[William Jaeckle]

Hello:

I am a biologist who is studying the biology of the "red planarian" (Convolutriloba spp.)that is an apparent pest to many marine aquarists. My students and I find these little worms to be delightful. So much so, that I would be pleased to receive worms from marine aquarists who have an infestation in there tank(s). I will pay the shipping costs. If you are intersted in helping me in this endeavor by supplying worms, please contact me at [email protected].

Thank you very much,

Will Jaeckle

p.s. if we per chance stumble across a means to eradicate these worms I will happliy share this information.

 

[Casey]

Welcome to TRT Will, sounds interesting

 

[kram138]

Does anybody have a pic of this worm? I'm not sure I know what it looks like.

 

[kram138]

I answered my own question.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/flatworm2.htm

Scroll down about half way until you see little red worms on the inside glass of an aquarium.

 

[Geoff]

Welcome!!

what state are you in? i can prolly get a whole mess for ya from a LFS.

G~

 

[CAT]

Hey Will, you might have just opened the floodgates :funny: I've got a pile in my refugium but I don't think they'd survive the border crossing.

There is a product on the market that will apparently kill them, It's made by Salifert, called "Flatworm eXit". Only problem is that the worms release toxins into the tank when they die - this can cause major problems if there are too many worms. It's what I call a double-edged sword...

 

[JennM]

Hi Will, welcome to TRT!

If you'd like a long torrid story on the pesky planaria, do a search for my name, JennM and the subject line: Flatworm eXit, so far, so good.

It went bad. Very bad. Lost 7 of 13 fish.... but the tank is still free of the flatworms. I do not blame the product that I used to eliminate them, but I had such a severe infestation that I had no idea how many there were til they stained the water yellow.

For what it's worth, we tested our theory about the body juices containing iodine, and the "antidote" we used failed. When I had my problem with them, the water and the whole shop smelled like Xenia - really pungent.

Anyway, hope you can find some useful info in that thread, and I'll be happy to answer any other questions, as that whole nightmare is burned into my memory I'd be interested in hearing any insight you can offer.

FWIW, Sea World has them in their display tanks...

Jenn