Holy crap, a 2+ inch flatworm!?!

Stitchreef · #1 12/27/2007, 01:25 PM

I've had my 90 gallon SPS reef setup for about a year now and thought I'd seen everything in the tank, both during the day and at night.

But today I came home to something seriously freaked me out: a 2+ inch flatworm at the base of one of my rocks!

Its huge! I've dealt with the small brown flatowmr and even with AEFWs, but this one I'm at a loss...

Anyone know what it is? I haven't added any new rock for a year, so its got to have been there all this time....

Is it dangerous to the corals/fish/me!?

Herzberg · #2 12/27/2007, 01:28 PM

Check out http://melevsreef.com/id/other/lg_flatworm2.jpg

http://melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html

looks alot like the one you got.

Stitchreef · #3 12/27/2007, 01:35 PM

Herzberg,

It does look a lot like the one you linked to, but something doesn't add up. I've got 5 clams in the tank (a giga, a crocea, two maximas and a deresa) for a year or more and none have shown any indication of being nibbled on at all.

From what I can tell, it came out to feed on a gorilla crab I killed this morning in that area of the tank but who's carcase I hadn't had time to remove before going to work. So I wonder if it is a predator, or if its a detritivore, in which case I'd want to keep it... I guess..?

VaderWS6 · #4 12/27/2007, 01:45 PM

I've got a couple of those same flat worms, larger than that though. They never bother anything, and I caught one feeding on a really old astrea snail a few months ago that had died.

Travis L. Stevens · #5 12/27/2007, 01:49 PM

Definitely a Polyclad Flatworm; it is predatory there is no mistaking that. What it feeds on is beyond me without a positive ID. In any case, remove it ASAP

greenbean36191 · #6 12/27/2007, 01:52 PM

Yep, like Travis said, it's definitely a polyclad, all of which are predators. This does look like the most common one in the hobby and while it has been reported to feed on clams it's more often reported as a snail predator.

mikieaggie99 · #7 12/27/2007, 02:35 PM

Too bad your big ole flatworm doesn't eat bubble algae.

ACBlinky · #8 12/27/2007, 02:44 PM

*Shudder* I found a very large flatworm in my reef once, not the same type but also ID'd as predatory. They're strange animals, and it's a little unsettling to see one so large magically appear after being unseen for so long when you're only used to seeing the tiny ones! Good luck getting him out of the tank

Stitchreef · #9 12/27/2007, 04:03 PM

Heh, I wish he ate bubble algae. Its the one type I cant' seem to get rid of!

I have no idea how i'll get he bugger out, since he's positioned himself in a rock which as several slimers growing on it and they've encrusted onto the back overflow and several adjacent rocks. If I have to pull out the rock I'll destroy months of coral growth.

dc_909 · #10 12/27/2007, 04:32 PM

I believe they eat snails

greenbean36191 · #11 12/27/2007, 05:08 PM

Get a turkey baster and look for it at night. If you catch it out in the open give it a quick blast of water with the baster to knock it off the rocks and then you can suck it up.