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tried to link to the feeding section on the angle fire site. anyway it said that they are carnivores that feed on Sisile inverts

When occuring in masses flatworms can have disastrous impact on human aquaculture. Tropical polyclads are known as pests of oysters and giant clams ( from the rzuser link)
 
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Hey chris&barb Is that a Lettuce nudibrach or a flatworm and i noticed in your link site your photo's of clam tank you seem to be using yhe 48" HQI Lighting .How has that worked for you...?
 
the pic above that i posted is a flatworm.

the light that we have works fine. i my switch to something with 2 250w bulbs and VHO instead of the 2 150w and PC's that this light has. we got this light because it has a sleek look and Barb didnt want anthing hanging from the ceiling.
 
I only ask because .I just bought the 48'hqi w/2x96 watt actinic pc's and lunars...Made by coralife .I have had it for about 2 week's....I was wondering how clam's would do under them...Your's look great....Same as barb didn't want anything hangin...
 
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with 10k MH bulbs you will be fine, just keep any Croceas or Maximas at least half way up the rock work. i dont like pc's because they loose intensity way to quick,VHO bulbs are less expensive, last longer and give a better fluorescence
 
Yes very close

Chris yes it was quite close to this in size and texture but not the same color If I understand corectly this is a flat worm? Can flat worms change color?



chris&barb said:
is this what it looked like?

 
Chris & Barb Link

I found this and this was presant with the guy in my tank:
Polyclad Flatworms
Polyclad Flatworms are commonly mistaken for nudibranchs on the reef, however on close inspection there is a lack of gills and other features found on nudibranchs.
They provide colourful photographic subjects as their dazzling patterns and bright appearance displays their warning of DO NOT EAT ME due to the poisonous nature of their contents, although I have seen on occasion a fish nibbling at one of these creatures and leaving it alone. They obviously do not taste good.

Movement of these creatures is provided by small bristles on the underside along with a mat of mucous secreted by the creature.

This guy had all kinds of Mucous as It moved about and after I caught it Alot of Mucous was expelled.
 
Chris

I have a tendency to agree with you that it might be a polyclad flatworm. At first I though it had some type of rhinopore, imgae # 4. Some poly's do have head stuctures and that may not even be one. My reason to wait for another pic. It does look like a flatworm. I know they can get big, like 5 in but did not know they can get up to a foot. Further looking in my Marine Faltworms: The World of Polyclads, Little did I know there is a faltworm with a head structue simialr to imgae #4, falimly Eurylepidae. I have not found one yet like yours.
 
AP


Must be posting at the same time:D

Well, now that you mention that it must be a poly :D

Chris gets all the credit though :lol:
 
E-mailing

Will do Boomer and thank you for your help, Chris thank you for finding it and the help.

Now my next concern is is there more? How can I save my clams with out moving them? I don't suppose there is a Reef Safe fish that will eat these guys
 
Awesome Chris! I was also stuck thinking it had rhinopore. I had no idea that flatworms could get this large and thick. Amazing what makes its way into a tank.

Boomer - thanks for posting about some flatworms having a rhinopore-like head structure. When I was searching through seaslugforum, I discovered alot of questions about nudibranchs that turned out to be flatworms. These flatworms had head structures that looked like rhinopores. Do you happen to know what the largest size a polyclad flatworm can get?

Jeff - please let us know any more information you discover.
 
Wow that is crazy. Glad you found it. I dont know alot about flatworms. Ive only heard that they multilply very fast. How come you only had one (big one) Did you have a previous outbreak of flatworms?
 
RE:I dont know alot about flatworms.

That makes 2 of us On this Tank that is mainly SPS & clams the only soft corals I have are the mushrooms that were on the Live rock That I put in back when I set up the Tank.. All other SPS Has been treated with Salifert Flat worm before going into the tank The only Items never treated with FWE have been my fish and Clams I have to Guess this guy got in some how maybe on a clam that brought in Back in November This just is a good lesson for a quarantine tank!I just have to set one up with Halide Lighting????


blue_eyes53813 said:
Wow that is crazy. Glad you found it. I dont know alot about flatworms. Ive only heard that they multilply very fast. How come you only had one (big one) Did you have a previous outbreak of flatworms?
 
Jeff - I believe flatworm exit only works on the Convolutriloba retrogemma (what's referred to as red planaria), and wouldn't necessarily work on these flatworms. That was my understanding of flatworm exit. Maybe Boomer can offer his thoughts on the flatworm exit.

Boomer - thanks for the info. I can't imagine pulling one of these things out at 16" :eek:. I don't know what would be easier for me to handle without squealing too much....a 7 foot long Eunice worm or a foot long flatworm.
 
[QUOTE=Boomer]AP e-mail this lady

I know its been a while since I started this tread I applogize I been pretty busy with work and had little time to play, The good news I can also post Is since pulling this worm Out my last 3 clams are doing fine with no more signs of trouble I do hope this was a Isolated Incident I have not brought anything more in or out of this tank and will keep it Isolated till i feel assured no other little worms are presant This is a reply from Dr. Marian K. Litvaitis:

The pictures you sent are not in focus but it could be a stylochid. For
positive species identification, I need to section the worm. Stylochids
are voracious predators on clams and oysters. They're wide-spread, not
just tropical; and they are nocturnal, that's why you're loosing your
clams during the night. You'll need to dismantle your tank and clean
it. The problem is that you still may be transferring eggs or larvae
into the new tank, but it's a start.

Hope this helps.
~MKL







Boomer said:
 
Dang... that's a big flatworm!

That one will watch you dose Flatworm Exit, and laugh! :D

Glad you got it figured out... I had my own 'large worm' battle last year with a Eunice worm... it cleaned out all the soft corals in the rear of my tank before I figured out what was going on... at first I thought it was some sort of water quality problem, until I caught it late at night with it's mouth full of zoanthids. :eek:

I attached a couple pix of it... ugly little bugger. I had to bust a rock apart to get it out, which is why it's in pieces... I got a little overzealous. In the photo below, it shows the length at 13", but that was with it being 'shrunk up' all the way... when it was streched out, it was about double that length. :D

Like Nikki said, it's amazing what ends up in our reefs. :)
 
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