Starting aquarium for Nudibranchs or flatworms 9/24/04
I have a fish only tanks for a number of years. I am now interested in starting a species specific tank for Nudibranchs or flatworms. any web sites, books, articles, recommendations would be helpful. thanks mark
<hmmm... both are rather challenging. The Opisthobranchs for their oft-obligate diet on inconvenient (to us) prey... and flatworms for much of the same (largely predatory too). There are some great Nudibranchs that can be cultured though... temperate and tropical... carnivorous and herbivorous. Check out some the fine ID books at Behrens seachallengers.com... and be sure to visit the seaslugforum.com on the Web. I have an article on culturing Berghia Nudibranchs in the January issue of reefkeeping.com if it interests you. Best regards, Anthony>

Single Flatworm or Advanced Scout??      5/4/06
Dear Mr. Fenner,
<Jen S. here with you tonight.>
Recently purchased a toadstool leather (Sarcophyton) from a reputable dealer that had it in his tank for a couple of months. I had been eyeing it for a while and finally, on a whim I might add, bought it.
<Great one to have, enjoy it.>
Brought it home, did not dip it and no quarantine (oops... my QT is currently cycling up for a pair of clowns) and anchored it tight with superglue.
<Oops, QT is always the best course of action with adding to a tank.>
And, of course, today I spotted a large 1/2 cm brown flatworm crawling across it. No others. I pulled it off with a pair of tweezers. I have a three month old 75 gal tank (no fish yet) with excellent water parameters that contains a zoanthid frag and a Ricordea rock... both doing fine without any apparent flatworms.
<Kudos for not adding fish yet.  As for the flatworm, I really wouldn’t worry as of yet. It may have come with the new addition or it may have been there already.  However keep an eye on things anyway.>
Question: Do I cut the leather free and do an Iodine dip now? Or do I wait to see if any more of these little guys arrive? I suspect it was in my tank already??
<I would just wait, no need to add more stress to the new addition.>
Yet another "no QT tank" sob story for the record :-(
<Yes, make sure that is up and running soon!  Good luck, Jen S.>
Thanks,
Russell in KY