tiny rusty colored live things

jline · 09-25-2005, 03:44 PM

What are they? About the size of the tip of an ink pen. Square shaped. They are on everything. Will they harm my coral? Does anything eat them?

fletch · 09-25-2005, 05:25 PM

Sounds like flat worms.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/flatworms.html

Birdlady · 09-25-2005, 05:30 PM

Do they look like the pics in this thread? Could be flatworms...tough to tell from your description tho

jline · 09-26-2005, 03:19 PM

Thats the critter alright. Are they harmfull? Does anything eat them?

Matt Rogers · 09-26-2005, 03:35 PM

They can 'smother' some corals. I have them too, but not as bad as I used to. Turn up the flow. They don't like high current. Some wrasses are said to have. My six line doesn't. I can't remember which one they recommended. I think it's yellow. I'll have to look it up.

fletch · 09-26-2005, 03:52 PM

There are some Potential Piscid Flatworm Predators The Green, Picturesque,Target, and Psychedelic Mandarin Dragonet. The Leopard or Guinea Fowl Wrasse. The Yellow-Breasted or twist's Wrasse. The Golden or Canary Wrasse. and the Blueband or sleeper goby. This information is from page 180 of the Natural Marine Aquarium Volume-1

After I added a Psychedelic Mandarin to my tank my flatworm problem was taken care of in a matter of a month.

jline · 09-26-2005, 07:20 PM

Thank you all for the information. I've always liked the psychedelic mandarin. I tried it before and found out that they liked special food, so I never got any more of them. Now I'll try one again. If he'll eat them, he'll be fat as a tick in no time. He'll be happy and so will I.
Thanks again. Quality information is greatly appreciated.