Couple critters in my sump

[Scott]

Thought I'd share a few pics of some critters in my sump. I setup a 20gal long as a sump around 3 weeks ago, added 20lbs of live sand and moved a couple live rocks into it. Not long after that I started seeing some small critters show up.

Here's a pic of a worm on the glass, pretty small as the thermometer shows.




Since setting it up, once the lights go off in the main tank and the light turns on in the sump I just sit there looking at what's in there. Well tonight I noticed these...I've counted around six of them so far. I'm guessing they are some type of slug....don't know if they might have come in with some Cheato that I bought off of ebay or not. I put that Cheato in the sump on Monday.

Anyways...the pics are not the greatest, I'm so glad I have a digital camera...so many shots were out of focus, these were the best.







They are still very small...but I'm wondering, could they be harmful if they make it up to the display tank?

[Rob]

i am not sure waht the top picture is, it looks like a small bristle worm. but i cant be sure, i usually dont see them that small.

however, the bottom few pictures closely resemble the planaria flatworm.
i woudl do some serches, and find some other images to match them to, wetwebmedia woudl be a great place to start.

you DO NOT want them in your display. while they are not dangerous, they are a REAL nuisance. seriously.. i have delt with them before, they are all but impossible to totally get rid of..

dont want to scare ya, but definitely check it out

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Rob

however, the bottom few pictures closely resemble the planaria flatworm.
i woudl do some serches, and find some other images to match them to, wetwebmedia woudl be a great place to start.

you DO NOT want them in your display. while they are not dangerous, they are a REAL nuisance. seriously.. i have delt with them before, they are all but impossible to totally get rid of..

Thanks Rob for the identification.

Was over at another site's forum and someone had posted some pics off their site of some fish. I went over to their site to check out their other pictures, and found a pic that makes me agree with you....flatworm.

http://www.pbase.com/clippo/image/54110407

I also took a look at a book I have "Marine Inverterbrates" and sure enough...there it is, Planaria Flatworm just like you guessed. I looked at snails and slugs before posting, never thought of flatworms.

Now comes the searches on how to get rid of them. I'm really thinking they came in on the cheato I got off of e-bay. Unless they were in my display and moved down to the sump when I moved some rock....but I have my doubts about that.

Book mentions cutting down on light and feeding, since they are in the sump....I might kill the light down there for a day or two. ...and maybe attempt siphoning some out that I actually see....well, that might be a bit time consuming...

If they did make it to the dislpay....wonder if my neon dottyback would eat them. It's been digging in the corners of the tank trying to find some bristleworms I suspect.

[Rob]

here's my 2 cents...
disconnect and scrub the sump...
i know its drastic, but i have dealt with flatworms in a display they are not fun..

the problem is that they are not really harmful, unless they start to reproduce all over the place, in which case you have to worry about them smothering your corals. most professionals will say that they are fine, and the problem can be resolved with better husbandry.. but they are VERY unsightly...

my 2 cents.. get rid of them now before they get into your display... the dotty will likely not touch them. the sixline wrasse is known to eat them, and occasionally mandarins. but since you are somewhat lucky and there are in the sump, i would disconnect it, and plan to redo it...

if it was my tank, that's what i would do.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Rob

my 2 cents.. get rid of them now before they get into your display... the dotty will likely not touch them. the sixline wrasse is known to eat them, and occasionally mandarins. but since you are somewhat lucky and there are in the sump, i would disconnect it, and plan to redo it...

if it was my tank, that's what i would do.

I will seriously consider that....I read the same about the six line wrasse, and I put one on order today when I stopped by the LFS for some topoff water.

If I do scrub the sump....what are the thoughts about the live rock and live sand in there....reuse it or dump it?

I do hate the thought of redoing the sump....but I also hate the thought of the flatworms getting out of hand and in the display. I've got a good pod population going in the sump too. But then, I should probably just redo the entire display too....still dealing with hair algae there.

Guess this is one of the benifits of setting up a marine tank, all the things you might get to deal with.

