Are the flatworms a red-brown colour? It sounds like it...These little guys are Convolutriloba retrogemma, a photosynthetic flatworm that can grow to plague proportions, and they are commonly imported on Indo rock. I have had them in my 20 gal reef and continue to battle them on occasion. They can get ugly, but they never bother my corals. One good way to remove them is to shine a small concentrated beam of light through one corner of the tank before you shut it off at night. C. retrogemma will congregate at that point, so you can siphon or better yet, scrubby them out into a separate bucket - (method courtesy of P. Wilkens, Netherlands) Using chemicals to control them is ill advised, as they contain a nasty chemical, and if the explode or break down in the tank in large quantity it can kill fish (Delbeek and Sprung 1994). Other biological controls cited in Reefs Vol. 1 include Synchiropus picturatus (spotted mandarinfish), Macropharygodon spp. wrasses (leopard wrasses) and a certain blue-black nudibrach that is hard to get. I have used the light method with success. Eric Borneman's latest book had some additional good advice, but I can't remember it...
Diomedes
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10-15-2002, 01:43 AM
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