Pest ID (w/ pics) (1 Viewer)

[cparka23]

I was about to clean the glass on my new nano (about 3 weeks old) when I noticed something on the front pane.

I'm pretty sure that this is some type of flatworm, but I'd like to get a consensus before deciding whether to try to treat the tank. It's only a 14 gallon, so it would be easy to do flatworm exit, but I'm finally starting to see a number of baby pods and what appear to be baby brine shrimp on the glass. I'd hate to lose most of the burgeoning invert population that I've been waiting to see before adding more livestock (I have one frag and no fish in the tank for now).

Flatworm?

I also took a picture of what I used to think were tubeworms. Recently, I'm suspecting "hydroids." I use that term loosely, because we tend to call everything a hydroid the way we ask for a Kleenex when we mean a tissue. Anyone in agreement on this one, too?

Thanks for the help!

 

[wazzel]

The first is a flat worm. The second I am not sure of.

 

[cparka23]

Thanks again.

I grabbed a syringe and pulled the flatworm out before I took the time to upload the pictures. It's funny, though. The rock all came from my established 120 gallon along with a cup of livesand. The rest of the sandbed was dry aragonite sand. Never noticed flatworms in the larger tank before, and I've got tons of shrooms that these guys should be all over in there.

As for the second picture, what made me suspect hydroids was the fact that the crowns don't retract or move the way that those of small fan worms do. These are smaller and more hairlike than the fan worms. Assuming that these are hydroids -- a fact of which I am fairly certain -- does anyone have a recommendation as to treatment? I've used a little NaOH to kill aiptasia anemones on that frag in the second picture (hmm.. maybe I got flatworms from the frag...). Before I try that method here, has anyone tried anything successfully on hydroids yet?

 

[Guest]

The 1st pic is a flat worm but not the ones that kills corals. The 2nd is hydroids I would chip the rock with them on it and remove them.

 

[cparka23]

Phew! I was about to go looking for flatworm exit tomorrow and
had put off a delivery date on some corals. It's good to know that these flatworms aren't the kind that will drive me crazy. Thanks for the relief!

And I didn't consider chipping at hydroids' rock before, but I like that idea a lot. Definitely don't want to mess with the pH too much with strong bases. I really appreciate the response.