Large Flatworm - Help with Identification

[gws3]

I saw this guy in some liverock I'm cooking a few months ago. Today I finally spotted him in a spot I could pull him out and take some pics. He's about 3" long, stretches to about 4" when he's on the move.  Very responsive to light, he shrinks up quickly when I shine the flashlight on him. 

 

I'd like to ID him to verify he is reef safe and understand what he eats. Let me know if you have any idea what genus/species he is.

 

[gws3]

I think it's a polyclad from what I see online.  Eats snails / molluscs.  I guess he's going down the drain.

[Dxo6669]

www.wetwebmedia.com/flatwormfaqs.htm

 

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[gws3]

Thanks.  Looks like they are a well known pest.  Never encountered one in 10+ years of reefkeeping. 

 

I put him in freshwater and he started going nuts, expanded and disintegrated within a minute.  I am going to dip the liverock in freshwater to kill any of his brothers.  I feel bad killing them but my snails are much more valued.

Edited September 3, 2017 by gws3

[Squishie89]

I had a polyclad problem. Luckily they were isolated in one rock. I used boiling freshwater and would squirt it in the holes where they lived, then catch most of the pieces that would fly out. It was a crazy few nights doing all that, but it worked.

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[menglish]

Definitely not reef safe. My wife spot one in my tank that was eating my snail. Get it (them) out if you see more.

[gws3]

If I find another one I may do an experiment to see if they eat vermetid snails.  I have a large variety of vermetid snails in my old system that is a huge nuisance.  I could remove all the good snails and let the polyclad wipe them out and then let it starve.  But first I need to put one in a container with some vermetids.