Brown things on my rock sand and glass.
- Thread starter Ktexe66
- Start date
brown or red Flat worms. Some wrasses eat them, though I find manually removing with a pipette and reduce feeding is the best way to remove.
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Some variety of the Convolutriloba genus of Acoel flatworms. These are photosynthetic and will not depend on a food source. Certain species in this genus like C. retrogemma (sometimes called Red Planaria even though they are neither red nor planaria) have been known to multiply to plague proportions. Manual removal, use of specialized predators like six line wrasses, springeri damsels, or velvet nudibranchs, and dosing of flatworm exit are all very commonly employed strategies. Often I see people employ all three strategies at one time.
If you go the Flatworm exit route make sure you have a properly sized carbon reactor and enough water on hand for a big water change. The medicine itself is reef safe but the flatworms melt and release a toxin which needs to be promptly removed from what I've read.
The best flatworm predator I've come across is Blue Sapphire Damsel (springeri damsel). My second choice would be a yellow wrasse. My third choice would be a 6 line wrasse but they can be a handful. In my experience, these particular flatworms have a population that will ebb and flow but they're nothing like the so-called red planeria. The first time I saw these I panicked and bought a 6 line because it was all that I could get immediately. I never regretted it, per say, but I was happier when the 6 line went to heaven and I could add a yellow wrasse. I only recently (2 years or so) started using the Blue Sapphire damsels and they're even better. They are also pretty chill in the tank even though they are damsels.
