|
|
FAQs about Flatworm Identification 2
Related Articles: Flatworms (incl. Planaria),
Pest Flatworm Control by Anthony Calfo,
Worms, Featherduster Worms,
Related FAQs: Flatworm Identification,
Flatworm ID 3, Flatworms/Planaria 1,
Flatworms 2, Flatworms 3, & FAQs
on: Flatworm Behavior,
Flatworm Compatibility, Flatworm Control,
Predator Control, Chemical Control,
Flatworm Selection, Flatworm Systems,
Flatworm Feeding, Flatworm Disease,
Flatworm Reproduction, & Worms, FAQs:
Worm Diversity FAQs,
FAQs 2, FAQs 3, &
Worm IDs 1, Worm
IDs 2, Worm IDs 3,
Worm IDs 4, Worm IDs 5,
Worm IDs 6, Worm IDs 7,
Worm IDs 8, & Worm ID FAQs by Group/Phylum:
Flatworm Identification ID,
Nemertean, Proboscis, Ribbon Worm ID,
Nematode, Roundworm ID,
Nematomorpha, Horsehair Worm ID,
Acanthocephalans, Thorny-headed Worm ID,
Polychaete Identification,
Polychaete ID 2, Tubeworm ID,
Hirudineans, Leech ID, Echiuran Worm
ID, Invertebrate Identification, | 
|
Strange Creature 7/2/06
OK, so I've been meaning to ask you
guys (and gals) about this creature, but I've only caught glimpses
of it until now. Its about 3-4" in diameter and roughly circular. It
has no discernable body and when it moves (which it can do pretty
quickly), it flows almost like water, following the contour of the
rocks. It is grayish-brown, spotted, and very thin. If touched it
gets agitated and the edges become very scalloped. I'm sure someone
there must know what this thing is. It's certainly interesting. Its
right below the orange sponge in the 2nd picture and roughly in the
center (towards 8 o'clock from center in the first.
Thanks
TJ
<Good description and nice photo of a resident flatworm. See
similar here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatworms.htm
Mmm, though many
folks seem to panic re such animals presence, I would leave this one
be... not likely harmful. Bob Fenner> | 
|
Black Nudibranch appears at night
Hi WWM guys-
<Malcolm>
Another ID question. Attached is a blurry photo of a pure black
nudibranch (I guess) that appeared first about six months after the live
rock was placed in my 125 gal. We've seen it twice since the first time
- only at night. It moves very slowly on the rock. Appears to have two
tiny antennae. It is pure velvety black. About 2 square inches and
flat as a piece of paper. I've searched my books and the net and can't
find it.
<Looks like a flatworm to me, Pseudoceros sapphrinus. And
not a problem. Please see here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/flatworms.htm>
(Up 9 months, 30g
Eco-style sump with Caulerpa, 150#LR, 2"sandbed,2 soft corals, 2 polyp
colonies, scattered native corals and polyps, peppermint shrimp, pistol
shrimp, 20 snails and 5 hermits, 7 Chromis, tang, 6-line wrasse, goby,
Dottyback, pair of perculas with a bubble-tip (now cloned into two), too
much red hair algae; 1.024, 80F, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 4 nitrates,
6x65watt compact fluorescents)
You guys are invaluable to beginners
like me!
Malcolm Young, Brevard, NC
<Glad to share. Bob Fenner> | 
|
Mexican Skirt Dancer (Pseudoceros mexicanus), not Spanish Dancer
(Hexabranchus sanguineus) or Mexican Dancer (Elysia diomedea)?
3/7/07
Hey
<Yo!>
I'm pretty sure I know the Scientific
name to this but I'm looking for pictures of it but can't seem to find
any. Its common name is swimming flatworm (Mexican skirt dancer).
<I
have not found any images of (Pseudoceros mexicanus). I'm presuming you
don't mean a Spanish Dancer (Hexabranchus sanguineus), which isn't a
flatworm, but a Nudibranch, or a Mexican Dancer (Elysia diomedea) which
is a sea slug. But we do have pics of these two! >
I think the
Genus and species are Genus: Pseudoceros Species: Mexicanus. However,
I'm not fully sure. If you could confirm this that would be great.
<There is a flatworm with this name, Pseudoceros mexicanus Hyman, 1953.>
Also this If you could send me a pic of it that would be awesome I've
searched all over.