[Rob]

lol.. yeah...

well you can try and save as many of the pods ond water as you can.
they will be living in all the rocks, you can try dipping them in a bucket with flatworm exit in it to kill them.

i tried flatworm exit.. it kills alot of them and fast, but after 2 doses, i still had them in my tank.

the problem is when you kill the flatworms they excretes their body juices, and those juices are extremely poisonous. so i would try to dip the rocks seperate instead of dosing the tank..

you have a unique change where you can fix it with out disturbing your main display, thats a good thing

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Rob

i tried flatworm exit.. it kills alot of them and fast, but after 2 doses, i still had them in my tank.

the problem is when you kill the flatworms they excretes their body juices, and those juices are extremely poisonous. so i would try to dip the rocks seperate instead of dosing the tank..

I've also thought about getting some of that, and just put it in the sump (after turning off the return pump)...and just cycle the sump by itself.

Wonder...would it kill all the pods? (then again, I'm thinking of dropping the wrasse in the sump when I get it...probably in a week or two) I also read a post elsewhere that it melted a few snails. I only have 1 snail and few hermits in the sump.

Of course, I probably would have never had this problem is I didn't decide to play and add a sump to my tank. I just thought it'd be better and I could put macro algae in it and hopefully get rid of the hair algae problem I had in the main tank. Plus, there'd be place to move the skimmer and heater to.

you have a unique change where you can fix it with out disturbing your main display, thats a good thing

well that all depends....if I should mention the other little problem(s)...

Like this guy....sadly they are in many many places in the tank, yeah...the little white guy.


Not only a hair algae problem in the tank, but also bubble algae (not as bad as the hair algae...yet). No idea what the little red thing is....showed up over the past week.


These are similar to the little red one in the above photo, I have three of the brown ones on another rock. No idea what they are.


I've tested my water, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, all read 0. Phosphates read between .25 and .5 and I've been using some type of Phos-Ban for over a month. Calcium reads around 380, and I don't have a test kit for water hardness. I was bad in the beginning as I was using tap water for topoffs. But I've been strictly buying RO water for the past month.

....Oh, and I've got this foolish idea of one day buying a house and getting a big tank (100-200 gal).... :shock:

[pham411]

hey scott,
dont know what those red things are but that buble algae is really something great you want in you tank. as for that little white pod, i use to have those guys in my tank also. i did some reasearch on wwm and found that they are just little ilter feeders and arent harmfull. sorry i forgot what they were called. although they are not harmful they can get ugly cuz they do show up everywhere. now, they slowly disapeared. hmmm i wonder if thats because of something i did.......
latez

[Rob]

Originally Posted by pham411

hey scott,
don't know what those red things are

i am no sure what they are either...
are they hard or soft, could be some type of sponge... but ant really tell from the image

but that bubble algae is really something great you want in you tank.

this i do not agree with, bubble algae is a nuisance algae, and can quickly over take a tank. especially if the bubble are popped, releasing the spores into he water column.
they will grow everywhere, covering coral, and doing bad things.
best to remove the bubbles.
you can take the rock out of the tank and scape them of.. then rise the rock and place it back in. do not try to pull them off in the tank cause if you pop them you will get even more.

as for that little white pod, i use to have those guys in my tank also. i did some research on wwm and found that they are just little filter feeders and arent harmful. sorry i forgot what they were called.

you are right here, they are filter feeders. the are called tunicates. they are small filter feeders. they usually grow in shaded areas and are nothing to worry about, they are quite normal.

regarding the cause.. its a water/nutrient issue... you have high nitrates im sure of it, and im sure the phosphates are adding to the issue. you are not reading nitrates on the tests, because all that algae in there is feeding off it.

best to continue large water changes regularly with RO water, and continue running the phosban. and also reduce the feeding frequency and ammount

you can also check out a product called Marine S.A.T. its a natural bacteria culture that will help with the algae, as it will starve it of its food source.

let me know if you have more questions

[pham411]

this i do not agree with, bubble algae is a nuisance algae, and can quickly over take a tank. especially if the bubble are popped, releasing the spores into he water column.

opps. hehe i ment not what you want in your tank. darn typoz. sorry guyz