Creature on mushrooms

[mstintheuscg]

I was just given a few blue mushrooms from a friend and i just noticed small white to clear creatures moving around the top of the coral, then they go under the shroom when you go near them. They are 1/16" to 1/8" of an inch. Are these a problem? I searched and couldn't find anything. Any help is greatly appreciated. I would like to remove them asap if they are bad.

[mstintheuscg]

I am unable to get a picture, no camera. They move with a flowing manner with no specific shape, sometimes its longer and skinnier, other times its short and fat, i am unable to see segmentation in it. They move for a few seconds then sit for minutes. Also, they are very thin and dont stick up much.

Does this help at all?

P.S. now there are two on the larger shroom.

[mstintheuscg]

OK, after doing some research, i think they are flatworms. My next question is are these the bad ones or are they harmless. I looked through the old flatworm posts and am unable to determine if they are the ones that eat coral or harmless ones. Can some one explain how to tell the differance? Thanks alot.

[Paintbug]

heres an article about the creatures commonly called flatworms in our tanks. http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

neither one of these eat corals. the Red Planaria will gather on a coral and smother the coral by basicly blocking the light. these should be removed. the article above explains how.

the clear ones called benign flatworms, are completly harmless. these guys will have a population bloom, then once the food source is consumed they die off. they are thought to eat copepods, so if you have a fish that only eats pods that may become a problem, other than that just let them die off on their own.

[mstintheuscg]

That puts me at ease. They are clear enough that I can see the color of the shroom under them. Luckily I only have a tomato clown right now. Thanks for the info. Do you think it is a good idea to treat them with the FW exit before moving them from quarentine? Thanks again.

[Fly Guy]

What are these??? Look at the red mushrooms.......the red ones have always had these little bluish white critters on them...they are tiny..........I have several other dark colored mushrooms and they dont have them nor do they seem to be doing any damage to the red shrooms. I have noticed them for years.....but this thread made me curious.......they are difintely not a flatworm......they more resemble a micro amphipod like redbugs but they are bluish white like i say and most of them are probably even a little bit smaller than most redbugs.......

[mstintheuscg]

One of the blue shrooms I have has one, it looks the same as the ones in the picture. It doesnt move at all. Your tank makes me envious. I just got my first coral today.

[Paintbug]

Originally Posted by mstintheuscg

That puts me at ease. They are clear enough that I can see the color of the shroom under them. Luckily I only have a tomato clown right now. Thanks for the info. Do you think it is a good idea to treat them with the FW exit before moving them from quarentine? Thanks again.

if they are in a QT, then i would just go ahead and treat them. that way they dont get into the main tank. not that the are bad, but no need to risk anything.

[mstintheuscg]

Thank you so much for the advice, I used a turkey baster and then siphoned them out, I havent seen any more than the 6 that I recovered. I also used some FW exit and nothing more came out, so i hope all is well. Thanks again.

[ChrisPrusha]

[Fly Guy]

I just took this. I havent actually looked at them very closely for at least 6 months. They are not a pod like i mentioned they might be before, at least i dont think they are, they move super slowly. They sit kind of high on the shroom not necessarily flat like a worm.

Whats funny is that ive noticed them on other peoples pictures of red shrooms as well