<Nothing that I've found on WWM. RMF any in your
personal collection? <<Mmmm, no unfortunately. RMF>>
All right; thank
you for your time
<You're welcome, sorry I couldn't be more
helpful.>
-A person who loves marine biology
<Ditto! -Mich>
ID this worm(?) please, and medusoid 1/17/06
Dear
Sir/Madam,
<Will you read my book? Oh, sorry, not one of the
Beatles here>
I have my marine tank 29 gallon BioCube in the
5'th week of cycling. I also have about 28 lb of live rock and about
2 lb of live sand. This past weekend I've added an 11 snails and 6
red-legged hermits. Snails took a very good care of the algae on the
rock... Everything seems to be looking perfect, until I found some
kind of worm(?) on the inside glass eating the pods.
<Mmm,
yes... some sort of Platyhelminth...>
I have an extremely high
pods population: when I clean the glass inside, they will reappear
within the same amounts in about 2-3 days. I'm attaching a picture
with 2 critters one on the top is an unidentified one (length of
about 3-4 cm) and the bottom the pod that is about to be eaten. This
thing on the top moves really fast! I also noticed, that there are
one that is splitting on the glass, that looks like there will be
another two instead of one soon. It took that thing to split up
about 5-6h. Thank you very much for your time and effort in
maintaining such an excellent site.
<Welcome... these are
flatworms... I would just wait, let them pass on their own here
(likely will in short order... no need to try and selectively
poison...)>
There are also something else that I noticed
today...I turned off my powerhead, and noticed those little tiny
thing (about 2-3cm), that move by pulsating. Looks like jellyfish.
Are these ones good or bad ?
<Mmm, could be bad... but likely
will also go of their own accord... Are likely some sort of
tissue-grade life (Cnidarian, Ctenophoran)... that are arising from
a hard substrate...>
Unfortunately I were not able to make a
good picture of it, but it is on the 2'nd picture...
<I see
this... a medusoid of some sort... you can read about such with a
search of WWM, the Net... and the terms above.>
Thank you very
much for all your help...Regards,
Andy Stavickis
<Welcome.
Bob Fenner> |  
|
Flatworm?
Hi WWM crew,
<Hi Manus>
My reef tank has been
running for more than a year and everything seems fine until recently I
notice something like flatworm are rapidly populating. But I'm not sure
what it is actually. I've attached a photo and hope you can help me to
identify. BTW, should I worry about this.
Regards,
Manus
<Is a
flatworm of some sort. Please read through the postings on
www.WetWebMedia.com re these animals. Can likely be ignored at this
point. Bob Fenner> | 
|
Copepod eating flatworms... harmless 8/28/04
Hi guys, Just a
quick question. my tank has been set up for a little over a year now
and has had its ups and downs. I was watching the tank when this odd
creature passed my line of sight. I watched until it settled on a piece
of LR and marked the spot with my flashlight. I got a syringe I use for
testing the water and was able to suck it up. The pic attached here is
of that syringe so you have a little bit of a size reference. I have no
idea what this is or where I could start to look for information on
it. Any help is greatly appreciated. Another size reference would be
that it is about the size of a lower cased "I" at 10 font. Thanks
again, Todd
<this creature is a harmless copepod eating flatworm.
They wax and wane as copepod populations do. Most every aquarium has
these critters. No worries :) Anthony> | 
|
ID Flatworms 2/10/05
Thanks a lot for your time and for supplying
an invaluable source for us reefers.
<Always welcome>
Now the
groveling is out of the way I wonder if I could pick that wonderful
marine brain of yours? My 50g reef has been set up 6wks and I have just
started to add a few inverts, over the last week I have added 6 blue
legged hermits, 1 red legged and 6 turbo snails, all seem very happy and
active and are eating well, but as soon as I introduced the blues, while
waiting for the first inhabitants of my reef to disperse. I noticed one
of the blue legged isn't blue!
<Arghhh... some rogue species do enter
this way. Do be very careful>
It is completely chalk white! After
much searching over the net and through books- to no avail.
<do look
in Paul Humann's "Reef Creatures">
I came to the conclusion that this
must be an albino!
<Ahhh... well, hmmm. Just because you could not
find a book that ID'ed the creature? Your pulling my leg, right? :)>
But I have observed further and the white hermit has slightly different
features, the right claw is about twice the size of the left one, and as
the other crabs stroll around the white one sits in the sand with his
shell buried at the front of the tank! he rarely walks far! he has shed
once so I am assuming he is good and healthy- any ideas?
<Many
Diodenidae species>
And is he reef safe?
