Small flat worm looking things?

T

Tinyfish

Membership Expired
I have small flat worm looking things in my refugium. I have not added anything in 6 months so I don't know where they came from. They are whitish to clear and have a forked tail. The sides curl and uncurl and they bend in the middle when crawling on the glass. What are they and what do I do about them? They are too small for me to take a picture of.
 
Does it look like this:

clear_flatworm_tb.jpg
alt="">

If so, it's benign... I've got some too, they're not as prolific as the "bad" brown/rust colored flat worms...
 
You can find pictures (and links) for other flatworms at :

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatwrmfaq2.htm

About midway down this page you will find:

flatworm/AKA Planaria... and is actually of the harmless variety. This creature preys on copepods and is common to flare in young tanks when the copepod population is strong (yay!) before the tank is overstocked (booo...) or stocked too quickly (too common). They will wane when the copepods do. No worries.
 
Speaking of these and red/brown flat worms... I remember a posting on RC a few years back about some of these (don't know its this species or not) of white/clear flatworm that actually preyed upon the red/brown ones.
 
The picture posted by Serk is exactly what they look like. I am so glad they are benign.

Thanks for the posts.
 
While not sure if there is a touch of sarcassm there or not. Damsels are natural preditors to something, in this case it appears I misspoke.

Natural means of control include: Wrasse of the genus Pseudocheilinus, such as the Six Line Wrasse (P. hexataenia), Halichoeres Wrasse, such as Yellow Wrasse (H. chrysus), Macropharyngodon Wrasse such as the numerous Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon sp.), and Dragonets such as the Spotted Mandarin (Synchiropus picturatus). The Blue Velvet Nudibranch (Chelidonura varians) is very effective at consuming flatworms in the aquarium, but is very sensitive to changes in water chemistry and has a short life expectancy in the home aquarium.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatworms.htm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top