Are flatworms egg layers or live bearer?

[Chris-]

Got some frags and algea from various members (not going to say who, but, those that know me, check your tank) and gots some flat worms. They are isolated in a 10g tank, but, they are there. Everything that comes out of the 10g, of coarse, will be dipped in some FWE, but, I need to know if flatworms lay eggs or pop out live babys.

 

Thanks

[Coral Hind]

egg layers as far as AEFW's go. What kind are you talking about? No all flatworms are bad.

[Chris-]

He looks like this

 

[dbartco]

dip anyway!

[Chad]

that one is predator of all those nice pods you just got!!

 

Sometimes they increase to huge proportions, but usually they ebb and tide, sometimes completely disappearing. My leopard wrasses eat them

 

Mostly, they are harmless.

Edited April 30, 2010 by Chad

[lanman]

He looks like this

 

 

Acoel flatworm - generally basically harmless, and usually they just up and disappear after several months. Only harms from them are A) if you get such a huge population that they are actually shading the corals, or B) if you kill off half your corals trying to kill the flatworms. Read the eXit instructions carefully - get rid of as many of them as possible (siphon) before treating a system, because in dying, they can release toxins - which in quantity can cause more problems than the flatworms EVER would. Most wrasses will eat acoel flatworms. They are, as far as I know, either live bearers, or reproduce by fission. The most common is Convolutriloba retrogemma - but that doesn't appear to be what you have; convolutriloba retrogemma have the v-shaped notch in the back, but also have a little 'point' that sticks out of the middle of the V. And they tend to have 'red' highlights. There are hundreds of varieties - you MIGHT be able to find yours if you research picture of acoel's. And try to stay out of the debate over whether acoel flatworms are actually flatworms, because molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest that acoels are not members of Platyhelminthes, but are rather extant members of the earliest diverging Bilateria.

 

Oh... my head hurts!

bob

[Chris-]

Ha ha ha, thanks Bob, wil stay out of that debate, but...

 

How can these slow movers eat fast moving pod's??? Figures thats where they are, in my soon to wanna be pod tank, grrrrrrrr.

[Coral Hind]

I have never seen a decrease in my pods when I had them. They are more microbivores and some are photosynthetic. Flatworm exit will not work on all types of them, especially the smaller types.

[Chad]

Watch them... they can move pretty quick within the distance of their body. Ive never noticed a pod decrease with them either, but I have observed them preying on them.

 

Here is a reefkeeping magazine article that also states this, from it:

 

The Acoel flatworms, of which the genus Convolutriloba is a member, are often blamed for coral attacks. Convolutriloba retrogemma is the species of flatworm most often called by the common name of "redbugs" or "red planaria," but there are probably several species involved. They are tiny, about one-eighth inch long, reddish-brown flatworms. They contain endosymbiotic algae that help provide them with some nutrition. This brown alga, along with their reddish-colored rhabdoid gland, imparts a hue that appears reddish brown to rust under the high Kelvin temperature lights used in most marine aquaria. They do not eat coral but rather small invertebrates such as copepods and rotifers present in the tank. They breed rapidly and reproduce either sexually, laying eggs or by the asexual processes of fission or budding where the worm simply splits up, producing a bud that forms a new worm. Therein lies the problem: the flatworms crawl along the coral in search of food and, as they rapidly multiply, they block the coral's light as well as hamper nematocyst capture of the coral's prey. The coral is thus deprived of symbiotic nutrient nourishment, as well as planktonic food, and slowly starves to death.

 

Your first qustion of eggs or livebearing is also answered here, Chris, it looks like both (if you count fission or budding as livebearing).

Edited April 30, 2010 by Chad

[Chris-]

I will take a look at that article. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

 

P.S. I still do not see how they can catch a pod, lol.

Edited April 30, 2010 by Chris-

[Chris-]

dip anyway!

 

 

I mean, what are you trying to say....really!?!?

 

 

Ahhh, good times......good times......