<Hard to say, but the
large claw is a concern. Form Follows Function. That claw has a
use/need>
I do hope he will be ok, as I have gotten rather attached
to the little guy! Also I have a few small, what appear to be sea slugs
in the tank, they are about half the length of your little finger nail..
<Please do read, learn, and apply quarantine habits my friend. These
risks and dangers will be eliminated>
...and just have that
Nudibranch shape with the rounded head, and a kind of a lyre tail rear!
<Chelidonura?>
But after a bit of reading thought they might be
flatworms!
<Hmmm... similar general description, and preying on
copepods if so, perhaps. A Small white variety that fits that
descriptions is rather common in tanks>
but cannot find reference to
any flatworms (or anything similar) this colour- they are a kind of
translucent white, sort of opaque- any ideas their?
<Ah, yes...
copepod eaters>
And if they are a pest, any methods of removal or
reef safe predators I can introduce?
<They are harmless>
Thanks a
lot for your time, and the service you provide. Mark
<Best of
luck and life, Anthony>
Flatworm ID - 04/19/2006
Hello and greetings from sunny
Woodland Hills CA,
<Hello.>
Please accept my apologies
for not sending this directly through your website link - somehow I
managed to type-in the outgoing server information wrong and now I
can't seem to correct the format in my computer.
<We've gotten
it just fine.>
I want to thank you for your website; it is an
excellent resource for novices like myself trying to create the most
natural environment possible for my marine pets.
<Thank you,
we're happy to help.>
By way of background, I have been
keeping a 40 gallon hex tank the "old school" way (undergravel
filter and dead coral skeletons) for years with some success. I
recently woke up to the new techniques available and upgraded my
tank to live rock (plus protein skimming, vigorous water movement
and addition of a 96 W power compact light and UV sterilizer).
Unfortunately, I had some trouble along the way keeping water
temperature stable and had to remove all my fish to quarantine for
Ich treatment.
<Ouch!>
Right now, I am in week 4 of a
(minimum 12 week) fallow period. The tank still contains a small
Diadema urchin, two cleaner shrimp, one Peppermint shrimp and a
small colony of zoanthids (live rock stowaways) which are all doing
very well. Ultimately, I would like to add back a few fish in this
tank, plus a small green star polyp colony currently in quarantine
(also a live rock stowaway) and maybe some mushroom polyps later.
<Ok.>
Due to the stress of having to remove everything to
catch and quarantine my fish, the tank had to recycle through its
algae cycle. It is through the diatom period and nearing the end of
the Cyanobacteria phase. The tank now is going through a hair algae
bloom, which is subsiding. Water chemistry is excellent. Now for my
question - over the past week or so I have been noticing ever
increasing levels of what appear to be small slugs or snails grazing
on algae. They are about 5-10 mm long and a translucent white-blue
color. They seem to be soft bodied with an internal "shell". Photos
are attached. Would you kindly advise if you can help identify and
provide any pertinent information.
<This is a flatworm. Perhaps
Amphiscolops sp.>
If this is a reason for concern or fish food
later?
<Harmless. Here's some more info.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatworms.htm >
They are
definitely multiplying pretty fast.
<Can reproduce by splitting.
They can't really exist in high flow areas though, are they growing
quickly in dead flow areas? Likely won't last too long.>
Thanks in advance for your reply.
<Hope it helps some.>
Scott (AKA SharkBait)
<Josh.> |  
|
What the H, E, Double Hockey Sticks is This? 1/8/07
Hi! I was
wondering what this is. it is slightly green in color, very flat, no
shell,
<That you can make out>
around 2 inches long and almost
as wide. Movement is similar to a snail, almost looks like some sort of
Nudibranch. Cannot see eyes, mouth, etc. It's kinda trippy, little
freaky! I have been having problems with margarita and Astrea snails
dying, don't know why. I found this creature simply draped over 2
margarita snails in the sand at night, trying to get at them. I think it
was feeding on them but not sure. Do you guys know what it is?
<Mmm,
is it very flat, wavy at the edges? If so, might be a flatworm of some
sort... If not, possibly a sea slug of many possibilities...>
It is
certainly out of my tank! It took some effort to capture, but I was
successful. It is currently in a cup with pinhole size holes in it, in a
net, in the sump! LOL! I had it in a sealed cup with bigger holes
(approx.1/4 inch in diameter). Damn thing escaped within 3 minutes!
captured it again. I am gonna bring it to my LFS for identification
tomorrow, but not sure if they can help. Attached to this e-mail is the
best photo of it. Thank you!
<Oh! Does appear to be a Platyhelminth
to me. Bob Fenner> |
|
|
|
