[c-c]

Help! I have ghosts creatures. :eek: What are they? Too little for a picture. So a drew them. (see below)
The biggest one is one quarter inches then smaller ones until microscopic.
They are flat, transparent, slightly white. Moves like a protozoa, tail remains like the tail of a fish but upper torso changes as t creeps along, from elongation to swollen bubble, to small bubble to heart shaped.
They are multiplying! Is it a parasitic flatworm? Should I remove them from my tank? Here is a picture I drew:

[islander]

I have them, too! But mine are kinda reddish. Nothing eats them. If I brush them off the glass with the magnet or blow them off with the turkey baster, they just swim until they get to a coral or back to the glass. I can't tell they hurt anything, but they sure do hurt the view. I don't know how to get rid of them since I can't find anything to eat them. Hope you find out soon. Let us all know. islander

[jcjuarez]

I just came back from browsing a reef aquarium book at the bookstore. I came across something similar to what C-C tried to illustrate (cute!!!). It may be the "brown flatworm" which was listed under the "things you don't want in your aquarium". It mentioned something about this infestation reaching plague proportions.
Here's a link I found which suggests some natural predators for this problem:
Pests Invading the Reef Aquarium Hobby: Part 2 - Flatworms, Snails & Limpets

[c-c]

jc Juarez,
THANKS! I am glad for that web site which has been VERY helpful... I am starting to remove these flatworms one by one, siphoning each off of the glass with an eyedropper. .At the rate they are multiplying, I knew I was headed for trouble. I need to get control of this now because in one week, I leave my tanks to a caregiver while I go on vacation to Florida for two weeks.
I also have an "infestation" of baby snails in my mixed reef tank. I thought, Oh how cute, baby snails, but they are likewize populating out of control. Sounds like I may be getting a wrass soon! Usted es de habla hispana? Me encanta charlar en el idioma. THANKS AGAIN. I'll let you know how things go.
c-c

[c-c]

Ji to anyone viewing this post:
The answer I got was that it is a white flatworm. Great food for the Velvet Nudibranch. This is all they eat. Maybe I could harvest these critters and sell them?? Does anyone have a Velvet Nudibranch, or a Blue-striped Tailed Sea Slug and would like some of these critters?
I have heard that...
It is fun to watch the Nudibranches chase these flatworms up and down the glass. You would not know that the flatworms can move that fast until they start to become food. ***One note- the nudibranchs will eat until they burst. let them graze for a while them place them in a hatchery or something similar. Or just get a whole bunch of them and some should survive after the supply is reduced.

///Supposedly they are harmless. I just know they multiply rapidly.
I'll probably have to get a formula to rid the tank of them.
Because if I bought a Nudibranch, my spotted grouper would probably eat him.

[Moose]

Yellow Choris Wrasses will usually eat them. There are a few different types and one is reef safe and one isnt. (can not remember which is which)

[Reef Success]

There are two means to get rid of flatworms. One is by treatment with toxins that will kill them in about 45min. However, if you don't get all of them they will come back. Also, they have issues when dying about releasing toxins into the water and without proper flow and carbon can cause stress to your corals. The second means is to by a wrasse that will pick at them. The sixline wrasse and the choris wrasse will both eat flatworms readily and keep them in check.