of control.
thanks
steve

[rshimek]

Sounds like it might be the small red flatworm (much better term than planaria --- all true planaria are freshwater...), Convolutriloba retrogemma. This animal is a scavenger, but bears zooxanthellae so can increase to plague proportions in a tank with some excess nutrient.

The 6-lined wrasses are not good controls of these animals, but Mandarin Dragonets will eat them. The problem, of course, comes when the dragonets have removed most of the flatworms and start to starve. These beautiful little fish are not easy to keep and need a tank with lots of rock and some algal growth (which facilitates the growth of the micro-bugs they eat). Conventional wisdom is that it is hard to keep one of these fish going in a tank much smaller than about 75 gal.

Good luck.

Ron

[scs]

Thanks Ron. I have a 58 gl with ~80 lbs lr and 4 inches of ls established for 2 years. Will I have a chance to keep a mandarin healthy? Could always trade the fish back to the lfs after it controls the problem.
steve

[rshimek]

Hi Steve,

I think the system stands a good chance of keeping the fish going. I'd give it a shot.

Cheers, Ron

[psychocoralchopper]

will both types of mandarins eat the flatworms? i heard some where that only the green ones will; is this true.
i have tons of flatworms everywhere in my refugium and have a mandarin in my display tank. would it be a good idea to move the mandarin to the refugium? the refugium is 15g and the tank is 65g.
thanks.

have a nice day
max spl

[scs]

Thanks Ron! Nice to have people like you on this board. Makes the hobby better for us all.
steve

[Biosystems]

Max spl:

I think your mandarin would love to be moved to your refugium. But I think the fauna that you are trying to grow in it would be destroyed in a very short period of time.

Tim

[dendronepthya]

I have a similar problem(?) with these flatworms. I have a 75 gal reef, and no fish. I thought about getting a mandarin or sixline, but I remember all too clearly how effective they are at killing off hordes of copepods and small snails. I then thought about getting one of those blue and black nudibrachs, but thought against when I figured it would last maybe a month in my tank, and after it goes, I'd be back where I started. What I ended up doing is siphoning them off the rocks when I do a water change. Since I am no longer siphoning my gravel/livesand mix, why not siphon as many off the rock as I can? The flatworms are abundant, but not to what I consider plague proportions yet. They don't eat my corals, and that's all I really care about, but I think it is still a good idea to remove as many as possible because they release toxins when they die.

[Tim]

I had some of these flatworms in my tank but my red tailed tamarin or the six-line wrasse.
have been eating them. But after reading Dr. Shimek's post I believe it is most likely the tamarin dining on flatworm dinners.

[goby]

hey,

as much as I hate to offer a differing opinion ;) especially to the esteemed mr.shimek, I had a problem with them in a 10 gallon that is the home of 2 yellow headed jawfish. We (its my girlfriends tank) added a 6-line, and they disapeared. There were no other changes made to the tank at the time we started noticing them disapear. Perhaps we got lucky with a 6-liner that likes them. But i seriously doubt it was anything else in the tank that ate them.

FWIW,

g
o
b
y


------------------
The quest ( and the questions) continues...
www.iag.net/~vigg (http://www.iag.net/~vigg)

[Tim]

I just read on page 295 of The reef aquarium that wrasses of the Anampses family may be planaria eaters which the red tailed tamarin is a member.

[This message has been edited by Tim (edited 11-15-1999).]

[rshimek]

Hi Folks,

Some folks have had luck with six-line wrasses, but the majority of people who have used them and corresponded with me said they were ineffective at controlling these worms.

The jawfish might eat them, but I wouldn't keep jawfish as they devastate the sand fauna I normally try to promote, so I have no experience with them.

I think the blue mandarins are a good bet, but again, it may be the luck of the draw with the fish.

Bottom line, no clear control agent.

By the way, almost any blue and black nudibranch is going to be bad news for a tank - most of these are members of the genus Phyllidia and these nudi's secrete a toxin that kills fish, and such a toxin would likely be released if the nudi was sick, or stressed.

Cheers, Ron

Good luck at whatever you try.

[scs]

Decided to try the mandarin even though I was unable to find what I felt was a healthy specimen. What I found was a small (~2 inch) mandarin being kept in a cubicle about 8x8 with no live rock or apparent source for food. Figured it would have to be better off in my tank than where it was. It has been in my tank 3 days and so far I rarely see it. When I do it is stationary but seems to be feeding on something. Have not seen a significant decrease in the flatworm population so far but really to early to tell. Thanks for the help.
steve

[DaveL]

I just bought and moved a 75 gallon reef that is loaded with these flatworms (planaria?). I added a Spotted Mandarin to the tank last night, he's about 1.5" long. When I put him in my 30 reef he hung out by the glass outside the rock for three days then ventured in. Put it in the infested 75 and within minutes he was going after these worms, hovering over the rockwork picking 'em off one by one. Today he's swimming over a larger area of rock and still eating away.

Note: This Mandarin had been living in an established reef (no idea how large/small)and is in superior condition, and I assume had been eating prepared foods. He was at LFS fro three days, in my 30 for 6 days and is looking real good. For the first time I feel optimistic about decreasing the population of flatworms, maybe even eliminating them. I plan on adding a Six Line as well.

Dave