What kind of flatworm is this?

[antihackable]

Noticed these guys showing up on my glass. What kind of flatworm is this and is this a problem?

 

[BriDroid]

Those look exactly like the ones that I had, and I was told they were ghost flatworms. It started out with just a few, then over about a month there were thousands! I got a Springeri damsel, he would eat a few. I finally gave in and used Flatworm Exit. That killed them all off. Made the snails and a few of the corals mad for about 24 hours, but the flatworms are gone!

 

[Borat]

godzilla flatworm for sure. get a flamethrower ready.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

These are known as “ghost flatworms” of the genus Convolutriloba, most species are harmless to corals and inhabitants but eat copepods. Most wrasses, dragonets, basslets, damsels and other small predatory fish will eat them if they get out of hand.
You can manually remove excess with a siphon.

Beware of using things like Flatworm Exit if there’s a lot of them, they often release toxins when they die and if heavily populated can cause problems. Our mandarin cleared them out of our 125 within a week or so and we had quite a few. The rule of flatworm populations is if you’re seeing a lot on the glass, there is a larger population going unseen.

If using flatworm exit, remove as many as possible manually first, and add some carbon to the tank + water change after 1-2 hours of dosing, it begins to kill them within 30mins to an hour.

Personally I leave them be in other systems that can’t support a fish to eat them, they’ll usually exhaust the resources feeding them and naturally decline in population over time, but it can take a few weeks or longer.

 

[aciak]

I’ve had them pop up before. Their numbers will increase then they’ll go away naturally. Let nature and your tank take care of them. They’re harmless. Flatworm exit can be risky.

 

[BriDroid]

I had no issues with Flatworm exit, but I do agree letting nature run its course first. I just couldn't stand looking at the nasty things all over the glass. I followed the directions to the letter. Did a double dose of Rox 0.8 carbon and a 25% water change. Everything was back to normal after 24 hours.

 

[antihackable]

I just got a small sixline wrasse yesterday. He seems to picking at the rock and picking them off the glass.

 

[antihackable]

These are known as “ghost flatworms” of the genus Convolutriloba, most species are harmless to corals and inhabitants but eat copepods. Most wrasses, dragonets, basslets, damsels and other small predatory fish will eat them if they get out of hand.
You can manually remove excess with a siphon.

Beware of using things like Flatworm Exit if there’s a lot of them, they often release toxins when they die and if heavily populated can cause problems. Our mandarin cleared them out of our 125 within a week or so and we had quite a few. The rule of flatworm populations is if you’re seeing a lot on the glass, there is a larger population going unseen.

If using flatworm exit, remove as many as possible manually first, and add some carbon to the tank + water change after 1-2 hours of dosing, it begins to kill them within 30mins to an hour.

Personally I leave them be in other systems that can’t support a fish to eat them, they’ll usually exhaust the resources feeding them and naturally decline in population over time, but it can take a few weeks or longer.

What kind of mandarin did you get to eat these flatworms?

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

What kind of mandarin did you get to eat these flatworms?

Its a green mandarin dragonet, I havent seen a flatworm in the tank since. It seems he goes for the larger pods and worms first, then resorts to the smaller ones. We added a male as they eat far more than a female.

No fish is guaranteed to eat them just like algaes and respective algae eaters not always targeting the type you want, but if your tank can support one of the above and you like the fish, I’d say try that route